,,narrative ,,and ,,miscellaneous       
,,papers1 ,,vol4 ,,ii4  ,,by ,,thomas   
,,de ,,quincey4     ,,contents ,,of     
,,volume ,,ii4   ,,system ,,of ,,the    
,,heavens ,,as ,,revealed ,,by ,,lord   
,,rosse',s ,,telescopes ,,modern        
,,superstition ,,coleridge ,,and        
,,opium-,,eating ,,temperance ,,movement
 ,,on ,,war ,,the ,,last ,,days ,,of    
,,immanuel ,,kant     ,,system ,,of     
,,the ,,heavens ,,as ,,revealed ,,by    
,,lord ,,rosse',s ,,telescopes4         
,footnote3 ,thoughts on ,some ,important
 ,points relating to the ,system of the 
,world4 ,by ,j4 ,p4 ,nichol1 ,,ll4,d41  
,professor of ,astronomy in the         
,university of ,glasgow4 ,william ,tait1
 ,edinburgh4 #ahdf4  ,some years ago1   
some person or other1 in fact ,i believe
 it was myself1 published a paper from  
the ,german of ,kant1 on a very         
interesting question1 viz41 the age of  
our own little ,earth4 ,those who have  
never seen that paper1 a class of       
unfortunate people whom ,i suspect to   

form rather the majority in our present 
perverse generation1 will be likely to  
misconceive its object4 ,kant's purpose 
was1 not to ascertain how many years the
 ,earth had lived3 a million of years1  
more or less1 made very little          
difference to him4 ,what he wished to   
settle was no such barren conundrum4    
,for1 had there even been any means of  
coercing the ,earth into an honest      
answer1 on such a delicate point1 which 
the ,sicilian canon1 ,recupero1 fancied 
that there was2 ,footnote3 ,recupero4   
,see ,brydone's ,travels1 some sixty or 
seventy years ago4 ,the canon1 being a  
beneficed clergyman in the ,papal       
church1 was naturally an infidel4 ,he   
wished exceedingly to refute ,moses3 and
 he fancied that he really had done so  
by means of some collusive assistance   
from the layers of lava on ,mount ,etna4
 ,but there survives1 at this day1 very 
little to remind us of the canon1 except
 an unpleasant guffaw that rises1 at    
times1 in solitary valleys of ,etna4 but

 which1 in my own opinion1 there neither
 is1 nor ought to be1-- 7since a man    
deserves to be cudgelled who could put  
such improper questions to a lady       
planet17--still what would it amount to8
 ,what good would it do us to have a    
certificate of our dear little mother's 
birth and baptism8 ,other people--people
 in ,jupiter1 or the ,uranians--may     
amuse themselves with her pretended     
foibles or infirmities3 it is quite safe
 to do so at their distance2 and1 in a  
female planet like ,venus1 it might be  
natural1 7though1 strictly speaking1 not
 quite correct17 to scatter abroad      
malicious insinuations1 as though our   
excellent little mamma had begun to wear
 false hair1 or had lost some of her    
front teeth4 ,but all this1 we men of   
sense know to be gammon4 ,our mother    
,tellus1 beyond all doubt1 is a lovely  
little thing4 ,i am satisfied that she  
is very much admired throughout the     
,solar ,system3 and1 in clear seasons1  
when she is seen to advantage1 with her 

bonny wee pet of a ,moon tripping round 
her like a lamb1 ,i should be thankful  
to any gentleman who will mention where 
he has happened to observe--either he or
 his telescope--will he only have the   
goodness to say1 in what part of the    
heavens he has discovered a more elegant
 turn-out4 ,i wish to make no personal  
reflections4 ,i name no names4 ,only    
this ,i say1 that1 though some people   
have the gift of seeing things that     
other people never could see1 and though
 some other people1 or other some people
 are born with a silver spoon in their  
mouths1 so that1 generally1 their geese 
count for swans1 yet1 after all1 swans  
or geese1 it would be a pleasure to me1 
and really a curiosity1 to see the      
planet that could fancy herself entitled
 to sneeze at our ,earth4 ,and then1 if 
she 7viz41 our ,earth17 keeps but one   
,moon1 even that 7you know7 is an       
advantage as regards some people that   
keep none4 ,there are people1 pretty    
well known to you and me1 that can't    

make it convenient to keep even one     
,moon4 ,and so ,i come to my moral2     
which is this1 that1 to all appearance1 
it is mere justice2 but1 supposing it   
were not1 still it is our duty1 7as     
children of the ,earth17 right or wrong1
 to stand up for our bonny young mamma1 
if she is young2 or for our dear old    
mother1 if she is old2 whether young or 
old1 to take her part against all       
comers2 and to argue through thick and  
thin1 which 7sober or not7 ,i always    
attempt to do1 that she is the most     
respectable member of the ,copernican   
,system4  ,meantime1 what ,kant         
understood by being old1 is something   
that still remains to be explained4 ,if 
one stumbled1 in the steppes of         
,tartary1 on the grave of a ,megalonyx1 
and1 after long study1 had deciphered   
from some pre-,adamite heiro-pothooks1  
the following epitaph3--',hic jacet a   
,megalonyx1 or ,hic jacet a ,mammoth1   
7as the case might be17 who departed    
this life1 to the grief of his numerous 

acquaintance in the seventeen thousandth
 year of his age1'--of course1 one would
 be sorry for him2 because it must be   
disagreeable at any age to be torn away 
from life1 and from all one's little    
megalonychal comforts2 that's not       
pleasant1 you know1 even if one is      
seventeen thousand years old4 ,but it   
would make all the difference possible  
in your grief1 whether the record       
indicated a premature death1 that he had
 been cut off1 in fact1 whilst just     
stepping into life1 or had kicked the   
bucket when full of honors1 and been    
followed to the grave by a train of     
weeping grandchildren4 ,he had died 'in 
his teens1' that's past denying4 ,but   
still we must know to what stage of life
 in a man1 had corresponded seventeen   
thousand years in a ,mammoth4 ,now      
exactly this was what ,kant desired to  
know about our planet4 ,let her have    
lived any number of years that you      
suggest1 7shall we say if you please1   
that she is in her billionth year87     

still that tells us nothing about the   
period of life1 the stage1 which she may
 be supposed to have reached4 ,is she a 
child1 in fact1 or is she an adult8     
,and1 if an adult1 and that you gave a  
ball to the ,solar ,system1 is she that 
kind of person1 that you would introduce
 to a waltzing partner1 some fiery young
 gentlemen like ,mars1 or would you     
rather suggest to her the sort of       
partnership which takes place at a      
whist-table8 ,on this1 as on so many    
other questions1 ,kant was perfectly    
sensible that people1 of the finest     
understandings1 may and do take the most
 opposite views4 ,some think that our   
planet is in that stage of her life1    
which corresponds to the playful period 
of twelve or thirteen in a spirited     
girl4 ,such a girl1 were it not that she
 is checked by a sweet natural sense of 
feminine grace1 you might call a romp2  
but not a hoyden1 observe2 no           
horse-play2 oh1 no1 nothing of that     
sort4 ,and these people fancy that      

earthquakes1 volcanoes1 and all such    
little escapades will be over1 they     
will1 in lawyer's phrase1 'cease and    
determine1' as soon as our ,earth       
reaches the age of maidenly bashfulness4
 ,poor thing6 ,it's quite natural1 you  
know1 in a healthy growing girl4 ,a     
little overflow of vivacity1 a pirouette
 more or less1 what harm should that do 
to any of us8 ,nobody takes more delight
 than ,i in the fawn-like sportiveness  
of an innocent girl1 at this period of  
life3 even a shade of espiglerie does   
not annoy me4 ,but still my own         
impressions incline me rather to        
represent the ,earth as a fine noble    
young woman1 full of the pride which is 
so becoming to her sex1 and well able to
 take her own part1 in case that1 at any
 solitary point of the heavens1 she     
should come across one of those vulgar  
fussy ,comets1 disposed to be rude and  
take improper liberties4 ,these ,comets1
 by the way1 are public nuisances1 very 
much like the mounted messengers of     

butchers in great cities1 who are always
 at full gallop1 and moving upon such an
 infinity of angles to human shinbones1 
that the final purpose of such boys 7one
 of whom lately had the audacity nearly 
to ride down the ,duke of ,wellington7  
seems to be-- not the translation of    
mutton1 which would certainly find its  
way into human mouths even if riding    
boys were not1--but the improved        
geometry of transcendental curves4 ,they
 ought to be numbered1 ought these boys1
 and to wear badges--,x #aj1 c4 ,and    
exactly the same evil1 asking therefore 
by implication for exactly the same     
remedy1 affects the ,comets4 ,a         
respectable planet is known everywhere1 
and responsible for any mischief that he
 does4 ,but if a cry should arise1      
',stop that wretch1 who was rude to the 
,earth3 who is he8' twenty voices will  
answer1 perhaps1 ',it's ,encke's ,comet2
 he is always doing mischief2' well1    
what can you say8 it may be ,encke's1 it
 may be some other man's ,comet2 there  

are so many abroad and on so many roads1
 that you might as well ask upon a night
 of fog1 such fog as may be opened with 
an oyster knife1 whose cab that was     
7whose1 viz41 out of #bg1jjj in ,london7
 that floored you into the kennel4      
,these are constructive ideas upon the  
,earth's stage of evolution1 which ,kant
 was aware of1 and which will always    
find toleration1 even where they do not 
find patronage4 ,but others there are1 a
 class whom ,i perfectly abominate1 that
 place our ,earth in the category of    
decaying women1 nay of decayed women1   
going1 going1 and all but gone4 ',hair  
like arctic snows1 failure of vital     
heat1 palsy that shakes the head as in  
the porcelain toys on our mantel-pieces1
 asthma that shakes the whole           
fabric--these they absolutely fancy     
themselves to see4 ,they absolutely hear
 the tellurian lungs wheezing1 panting1 
crying1 ',bellows to mend6' periodically
 as the ,earth approaches her aphelion4 
,but suddenly at this point a demur     

arises upon the total question4 ,kant's 
very problem explodes1 bursts1 as poison
 in ,venetian wine-glass of old shivered
 the glass into fragments4 ,for is      
there1 after all1 any stationary meaning
 in the question8 ,perhaps in reality   
the ,earth is both young and old4       
,young8 ,if she is not young at present1
 perhaps she will be so in future4 ,old8
 if she is not old at this moment1      
perhaps she has been old1 and has a fair
 chance of becoming so again4 ,in fact1 
she is a ,phoenix that is known to have 
secret processes for rebuilding herself 
out of her own ashes4 ,little doubt     
there is but she has seen many a        
birthday1 many a funeral night1 and many
 a morning of resurrection4 ,where now  
the mightiest of oceans rolls in pacific
 beauty1 once were anchored continents  
and boundless forests4 ,where the south 
pole now shuts her frozen gates         
inhospitably against the intrusions of  
flesh1 once were probably accumulated   
the ribs of empires2 man's imperial     

forehead1 woman's roseate lips1 gleamed 
upon ten thousand hills2 and there were 
innumerable contributions to antarctic  
journals almost as good 7but not quite7 
as our own4 ,even within our domestic   
limits1 even where little ,england1 in  
her south- eastern quarter now devolves 
so quietly to the sea her sweet pastoral
 rivulets1 once came roaring down1 in   
pomp of waters1 a regal ,ganges         
,footnote3 ',ganges3'--,dr4 ,nichol     
calls it by this name for the purpose of
 expressing its grandeur2 and certainly 
in breadth1 in diffusion at all times1  
but especially in the rainy season1 the 
,ganges is the cock of the walk in our  
,british orient4 ,else1 as regards the  
body of water discharged1 the absolute  
payments made into the sea's exchequer1 
and the majesty of column riding        
downwards from the ,himalaya1 ,i believe
 that1 since ,sir ,alexander ,burnes's  
measurements1 the ,indus ranks foremost 
by a long chalk41 that drained some     
hyperbolical continent1 some ,quinbus   

,flestrin of ,asiatic proportions1 long 
since gone to the dogs4 ,all things pass
 away4 ,generations wax old as does a   
garment3 but eternally ,god             
says3--',come again1 ye children of     
men4' ,wildernesses of fruit1 and worlds
 of flowers1 are annually gathered in   
solitary ,south ,america to ancestral   
graves3 yet still the ,pomona of ,earth1
 yet still the ,flora of ,earth1 does   
not become superannuated1 but blossoms  
in everlasting youth4 ,not otherwise by 
secular periods1 known to us            
geologically as facts1 though obscure as
 durations1 ,tellus herself1 the planet1
 as a whole1 is for ever working by     
golden balances of change and           
compensation1 of ruin and restoration4  
,she recasts her glorious habitations in
 decomposing them2 she lies down for    
death1 which perhaps a thousand times   
she has suffered2 she rises for a new   
birth1 which perhaps for the thousandth 
time has glorified her disc4 ,hers is   
the wedding garment1 hers is the shroud1

 that eternally is being woven in the   
loom4 ,and ,god imposes upon her the    
awful necessity of working for ever at  
her own grave1 yet of listening for ever
 to his far-off trumpet of palingenesis4
  ,if this account of the matter be     
just1 and were it not treasonable to    
insinuate the possibility of an error   
against so great a swell as ,immanuel   
,kant1 one would be inclined to fancy   
that ,mr4 ,kant had really been dozing a
 little on this occasion2 or1 agreeably 
to his own illustration elsewhere1 that 
he had realized the pleasant picture of 
one learned doctor trying to milk a     
he-goat1 whilst another doctor1 equally 
learned1 holds the milk-pail below4     
,footnote3 ,kant applied this           
illustration to the case where one      
worshipful scholar proposes some        
impossible problem1 7as the squaring of 
the circle1 or the perpetual motion17   
which another worshipful scholar sits   
down to solve4 ,the reference was of    
course to ,virgil's line1--',atque idem 

jungat vulpes1 et mulgeat hircos4' ,and 
there is apparently this two- edged     
embarrassment pressing upon the         
case--that1 if our dear excellent mother
 the ,earth could be persuaded to tell  
us her exact age in ,julian years1 still
 that would leave us all as much in the 
dark as ever3 since1 if the answer were1
 ',why1 children1 at my next birth-day  
,i shall count a matter of some million 
centuries1' we should still be at a loss
 to value her age3 would it mean that   
she was a mere chicken1 or that she was 
'getting up in years8' ,on the other    
hand1 if 7declining to state any odious 
circumstantialities17 she were to       
reply1--',no matter1 children1 for my   
precise years1 which are disagreeable   
remembrances2 ,i confess generally to   
being a lady of a certain age1'--here1  
in the inverse order1 given the         
valuation of the age1 we should yet be  
at a loss for the absolute years        
numerically3 would a 'certain age1' mean
 that 'mamma' was a million1 be the same

 more or less1 or perhaps not much above
 seventy thousand8  ,every way1 you see1
 reader1 there are difficulties4 ,but   
two things used to strike me1 as        
unaccountably overlooked by ,kant2 who1 
to say the truth1 was profound--yet at  
no time very agile--in the character of 
his understanding4 ,first1 what age now 
might we take our brother and sister    
planets to be8 ,for that determination  
as to a point in their constitution1    
will do something to illustrate our own4
 ,we are as good as they1 ,i hope1 any  
day3 perhaps in a growl1 one might      
modestly insinuate--better4 ,it's not at
 all likely that there can be any great 
disproportion of age amongst children of
 the same household3 and therefore1     
since ,kant always countenanced the idea
 that ,jupiter had not quite finished   
the upholstery of his extensive         
premises1 as a comfortable residence for
 a man1 ,jupiter having1 in fact1 a fine
 family of mammoths1 but no family at   
all of 'humans1' 7as brother ,jonathan  

calls them17 ,kant was bound1 ex        
analogo1 to hold that any little        
precedency in the trade of living1 on   
the part of our own mother ,earth1 could
 not count for much in the long run4 ,at
 ,newmarket1 or ,doncaster1 the start is
 seldom mathematically true3 trifling   
advantages will survive all human trials
 after abstract equity2 and the logic of
 this case argues1 that any few         
thousands of years by which ,tellus may 
have got ahead of ,jupiter1 such as the 
having finished her ,roman ,empire1     
finished her ,crusades1 and finished her
 ,french ,revolution1 virtually amounts 
to little or nothing2 indicates no      
higher proportion to the total scale    
upon which she has to run1 than the few 
tickings of a watch by which one horse  
at the start for the ,leger is in       
advance of another4 ,when checked in our
 chronology by each other1 it transpires
 that1 in effect1 we are but executing  
the nice manoeuvre of a start2 and that 
the small matter of six thousand years1 

by which we may have advanced our own   
position beyond some of our planetary   
rivals1 is but the outstretched neck of 
an uneasy horse at ,doncaster4 ,this is 
one of the data overlooked by ,kant2 and
 the less excusably overlooked1 because 
it was his own peculiar doctrine1-- that
 uncle ,jupiter ought to be considered a
 greenhorn4 ,jupiter may be a younger   
brother of our mamma2 but1 if he is a   
brother at all1 he cannot be so very    
wide of our own chronology2 and         
therefore the first datum overlooked by 
,kant was--the analogy of our whole     
planetary system4 ,a second datum1 as it
 always occurred to myself1 might       
reasonably enough be derived from the   
intellectual vigor of us men4 ,if our   
mother could1 with any show of reason1  
be considered an old decayed lady1      
snoring stentorously in her arm-chair1  
there would naturally be some aroma of  
phthisis1 or apoplexy1 beginning to form
 about us1 that are her children4 ,but  
is there8 ,if ever ,dr4 ,johnson said a 

true word1 it was when he replied to the
 ,scottish judge ,burnett1 so well known
 to the world as ,lord ,monboddo4 ,the  
judge1 a learned man1 but obstinate as a
 mule in certain prejudices1 had said   
plaintively1 querulously1               
piteously1--',ah1 ,doctor1 we are poor  
creatures1 we men of the eighteenth     
century1 by comparison with our         
forefathers6' ',oh1 no1 my ,lord1' said 
,johnson1 'we are quite as strong as our
 ancestors1 and a great deal wiser4'    
,yes2 our kick is1 at least1 as         
dangerous1 and our logic does three     
times as much execution4 ,this would be 
a complex topic to treat effectively2   
and ,i wish merely to indicate the      
opening which it offers for a most      
decisive order of arguments in such a   
controversy4 ,if the ,earth were on her 
last legs1 we her children could not be 
very strong or healthy4 ,whereas1 if    
there were less pedantry amongst us1    
less malice1 less falsehood1 and less   
darkness of prejudice1 easy it would be 

to show1 that in almost every mode of   
intellectual power1 we are more than a  
match for the most conceited of elder   
generations1 and that in some modes we  
have energies or arts absolutely and    
exclusively our own4 ,amongst a thousand
 indications of strength and budding    
youth1 ,i will mention two3--,is it     
likely1 is it plausible1 that our ,earth
 should just begin to find out effective
 methods of traversing land and sea1    
when she had a summons to leave both8   
,is it not1 on the contrary1 a clear    
presumption that the great career of    
earthly nations is but on the point of  
opening1 that life is but just beginning
 to kindle1 when the great obstacles to 
effectual locomotion1 and therefore to  
extensive human intercourse1 are first  
of all beginning to give way8 ,secondly1
 ,i ask peremptorily1--,does it stand   
with good sense1 is it reasonable that  
,earth is waning1 science drooping1 man 
looking downward1 precisely in that     
epoch when1 first of all1 man's eye is  

arming itself for looking effectively   
into the mighty depths of space8 ,a new 
era for the human intellect1 upon a path
 that lies amongst its most aspiring1 is
 promised1 is inaugurated1 by ,lord     
,rosse's almost awful telescope4  ,what 
is it then that ,lord ,rosse has        
accomplished8 ,if a man were aiming at  
dazzling by effects of rhetoric1 he     
might reply3 ,he has accomplished that  
which once the condition of the         
telescope not only refused its          
permission to hope for1 but expressly   
bade man to despair of4 ,what is it that
 ,lord ,rosse has revealed8 ,answer3 he 
has revealed more by far than he found4 
,the theatre to which he has introduced 
us1 is immeasurably beyond the old one  
which he found4 ,to say that he found1  
in the visible universe1 a little wooden
 theatre of ,thespis1 a trteau or shed  
of vagrants1 and that he presented us1  
at a price of toil and of anxiety that  
cannot be measured1 with a ,roman       
colosseum1--that is to say nothing4 ,it 

is to undertake the measurement of the  
tropics with the pocket-tape of an      
upholsterer4 ,columbus1 when he         
introduced the ,old ,world to the ,new1 
after all that can be said in his       
praise1 did in fact only introduce the  
majority to the minority2 but ,lord     
,rosse has introduced the minority to   
the majority4 ,there are two worlds1 one
 called ,ante-,rosse1 and the other     
,post-,rosse2 and1 if it should come to 
voting1 the latter would shockingly     
outvote the other4 ,augustus ,csar made 
it his boast when dying1 that he had    
found the city of ,rome built of brick1 
and that he left it built of marble3    
lateritiam invenit1 marmoream reliquit4 
,lord ,rosse may say1 even if to-day he 
should die1 ',i found ,god's universe   
represented for human convenience1 even 
after all the sublime discoveries of    
,herschel1 upon a globe or spherical    
chart having a radius of one hundred and
 fifty feet2 and ,i left it sketched    
upon a similar chart1 keeping exactly   

the same scale of proportions1 but now  
elongating its radius into one thousand 
feet4' ,the reader of course understands
 that this expression1 founded on       
absolute calculations of ,dr4 ,nichol1  
is simply meant to exhibit the relative 
dimensions of the mundus                
,ante-,rosseanus and the mundus         
,post-,rosseanus2 for as to the absolute
 dimensions1 when stated in miles1      
leagues or any units familiar to the    
human experience1 they are too stunning 
and confounding4 ,if1 again1 they are   
stated in larger units1 as for instance 
diameters of the earth's orbit1 the unit
 itself that should facilitate the      
grasping of the result1 and which really
 is more manageable numerically1 becomes
 itself elusive of the mental grasp3 it 
comes in as an interpreter2 and 7as in  
some other cases7 the interpreter is    
hardest to be understood of the two4    
,if1 finally1 ,,time be assumed as the  
exponent of the dreadful magnitudes1    
time combining itself with motion1 as in

 the flight of cannon-balls or the      
flight of swallows1 the sublimity       
becomes greater2 but horror seizes upon 
the reflecting intellect1 and           
incredulity upon the irreflective4 ,even
 a railroad generation1 that should have
 faith in the miracles of velocity1     
lifts up its hands with an ',incredulus 
odi6' we know that ,dr4 ,nichol speaks  
the truth2 but he seems to speak        
falsehood4 ,and the ignorant by-stander 
prays that the doctor may have grace    
given him and time for repentance2      
whilst his more liberal companion       
reproves his want of charity1 observing 
that travellers into far countries have 
always had a license for lying1 as a    
sort of tax or fine levied for          
remunerating their own risks2 and that  
great astronomers1 as necessarily far   
travellers into space1 are entitled to a
 double per centage of the same         
,munchausen privilege4  ,great is the   
mystery of ,space1 greater is the       
mystery of ,time2 either mystery grows  

upon man1 as man himself grows2 and     
either seems to be a function of the    
godlike which is in man4 ,in reality the
 depths and the heights which are in    
man1 the depths by which he searches1   
the heights by which he aspires1 are but
 projected and made objective externally
 in the three dimensions of space which 
are outside of him4 ,he trembles at the 
abyss into which his bodily eyes look   
down1 or look up2 not knowing that abyss
 to be1 not always consciously          
suspecting it to be1 but by an instinct 
written in his prophetic heart feeling  
it to be1 boding it to be1 fearing it to
 be1 and sometimes hoping it to be1 the 
mirror to a mightier abyss that will one
 day be expanded in himself4 ,even as to
 the sense of space1 which is the lesser
 mystery than time1 ,i know not whether 
the reader has remarked that it is one  
which swells upon man with the expansion
 of his mind1 and that it is probably   
peculiar to the mind of man4 ,an infant 
of a year old1 or oftentimes even older1

 takes no notice of a sound1 however    
loud1 which is a quarter of a mile      
removed1 or even in a distant chamber4  
,and brutes1 even of the most enlarged  
capacities1 seem not to have any        
commerce with distance3 distance is     
probably not revealed to them except by 
a presence1 viz41 by some shadow of     
their own animality1 which1 if perceived
 at all1 is perceived as a thing present
 to their organs4 ,an animal desire1 or 
a deep animal hostility1 may render     
sensible a distance which else would not
 be sensible2 but not render it sensible
 as a distance4 ,hence perhaps is       
explained1 and not out of any self-     
oblivion from higher enthusiasm1 a fact 
that often has occurred1 of deer1 or    
hares1 or foxes1 and the pack of hounds 
in pursuit1 chaser and chased1 all going
 headlong over a precipice together4    
,depth or height does not readily       
manifest itself to them2 so that any    
strong motive is sufficient to overpower
 the sense of it4 ,man only has a       

natural function for expanding on an    
illimitable sensorium1 the illimitable  
growths of space4 ,man1 coming to the   
precipice1 reads his danger2 the brute  
perishes3 man is saved2 and the horse is
 saved by his rider4  ,but1 if this     
sounds in the ear of some a doubtful    
refinement1 the doubt applies only to   
the lowest degrees of space4 ,for the   
highest1 it is certain that brutes have 
no perception4 ,to man is as much       
reserved the prerogative of perceiving  
space in its higher extensions1 as of   
geometrically constructing the relations
 of space4 ,and the brute is no more    
capable of apprehending abysses through 
his eye1 than he can build upwards or   
can analyze downwards the rial synthesis
 of ,geometry4 ,such1 therefore1 as is  
space for the grandeur of man's         
perceptions1 such as is space for the   
benefit of man's towering mathematic    
speculations1 such is the nature of our 
debt to ,lord ,rosse--as being the      
philosopher who has most pushed back the

 frontiers of our conquests upon this   
exclusive inheritance of man4 ,we have  
all heard of a king that1 sitting on the
 sea-shore1 bade the waves1 as they     
began to lave his feet1 upon their      
allegiance to retire4 ,that was said not
 vainly or presumptuously1 but in       
reproof of sycophantic courtiers4 ,now1 
however1 we see in good earnest another 
man1 wielding another kind of sceptre1  
and sitting upon the shores of infinity1
 that says to the ice which had frozen  
up our progress1--',melt thou before my 
breath6' that says to the rebellious    
nebul1--',submit1 and burst into blazing
 worlds6' that says to the gates of     
darkness1--',roll back1 ye barriers1 and
 no longer hide from us the infinities  
of ,god6'    ',come1 and ,i will show   
you what is beautiful4'  ,from the days 
of infancy still lingers in my ears this
 opening of a prose hymn by a lady1 then
 very celebrated1 viz41 the late ,mrs4  
,barbauld4 ,the hymn began by enticing  
some solitary infant into some silent   

garden1 ,i believe1 or some forest lawn2
 and the opening words were1 ',come1 and
 ,i will show you what is beautiful6'   
,well1 and what beside8 ,there is       
nothing beside2 oh1 disappointed and    
therefore enraged reader2 positively    
this is the sum-total of what ,i can    
recall from the wreck of years2 and     
certainly it is not much4 ,even of      
,sappho1 though time has made mere ducks
 and drakes of her lyrics1 we have      
rather more spared to us than this4 ,and
 yet this trifle1 simple as you think   
it1 this shred of a fragment1 if the    
reader will believe me1 still echoes    
with luxurious sweetness in my ears1    
from some unaccountable hide-and- seek  
of fugitive childish memories2 just as a
 marine shell1 if applied steadily to   
the ear1 awakens 7according to the fine 
image of ,landor ,footnote3 ',of        
,landor1' viz41 in his ',gebir2' but    
also of ,wordsworth in ',the            
,excursion4' ,and ,i must tell the      
reader1 that a contest raged at one time

 as to the original property in this    
image1 not much less keen than that     
between ,neptune and ,minerva1 for the  
chancellorship of ,athens47 the great   
vision of the sea2 places the listener  
',in the sun's palace-porch1   ,and     
murmurs as the ocean murmurs there4'    
,now1 on some moonless night1 in some   
fitting condition of the atmosphere1 if 
,lord ,rosse would permit the reader and
 myself to walk into the front          
drawing-room of his telescope1 then1 in 
,mrs4 ,barbauld's words1 slightly       
varied1 ,i might say to him1--,come1 and
 ,i will show you what is sublime6 ,in  
fact1 what ,i am going to lay before    
him1 from ,dr4 ,nichol's work1 is1 or at
 least would be1 7when translated into  
,hebrew grandeur by the mighty          
telescope17 a step above even that      
object which some four-and-twenty years 
ago in the ,british ,museum struck me as
 simply the sublimest sight which in    
this sight-seeing world ,i had seen4 ,it
 was the ,memnon's head1 then recently  

brought from ,egypt4 ,i looked at it1 as
 the reader must suppose1 in order to   
understand the depth which ,i have here 
ascribed to the impression1 not as a    
human but as a symbolic head2 and what  
it symbolized to me were3 #a4 ,the peace
 which passeth all understanding4 #b4   
,the eternity which baffles and         
confounds all faculty of computation2   
the eternity which had been1 the        
eternity which was to be4 #c4 ,the      
diffusive love1 not such as rises and   
falls upon waves of life and mortality1 
not such as sinks and swells by         
undulations of time1 but a              
procession--an emanation from some      
mystery of endless dawn4 ,you durst not 
call it a smile that radiated from the  
lips2 the radiation was too awful to    
clothe itself in adumbrations or        
memorials of flesh4  ,in that mode of   
sublimity1 perhaps1 ,i still adhere to  
my first opinion1 that nothing so great 
was ever beheld4 ,the atmosphere for    
this1 for the ,memnon1 was the          

breathlessness which belongs to a       
saintly trance2 the holy thing seemed to
 live by silence4 ,but there is a       
picture1 the pendant of the ,memnon1    
there is a dreadful cartoon1 from the   
gallery which has begun to open upon    
,lord ,rosse's telescope1 where the     
appropriate atmosphere for investing it 
must be drawn from another silence1 from
 the frost and from the eternities of   
death4 ,it is the famous nebula in the  
constellation of ,orion2 famous for the 
unexampled defiance with which it       
resisted all approaches from the most   
potent of former telescopes2 famous for 
its frightful magnitude and for the     
frightful depth to which it is sunk in  
the abysses of the heavenly wilderness2 
famous just now for the submission with 
which it has begun to render up its     
secrets to the all-conquering telescope2
 and famous in all time coming for the  
horror of the regal phantasma which it  
has perfected to eyes of flesh4 ,had    
,milton's 'incestuous mother1' with her 

fleshless son1 and with the warrior     
angel1 his father1 that led the         
rebellions of heaven1 been suddenly     
unmasked by ,lord ,rosse's instrument1  
in these dreadful distances before      
which1 simply as expressions of         
resistance1 the mind of man shudders and
 recoils1 there would have been nothing 
more appalling in the exposure2 in fact1
 it would have been essentially the same
 exposure3 the same expression of power 
in the detestable phantom1 the same     
rebellion in the attitude1 the same pomp
 of malice in the features to a universe
 seasoned for its assaults4  ,the reader
 must look to ,dr4 ,nichol's book1 at   
page #ea1 for the picture of this       
abominable apparition4 ,but then1 in    
order to see what ,i see1 the obedient  
reader must do what ,i tell him to do4  
,let him therefore view the wretch      
upside down4 ,if he neglects that simple
 direction1 of course ,i don't answer   
for anything that follows3 without any  
fault of mine1 my description will be   

unintelligible4 ,this inversion being   
made1 the following is the dreadful     
creature that will then reveal itself4  
,description of the ,nebula in ,orion1  
as forced to show out by ,lord          
,rosse4--,you see a head thrown back1   
and raising its face1 7or eyes1 if eyes 
it had17 in the very anguish of hatred1 
to some unknown heavens4 ,what should be
 its skull wears what might be an       
,assyrian tiara1 only ending behind in a
 floating train4 ,this head rests upon a
 beautifully developed neck and throat4 
,all power being given to the awful     
enemy1 he is beautiful where he pleases1
 in order to point and envenom his      
ghostly ugliness4 ,the mouth1 in that   
stage of the apocalypse which ,sir ,john
 ,herschel was able to arrest in his    
eighteen- inch mirror1 is amply         
developed4 ,brutalities unspeakable sit 
upon the upper lip1 which is confluent  
with a snout2 for separate nostrils     
there are none4 ,were it not for this   
one defect of nostrils2 and1 even in    

spite of this defect1 7since1 in so     
mysterious a mixture of the angelic and 
the brutal1 we may suppose the sense of 
odor to work by some compensatory       
organ17 one is reminded by the phantom's
 attitude of a passage1 ever memorable1 
in ,milton3 that passage1 ,i mean1 where
 ,death first becomes aware1 soon after 
the original trespass1 of his own future
 empire over man4 ,the 'meagre shadow'  
even smiles 7for the first time and the 
last7 on apprehending his own abominable
 bliss1 by apprehending from afar the   
savor 'of mortal change on earth4'      
----',such a scent1' 7he says17 ',i draw
   ,of carnage1 prey innumerable4'  ,as 
illustrating the attitude of the phantom
 in ,orion1 let the reader allow me to  
quote the tremendous passage3--    ',so 
saying1 with delight he snuff'd the     
smell   ,of mortal change on earth4 ,as 
when a flock   ,of ravenous fowl1 though
 many a league remote1   ,against the   
day of battle1 to a field1   ,where     
armies lie encamp'd1 come flying1 lured 

,with scent of living carcasses design'd
   ,for death1 the following day1 in    
bloody fight2   ,so scented the grim    
feature1 ,footnote3 ',so scented the    
grim feature1' feature is the old word  
for form or outline that is shadowy2 and
 also for form 7shadowy or not7 which   
abstracts from the matter4 ,by the way1 
,i have never seen it noticed1 that     
,milton was indebted for the hint of    
this immortal passage to a superb       
line-and-a-half1 in ,lucan's ,pharsalia4
 and upturn'd   ,his nostril wide into  
the murky air1   ,sagacious of his      
quarry from so far4'  ,but the lower    
lip1 which is drawn inwards with the    
curve of a conch shell1--oh what a      
convolute of cruelty and revenge is     
there6 ,cruelty6--to whom8              
,revenge6--for what8 ,ask not1 whisper  
not4 ,look upwards to other mysteries4  
,in the very region of his temples1     
driving itself downwards into his cruel 
brain1 and breaking the continuity of   
his diadem1 is a horrid chasm1 a ravine1

 a shaft1 that many centuries would not 
traverse2 and it is serrated on its     
posterior wall with a harrow that       
perhaps is partly hidden4 ,from the     
anterior wall of this chasm rise1 in    
vertical directions1 two processes2 one 
perpendicular1 and rigid as a horn1 the 
other streaming forward before some     
portentous breath4 ,what these could be1
 seemed doubtful2 but now1 when further 
examinations by ,sir ,john ,herschel1 at
 the ,cape of ,good ,hope1 have filled  
up the scattered outline with a rich    
umbrageous growth1 one is inclined to   
regard them as the plumes of a sultan4  
,dressed he is1 therefore1 as well as   
armed4 ,and finally comes ,lord ,rosse1 
that glorifies him with the jewellery   
,footnote3 ,the jewellery of ,stars4    
,and one thing is very remarkable1 viz41
 that not only the stars justify this   
name of jewellery1 as usual1 by the life
 of their splendor1 but also1 in this   
case1 by their arrangement4 ,no jeweller
 could have set1 or disposed with more  

art1 the magnificent quadrille of stars 
which is placed immediately below the   
upright plume4 ,there is also another1 a
 truncated quadrille1 wanting only the  
left hand star 7or you might call it a  
bisected lozenge7 placed on the diadem1 
but obliquely placed as regards the     
curve of that diadem4 ,two or three     
other arrangements are striking1 though 
not equally so1 both from their         
regularity and from their repeating each
 other1 as the forms in a kaleidoscope4 
of stars3 he is now a vision 'to dream  
of1 not to tell3' he is ready for the   
worship of those that are tormented in  
sleep3 and the stages of his solemn     
uncovering by astronomy1 first by ,sir  
,w4 ,herschel1 secondly1 by his son1 and
 finally by ,lord ,rosse1 is like the   
reversing of some heavenly doom1 like   
the raising of the seals that had been  
sealed by the angel1 in the             
,revelations4 ,but the reader naturally 
asks1 ,how does all this concern ,lord  
,rosse's telescope on the one side1 or  

general astronomy on the other8 ,this   
nebula1 he will say1 seems a bad kind of
 fellow by your account2 and of course  
it will not break my heart to hear1 that
 he has had the conceit taken out of    
him4 ,but in what way can that affect   
the pretensions of this new instrument2 
or1 if it did1 how can the character of 
the instrument affect the general       
condition of a science8 ,besides1 is not
 the science a growth from very ancient 
times8 ,with great respect for the ,earl
 of ,rosse1 is it conceivable that he1  
or any man1 by one hour's working the   
tackle of his new instrument1 can have  
carried any stunning revolutionary      
effect into the heart of a section so   
ancient in our mathematical physics8    
,but the reader is to consider1 that the
 ruins made by ,lord ,rosse1 are in     
sidereal astronomy1 which is almost     
wholly a growth of modern times2 and the
 particular part of it demolished by the
 new telescope1 is almost exclusively   
the creation of the two ,herschels1     

father and son4 ,laplace1 it is true1   
adopted their views2 and he transferred 
them to the particular service of our   
own planetary system4 ,but he gave to   
them no new sanction1 except what arises
 from showing that they would account   
for the appearances1 as they present    
themselves to our experience at this    
day4 ,that was a negative confirmation2 
by which ,i mean1 that1 had their views 
failed in the hands of ,laplace1 then   
they were proved to be false2 but1 not  
failing1 they were not therefore proved 
to be true4 ,it was like proving a gun2 
if the charge is insufficient1 or if1 in
 trying the strength of cast iron1      
timber1 ropes1 c41 the strain is not up 
to the rigor of the demand1 you go away 
with perhaps a favorable impression as  
to the promises of the article2 it has  
stood a moderate trial2 it has stood all
 the trial that offered1 which is always
 something2 but you are still obliged to
 feel that1 when the ultimate test is   
applied1 smash may go the whole concern4

 ,lord ,rosse applied an ultimate test2 
and smash went the whole concern4       
,really ,i must have laughed1 though all
 the world had been angry1 when the     
shrieks and yells of expiring systems   
began to reverberate all the way from   
the belt of ,orion2 and positively at   
the very first broadside delivered from 
this huge four- decker of a telescope4  
,but what was it then that went to      
wreck8 ,that is a thing more easy to ask
 than to answer4 ,at least1 for my own  
part1 ,i complain that some vagueness   
hangs over all the accounts of the      
nebular hypothesis4 ,however1 in this   
place a brief sketch will suffice4      
,herschel the elder1 having greatly     
improved the telescope1 began to observe
 with special attention a class of      
remarkable phenomena in the starry world
 hitherto unstudied1 viz43 milky spots  
in various stages of diffusion4 ,the    
nature of these appearances soon cleared
 itself up thus far1 that generally they
 were found to be starry worlds1        

separated from ours by inconceivable    
distances1 and in that way concealing at
 first their real nature4 ,the whitish  
gleam was the mask conferred by the     
enormity of their remotion4 ,this being 
so1 it might have been supposed that1 as
 was the faintness of these cloudy spots
 or nebul1 such was the distance4 ,but  
that did not follow3 for in the treasury
 of nature it turned out that there were
 other resources for modifying the      
powers of distance1 for muffling and    
unmuffling the voice of stars4 ,suppose 
a world at the distance x1 which        
distance is so great as to make the     
manifestation of that world weak1 milky1
 nebular4 ,now let the secret power that
 wields these awful orbs1 push this     
world back to a double distance6 that   
should naturally make it paler and more 
dilute than ever3 and yet by            
compression1 by deeper centralization1  
this effect shall be defeated2 by       
forcing into far closer neighborhood the
 stars which compose this world1 again  

it shall gleam out brighter when at #bx 
than when at x4 ,at this point of       
compression1 let the great moulding     
power a second time push it back2 and a 
second time it will grow faint4 ,but    
once more let this world be tortured    
into closer compression1 again let the  
screw be put upon it1 and once again it 
shall shake off the oppression of       
distance as the dew-drops are shaken    
from a lion's mane4 ,and thus in fact   
the mysterious architect plays at       
hide-and-seek with his worlds4 ',i will 
hide it1' he says1 'and it shall be     
found again by man2 ,i will withdraw it 
into distances that shall seem fabulous1
 and again it shall apparel itself in   
glorious light2 a third time ,i will    
plunge it into aboriginal darkness1 and 
upon the vision of man a third time it  
shall rise with a new epiphany4'  ,but1 
says the objector1 there is no such     
world2 there is no world that has thus  
been driven back1 and depressed from one
 deep to a lower deep4 ,granted3 but the

 same effect1 an illustration of the    
same law1 is produced equally1 whether  
you take four worlds1 all of the same   
magnitude1 and plunge them              
simultaneously into four different      
abysses1 sinking by graduated distances 
one below another1 or take one world and
 plunge it to the same distances        
successively4 ,so in ,geology1 when men 
talk of substances in different stages1 
or of transitional states1 they do not  
mean that they have watched the same    
individual stratum or phenomenon1       
exhibiting states removed from each     
other by depths of many thousand years2 
how could they8 but they have seen one  
stage in the case ,a1 another stage in  
the case ,b4 ,they take1 for instance1  
three objects1 the same 7to use the     
technical language of logic7            
generically1 though numerically         
different1 under separate circumstances1
 or in different stages of advance4     
,they are one object for logic1 they are
 three for human convenience4 ,so again 

it might seem impossible to give the    
history of a rose tree from infancy to  
age3 how could the same rose tree1 at   
the same time1 be young and old8 ,yet by
 taking the different developments of   
its flowers1 even as they hang on the   
same tree1 from the earliest bud to the 
full- blown rose1 you may in effect     
pursue this vegetable growth through all
 its stages3 you have before you the    
bony blushing little rose-bud1 and the  
respectable 'medival' full-blown rose4  
,this point settled1 let it now be      
remarked1 that ,herschel's resources    
enabled him to unmask many of these     
nebul3 stars they were1 and stars he    
forced them to own themselves4 ,why     
should any decent world wear an alias8  
,there was nothing1 you know1 to be     
ashamed of in being an honest cluster of
 stars4 ,indeed1 they seemed to be      
sensible of this themselves1 and they   
now yielded to the force of ,herschel's 
arguments so far as to show themselves  
in the new character of nebul spangled  

with stars2 these are the stellar nebul2
 quite as much as you could expect in so
 short a time3 ,rome was not built in a 
day3 and one must have some respect to  
stellar feelings4 ,it was noticed1      
however1 that where a bright haze1 and  
not a weak milk- and-water haze1 had    
revealed itself to the telescope1 this1 
arising from a case of compression1 7as 
previously explained17 required very    
little increase of telescopic power to  
force him into a fuller confession4 ,he 
made a clean breast of it4 ,but at      
length came a dreadful anomaly4 ,a      
'nebula' in the constellation ,andromeda
 turned restive3 another in ,orion1 ,i  
grieve to say it1 still more so4 ,i     
confine myself to the latter4 ,a very   
low power sufficed to bring him to a    
slight confession1 which in fact        
amounted to nothing2 the very highest   
would not persuade him to show a star4  
',just one1' said some coaxing person2  
'we'll be satisfied with only one4' ,but
 no3 he would not4 ,he was hardened1 'he

 wouldn't split4' ,and ,herschel was    
thus led1 after waiting as long as flesh
 and blood could wait1 to infer two     
classes of nebul2 one that were stars2  
and another that were not stars1 nor    
ever were meant to be stars4 ,yet that  
was premature3 he found at last1 that1  
though not raised to the peerage of     
stars1 finally they would be so3 they   
were the matter of stars2 and by gradual
 condensation would become suns1 whose  
atmosphere1 by a similar process of     
condensing1 would become planets1       
capable of brilliant literati and       
philosophers1 in several volumes octavo4
 ,so stood the case for a long time2 it 
was settled to the satisfaction of      
,europe that there were two classes of  
nebul1 one that were worlds1 one that   
were not1 but only the pabulum of future
 worlds4 ,silence arose4 ,a voice was   
heard1 ',let there be ,lord ,rosse6' and
 immediately his telescope walked into  
,orion2 destroyed the supposed matter of
 stars2 but1 in return1 created         

immeasurable worlds4  ,as a hint for    
apprehending the delicacy and difficulty
 of the process in sidereal astronomy1  
let the inexperienced reader figure to  
himself these separate cases of         
perplexity3 #ast1 ,a perplexity where   
the dilemma arises from the collision   
between magnitude and distance3--is the 
size less1 or the distance greater8     
#b;dly1 ,where the dilemma arises       
between motions1 a motion in ourselves  
doubtfully confounded with a motion in  
some external body2 or1 #c;dly1 ,where  
it arises between possible positions of 
an object3 is it a real proximity that  
we see between two stars1 or simply an  
apparent proximity from lying in the    
same visual line1 though in far other   
depths of space8 ,as regards the first  
dilemma1 we may suppose two laws1 ,a and
 ,b1 absolutely in contradiction1 laid  
down at starting3 ,a1 that all fixed    
stars are precisely at the same         
distance2 in this case every difference 
in the apparent magnitude will indicate 

a corresponding difference in the real  
magnitude1 and will measure that        
difference4 ,b1 that all the fixed stars
 are precisely of the same magnitude2 in
 which case1 every variety in the size  
will indicate a corresponding difference
 in the distance1 and will measure that 
difference4 ,nor could we imagine any   
exception to these inferences from ,a or
 from ,b1 whichever of the two were     
assumed1 unless through optical laws    
that might not equally affect objects   
under different circumstances2 ,i mean1 
for instance1 that might suffer a       
disturbance as applied under hypoth4 ,b1
 to different depths in space1 or under 
hypoth4 ,a1 to different arrangements of
 structure in the star4 ,but thirdly1 it
 is certain1 that neither ,a nor ,b is  
the abiding law3 and next it becomes an 
object by science and by instruments to 
distinguish more readily and more       
certainly between the cases where the   
distance has degraded the size1 and the 
cases where the size being really less1 

has caused an exaggeration of the       
distance3 or again1 where the size being
 really less1 yet co-operating with a   
distance really greater1 may degrade the
 estimate1 7though travelling in a right
 direction17 below the truth2 or again  
where the size being really less1 yet   
counteracted by a distance also less1   
may equally disturb the truth of human  
measurements1 and so on4  ,a second     
large order of equivocating appearances 
will arise1--not as to magnitude1 but as
 to motion4 ,if it could be a safe      
assumption1 that the system to which our
 planet is attached were absolutely     
fixed and motionless1 except as regards 
its own internal relations of movement1 
then every change outside of us1 every  
motion that the registers of astronomy  
had established1 would be objective and 
not subjective4 ,it would be safe to    
pronounce at once that it was a motion  
in the object contemplated1 not in the  
subject contemplating4 ,or1 reversely1  
if it were safe to assume as a universal

 law1 that no motion was possible in the
 starry heavens1 then every change of   
relations in space1 between ourselves   
and them1 would indicate and would      
measure a progress1 or regress1 on the  
part of our solar system1 in certain    
known directions4 ,but now1 because it  
is not safe to rest in either           
assumption1 the range of possibilities  
for which science has to provide1 is    
enlarged2 the immediate difficulties are
 multiplied2 but with the result 7as in 
the former case7 of reversionally       
expanding the powers1 and consequently  
the facilities1 lodged both in the      
science and in the arts ministerial to  
the science4 ,thus1 in the constellation
 ,cygnus1 there is a star gradually     
changing its relation to our system1    
whose distance from ourselves 7as ,dr4  
,nichol tells us7 is ascertained to be  
about six hundred and seventy thousand  
times our own distance from the sun3    
that is1 neglecting minute accuracy1    
about six hundred and seventy thousand  

stages of one hundred million miles     
each4 ,this point being known1 it falls 
within the arts of astronomy to         
translate this apparent angular motion  
into miles2 and presuming this change of
 relation to be not in the star1 but    
really in ourselves1 we may deduce the  
velocity of our course1 we may enter    
into our log daily the rate at which our
 whole solar system is running4 ,bessel1
 it seems1 the eminent astronomer who   
died lately1 computed this velocity to  
be such 7viz41 three times that of our  
own earth in its proper orbit7 as would 
carry us to the star in forty-one       
thousand years4 ,but1 in the mean time1 
the astronomer is to hold in reserve    
some small share of his attention1 some 
trifle of a side-glance1 now and then1  
to the possibility of an error1 after   
all1 in the main assumption3 he must    
watch the indications1 if any such      
should arise1 that not ourselves1 but   
the star in ,cygnus1 is the real party  
concerned1 in drifting at this shocking 

rate1 with no prospect of coming to an  
anchorage4 ,footnote3 ,it is worth      
adding at this point1 whilst the reader 
remembers without effort the numbers1   
viz41 forty-one thousand years1 for the 
time1 7the space being our own distance 
from the sun repeated six hundred and   
seventy thousand times17 what would be  
the time required for reaching1 in the  
body1 that distance to which ,lord      
,rosse's six feet mirror has so recently
 extended our vision4 ,the time would   
be1 as ,dr4 ,nichol computes1 about two 
hundred and fifty millions of years1    
supposing that our rate of travelling   
was about three times that of our earth 
in its orbit4 ,now1 as the velocity is  
assumed to be the same in both cases1   
the ratio between the distance 7already 
so tremendous7 of ,bessel's #fa ,cygni1 
and that of ,lord ,rosse's farthest     
frontier1 is as forty- one thousand to  
two hundred and fifty millions4 ,this is
 a simple rule- of-three problem for a  
child4 ,and the answer to it will1      

perhaps1 convey the simplest expression 
of the superhuman power lodged in the   
new telescope3--as is the ratio of      
forty-one thousand to two hundred and   
fifty million1 so is the ratio of our   
own distance from the sun multiplied by 
six hundred and seventy thousand1 to the
 outermost limit of ,lord ,rosse's      
sidereal vision4  ,another class1 and a 
frequent one1 of equivocal phenomena1   
phenomena that are reconcilable         
indifferently with either of two        
assumptions1 though less plausibly      
reconciled with the one than with the   
other1 concerns the position of stars   
that seem connected with each other by  
systematic relations1 and which yet may 
lie in very different depths of space1  
being brought into seeming connection   
only by the human eye4 ,there have been1
 and there are1 cases where two stars   
dissemble an interconnection which they 
really have1 and other cases where they 
simulate an interconnection which they  
have not4 ,all these cases of simulation

 and dissimulation torment the          
astronomer by multiplying his           
perplexities1 and deepening the         
difficulty of escaping them4 ,he cannot 
get at the truth3 in many cases1        
magnitude and distance are in collusion 
with each other to deceive him3 motion  
subjective is in collusion with motion  
objective2 duplex systems are in        
collusion with fraudulent stars1 having 
no real partnership whatever1 but       
mimicking such a partnership by means of
 the limitations or errors affecting the
 human eye1 where it can apply no other 
sense to aid or to correct itself4 ,so  
that the business of astronomy1 in these
 days1 is no sinecure1 as the reader    
perceives4 ,and by another evidence1 it 
is continually becoming less of a       
sinecure4 ,formerly1 one or two men1--  
,tycho1 suppose1 or1 in a later age1    
,cassini and ,horrox1 and ,bradley1 had 
observatories3 one man1 suppose1        
observed the stars for all ,christendom2
 and the rest of ,europe observed him4  

,but now1 up and down ,europe1 from the 
deep blue of ,italian skies to the cold 
frosty atmospheres of ,st4 ,petersburg  
and ,glasgow1 the stars are conscious of
 being watched everywhere2 and if all   
astronomers do not publish their        
observations1 all use them in their     
speculations4 ,new and brilliantly      
appointed observatories are rising in   
every latitude1 or risen2 and none1 by  
the way1 of these new-born              
observatories1 is more interesting from 
the circumstances of its position1 or   
more picturesque to a higher organ than 
the eye--viz41 to the human heart--than 
the ,new ,observatory raised by the     
university of ,glasgow4,footnote3 ,it   
has been reported1 ever since the autumn
 of #ahde1 and the report is now1       
7,august1 #ahdf17 gathering strength1   
that some railway potentate1 having     
taken a fancy for the ancient college of
 ,glasgow1 as a bauble to hang about his
 wife's neck1 7no accounting for        
tastes17 has offered1 7or will offer17  

such a price1 that the good old academic
 lady in this her moss-grown antiquity1 
seriously thinks of taking him at his   
word1 packing up her traps1 and being   
off4 ,when a spirit of galavanting comes
 across an aged lady1 it is always      
difficult to know where it will stop3   
so1 in fact1 you know1 she may choose to
 steam for ,texas4 ,but the present     
impression is1 that she will settle down
 by the side of what you may call her   
married or settled daughter--the        
,observatory2 which one would be glad to
 have confirmed1 as indicating that no  
purpose of pleasure-seeking had been    
working in elderly minds1 but the       
instinct of religious rest and          
aspiration4 ,the ,observatory would thus
 remind one of those early ,christian   
anchorites1 and self-exiled visionaries1
 that being led by almost a necessity of
 nature to take up their residence in   
deserts1 sometimes drew after themselves
 the whole of their own neighborhood4   
,the ,new ,observatory of ,glasgow is   

now1 ,i believe1 finished2 and the only 
fact connected with its history that was
 painful1 as embodying and recording    
that ,vandal alienation from science1   
literature1 and all their interests1    
which has ever marked our too haughty   
and ,caliph-,omar- like ,british        
government1 lay in the circumstance that
 the glasses of the apparatus1 the whole
 mounting of the establishment1 in so   
far as it was a scientific              
establishment1 and even the workmen for 
putting up the machinery1 were imported 
from ,bavaria4 ,we1 that once bade the  
world stand aside when the question     
arose about glasses1 or the graduation  
of instruments1 were now literally      
obliged to stand cap in hand1 bowing to 
,mr4 ,somebody1 successor of            
,frauenhofer or ,frauendevil1 in        
,munich6 ,who caused that1 we should all
 be glad to know1 if not the wicked     
,treasury1 that killed the hen that laid
 the golden eggs by taxing her until her
 spine broke8 ,it is to be hoped that1  

at this moment1 and specifically for    
this offence1 some scores of ,exchequer 
men1 chancellors and other rubbish1 are 
in purgatory1 and perhaps working1 with 
shirt-sleeves tucked up1 in purgatorial 
glass-houses1 with very small allowances
 of beer1 to defray the cost of         
perspiration4 ,but why trouble a festal 
remembrance with commemorations of      
crimes or criminals8 ,what makes the    
,glasgow ,observatory so peculiarly     
interesting1 is its position1 connected 
with and overlooking so vast a city1    
having more than three hundred thousand 
inhabitants1 7in spite of an ,american  
sceptic17 nearly all children of toil2  
and a city1 too1 which1 from the        
necessities of its circumstances1 draws 
so deeply upon that fountain of misery  
and guilt which some ordinance1 as      
ancient as 'our father ,jacob1' with his
 patriarchal well for ,samaria1 has     
bequeathed to manufacturing towns1--to  
,ninevehs1 to ,babylons1 to ,tyres4 ,how
 tarnished with eternal canopies of     

smoke1 and of sorrow2 how dark with     
agitations of many orders1 is the mighty
 town below6 ,how serene1 how quiet1 how
 lifted above the confusion and the     
roar1 how liberated from the strifes of 
earth1 is the solemn ,observatory that  
crowns the grounds above6 ,and duly1 at 
night1 just when the toil of            
over-wrought ,glasgow is mercifully     
relaxing1 then comes the summons to the 
laboring astronomer4 ,he speaks not of  
the night1 but of the day and the       
flaunting day-light1 as the hours 'in   
which no man can work4' ,and the least  
reflecting of men must be impressed by  
the idea1 that at wide intervals1 but   
intervals scattered over ,europe1 whilst
 'all that mighty heart' is1 by sleep1  
resting from its labors1 secret eyes are
 lifted up to heaven in astronomical    
watch-towers2 eyes that keep watch and  
ward over spaces that make us dizzy to  
remember1 eyes that register the        
promises of comets1 and disentangle the 
labyrinths of worlds4  ,another feature 

of interest1 connected with the ,glasgow
 ,observatory1 is personal1 and founded 
on the intellectual characteristics of  
the present professor1 ,dr4 ,nichol2 in 
the deep meditative style of his mind   
seeking for rest1 yet placed in conflict
 for ever with the tumultuous necessity 
in him for travelling along the line of 
revolutionary thought1 and following it 
loyally1 wearied or not1 to its natural 
home4  ,in a sonnet of ,milton1 one of  
three connected with his own blindness1 
he distinguishes between two classes of 
servants that minister to the purposes  
of ,god4 ',his state1' says he1 meaning 
,god's state1 the arrangement of his    
regular service1 'is kingly2' that is to
 say1 it resembles the mode of service  
established in the courts of kings2 and1
 in this1 it resembles that service1    
that there are two classes of ministers 
attending on his pleasure4 ,for1 as in  
the trains of kings are some that run   
without resting1 night or day1 to carry 
the royal messages1 and also            

others--great lords in waiting--that    
move not from the royal gates2 so of the
 divine retinues1 some are for action   
only1 some for contemplation4           
',thousands' there are that    ----'at  
his bidding speed1   ,and post o'er land
 and ocean without rest4'  ,others1 on  
the contrary1 motionless as statues1    
that share not in the agitations of     
their times1 that tremble not in        
sympathy with the storms around them1   
but that listen--that watch--that       
wait--for secret indications to be      
fulfilled1 or secret signs to be        
deciphered4 ,and1 of this latter class1 
he adds-that they1 not less than the    
others1 are accepted by ,god2 or1 as it 
is so exquisitely expressed in the      
closing line1    ',they also serve1 that
 only stand and wait4'  ,something      
analogous to this one may see in the    
distributions of literature and science4
 ,many popularize and diffuse3 some reap
 and gather on their own account4 ,many 
translate1 into languages fit for the   

multitude1 messages which they receive  
from human voices3 some listen1 like    
,kubla ,khan1 far down in caverns or    
hanging over subterranean rivers1 for   
secret whispers that mingle and confuse 
themselves with the general uproar of   
torrents1 but which can be detected and 
kept apart by the obstinate prophetic   
ear1 which spells into words and ominous
 sentences the distracted syllables of  
rial voices4 ,dr4 ,nichol is one of     
those who pass to and fro between these 
classes2 and has the rare function of   
keeping open their vital communications4
 ,as a popularizing astronomer1 he has  
done more for the benefit of his great  
science than all the rest of ,europe    
combined3 and now1 when he notices1     
without murmur1 the fact that his office
 of popular teacher is almost taken out 
of his hands1 7so many are they who have
 trained of late for the duty17 that    
change has1 in fact1 been accomplished  
through knowledge1 through explanations1
 through suggestions1 dispersed and     

prompted by himself4  ,for my own part1 
as one belonging to the laity1 and not  
to the clerus1 in the science of        
astronomy1 ,i could scarcely have       
presumed to report minutely1 or to sit  
in the character of dissector upon the  
separate details of ,dr4 ,nichol's      
works1 either this1 or those which have 
preceded it1 had there even been room   
left disposable for such a task4 ,but in
 this view it is sufficient to have made
 the general acknowledgment which       
already has been made1 that ,dr4        
,nichol's works1 and his oral lectures  
upon astronomy1 are to be considered as 
the fundus of the knowledge on that     
science now working in this generation4 
,more important it is1 and more in      
reconciliation with the tenor of my own 
ordinary studies1 to notice the         
philosophic spirit in which ,dr4        
,nichol's works are framed2 the breadth 
of his views1 the eternal tendency of   
his steps in advance1 or 7if advance on 
that quarter1 or at that point1 happens 

to be absolutely walled out for the     
present17 the vigor of the              
reconnoissances by which he examines the
 hostile intrenchments4 ,another feature
 challenges notice4 ,in reading         
astronomical works1 there arises 7from  
old experience of what is usually most  
faulty7 a wish either for the naked     
severities of science1 with a total     
abstinence from all display of          
enthusiasm2 or else1 if the cravings of 
human sensibility are to be met and     
gratified1 that it shall be by an       
enthusiasm unaffected and grand as its  
subject4 ,of that kind is the enthusiasm
 of ,dr4 ,nichol4 ,the grandeurs of     
astronomy are such to him who has a     
capacity for being grandly moved4 ,they 
are none at all to him who has not4 ,to 
the mean they become meannesses4 ,space1
 for example1 has no grandeur to him who
 has no space in the theatre of his own 
brain4 ,i know writers who report the   
marvels of velocity1 c41 in such a way  
that they become insults to yourself4   

,it is obvious that in their way of     
insisting on our earth's speed in her   
annual orbit1 they do not seek to exalt 
her1 but to mortify you4 ,and1 besides1 
these fellows are answerable for        
provoking people into fibs3--for ,i     
remember one day1 that reading a        
statement of this nature1 about how many
 things the ,earth had done that we     
could never hope to do1 and about the   
number of cannon balls1 harnessed as a  
tandem1 which the ,earth would fly past1
 without leaving time to say1 ,how are  
you off for soap8 in vexation of heart  
,i could not help exclaiming--',that's  
nothing3 ,i've done a great deal more   
myself2' though1 when one turns it in   
one's mind1 you know there must be some 
inaccuracy there4 ,how different is ,dr4
 ,nichol's enthusiasm from this         
hypocritical and vulgar wonderment6 ,it 
shows itself not merely in reflecting   
the grandeurs of his theme1 and by the  
sure test of detecting and allying      
itself with all the indirect grandeurs  

that arrange themselves from any        
distance1 upon or about that centre1 but
 by the manifest promptness with which  
,dr4 ,nichol's enthusiasm awakens itself
 upon every road that leads to things   
elevating for man2 or to things         
promising for knowledge2 or to things   
which1 like dubious theories or         
imperfect attempts at systematizing1    
though neutral as regards knowledge1    
minister to what is greater than        
knowledge1 viz41 to intellectual power1 
to the augmented power of handling your 
materials1 though with no more materials
 than before4 ,in his geological and    
cosmological inquiries1 in his casual   
speculations1 the same quality of       
intellect betrays itself2 the intellect 
that labors in sympathy with the        
laboring nisus of these gladiatorial    
times2 that works 7and sees the         
necessity of working7 the apparatus of  
many sciences towards a composite       
result2 the intellect that retires in   
one direction only to make head in      

another2 and that already is prefiguring
 the route beyond the barriers1 whilst  
yet the gates are locked4  ,there was a 
man in the last century1 and an eminent 
man too1 who used to say1 that whereas  
people in general pretended to admire   
astronomy as being essentially sublime1 
he for his part looked upon all that    
sort of thing as a swindle2 and1 on the 
contrary1 he regarded the solar system  
as decidedly vulgar2 because the planets
 were all of them so infernally         
punctual1 they kept time with such      
horrible precision1 that they forced    
him1 whether he would or no1 to think of
 nothing but post- office clocks1       
mail-coaches1 and book-keepers4         
,regularity may be beautiful1 but it    
excludes the sublime4 ,what he wished   
for was something like ,lloyd's list4   
,comets--due #c2 arrived #a4 ,mercury1  
when last seen1 appeared to be          
distressed2 but made no signals4 ,pallas
 and ,vesta1 not heard of for some time2
 supposed to have foundered4 ,moon1     

spoken last night through a heavy bank  
of clouds2 out sixteen days3 all right4 
,now this poor man's misfortune was1 to 
have lived in the days of mere planetary
 astronomy4 ,at present1 when our own   
little system1 with all its grandeurs1  
has dwindled by comparison to a         
subordinate province1 if any man is bold
 enough to say so1 a poor shivering unit
 amongst myriads that are brighter1 we  
ought no longer to talk of astronomy1   
but of the astronomies4 ,there is the   
planetary1 the cometary1 the sidereal1  
perhaps also others2 as1 for instance1  
even yet the nebular2 because1 though   
,lord ,rosse has smitten it with the son
 of ,amram's rod1 has made it open1 and 
cloven a path through it1 yet other and 
more fearful nebul may loom in sight1   
7if further improvements should be      
effected in the telescope17 that may    
puzzle even ,lord ,rosse4 ,and when he  
tells his famulus--',fire a shot at that
 strange fellow1 and make him show his  
colors1' possibly the mighty stranger   

may disdain the summons4 ,that would be 
vexatious3 we should all be incensed at 
that4 ,but no matter4 ,what's a nebula1 
what's a world1 more or less8 ,in the   
spiritual heavens are many mansions3 in 
the starry heavens1 that are now        
unfolding and preparing to unfold before
 us1 are many vacant areas upon which   
the astronomer may pitch his secret     
pavilion4 ,he may dedicate himself to   
the service of the ,double ,suns2 he has
 my license to devote his whole time to 
the quadruple system of suns in ,lyra4  
,swammerdam spent his life in a ditch   
watching frogs and tadpoles2 why may not
 an astronomer give nine lives1 if he   
had them1 to the watching of that awful 
appearance in ,hercules1 which pretends 
to some rights over our own unoffending 
system8 ,why may he not mount guard with
 public approbation1 for the next fifty 
years1 upon the zodiacal light1 the     
interplanetary ether1 and other         
rarities1 which the professional body of
 astronomers would naturally keep 7if   

they could7 for their own private       
enjoyment8 ,there is no want of variety 
now1 nor in fact of irregularity3 for   
the most exquisite clock-work1 which    
from enormous distance seems to go      
wrong1 virtually for us does go wrong2  
so that our friend of the last century1 
who complained of the solar system1     
would not need to do so any longer4     
,there are anomalies enough to keep him 
cheerful4 ,there are now even things to 
alarm us2 for anything in the starry    
worlds that look suspicious1 anything   
that ought not to be there1 is1 for all 
purposes of frightening us1 as good as a
 ghost4  ,but of all the novelties that 
excite my own interest in the expanding 
astronomy of recent times1 the most     
delightful and promising are those      
charming little pyrotechnic             
planetoids1,footnote3 ',pyrotechnic     
,planetoids3'--,the reader will         
understand me as alluding to the        
periodic shooting stars4 ,it is now well
 known1 that as1 upon our own poor      

little earthly ocean1 we fall in with   
certain phenomena as we approach certain
 latitudes2 so also upon the great ocean
 navigated by our ,earth1 we fall in    
with prodigious showers of these meteors
 at periods no longer uncertain1 but    
fixed as jail-deliveries4 ',these       
remarkable showers of meteors1' says    
,dr4 ,nichol1 'observed at different    
periods in ,august and ,november1 seem  
to demonstrate the fact1 that1 at these 
periods1 we have come in contact with   
two streams of such planetoids then     
intersecting the earth's orbit4' ,if    
they intermit1 it is only because they  
are shifting their nodes1 or points of  
intersection4 that variegate our annual 
course4 ,it always struck me as most    
disgusting1 that1 in going round the    
sun1 we must be passing continually over
 old roads1 and yet we had no means of  
establishing an acquaintance with them3 
they might as well be new for every     
trip4 ,those chambers of ether1 through 
which we are tearing along night and    

day1 7for our train stops at no         
stations17 doubtless1 if we could put   
some mark upon them1 must be old fellows
 perfectly liable to recognition4 ,i    
suppose1 they never have notice to quit4
 ,and yet1 for want of such a mark1     
though all our lives flying past them   
and through them1 we can never challenge
 them as known4 ,the same thing happens 
in the desert3 one monotonous iteration 
of sand1 sand1 sand1 unless where some  
miserable fountain stagnates1 forbids   
all approach to familiarity3 nothing is 
circumstantiated or differenced3 travel 
it for three generations1 and you are no
 nearer to identification of its parts3 
so that it amounts to travelling through
 an abstract idea4 ,for the desert1     
really ,i suspect the thing is hopeless3
 but1 as regards our planetary orbit1   
matters are mending3 for the last six or
 seven years ,i have heard of these     
fiery showers1 but indeed ,i cannot say 
how much earlier they were first        
noticed1,footnote3 ,somewhere ,i have   

seen it remarked1 that if1 on a public  
road1 you meet a party of four women1 it
 is at least fifty to one that they are 
all laughing2 whereas1 if you meet an   
equal party of my own unhappy sex1 you  
may wager safely that they are talking  
gravely1 and that one of them is        
uttering the word money4 ,hence it must 
be1 viz1 because our sisters are too    
much occupied with the playful things of
 this earth1 and our brothers with its  
gravities1 that neither party           
sufficiently watches the skies4 ,and    
that accounts for a fact which often has
 struck myself1 viz41 that1 in cities1  
on bright moonless nights1 when some    
brilliant skirmishings of the ,aurora   
are exhibiting1 or even a luminous arch1
 which is a broad ribbon of snowy light 
that spans the skies1 positively unless 
,i myself say to people--',eyes         
upwards6' not one in a hundred1 male or 
female1 but fails to see the show1      
though it may be seen gratis1 simply    
because their eyes are too uniformly    

reading the earth4 ,this downward       
direction of the eyes1 however1 must    
have been worse in former ages3 because 
else it never could have happened that1 
until ,queen ,anne's days1 nobody ever  
hinted in a book that there was such a  
thing1 or could be such a thing1 as the 
,aurora ,borealis2 and in fact ,halley  
had the credit of discovering it4 as    
celebrating two annual festivals--one in
 ,august1 one in ,november4 ,you are a  
little too late1 reader1 for seeing this
 year's summer festival2 but that's no  
reason why you should not engage a good 
seat for the ,november meeting2 which1  
if ,i recollect1 is about the #ith1 or  
the ,lord ,mayor's day1 and on the whole
 better worth seeing4 ,for anything we  
know1 this may be a great day in the    
earth's earlier history2 she may have   
put forth her original rose on this day1
 or tried her hand at a primitive       
specimen of wheat2 or she may1 in fact1 
have survived some gunpowder plot about 
this time2 so that the meteoric         

appearance may be a kind congratulating 
feu-de-joye1 on the anniversary of the  
happy event4 ,what it is that the       
'cosmogony man' in the ',vicar of       
,wakefield' would have thought of such  
novelties1 whether he would have favored
 us with his usual opinion upon such    
topics1 viz41 that anarchon ara kai     
ateleutaion to pan1 or have sported a   
new one exclusively for this occasion1  
may be doubtful4 ,what it is that       
astronomers think1 who are a kind of    
'cosmogony men1' the reader may learn   
from ,dr4 ,nichol1 ,note ,b1 7p4 #aci1  
#adj47  ,in taking leave of a book and a
 subject so well fitted to draw out the 
highest mode of that grandeur1 which can
 connect itself with the external1 7a   
grandeur capable of drawing down a      
spiritual being to earth1 but not of    
raising an earthly being to heaven17 ,i 
would wish to contribute my own brief   
word of homage to this grandeur by      
recalling from a fading remembrance of  
twenty-five years back a short bravura  

of ,john ,paul ,richter4 ,i call it a   
bravura1 as being intentionally a       
passage of display and elaborate        
execution2 and in this sense ,i may call
 it partly 'my own1' that at twenty-five
 years' distance1 7after one single     
reading17 it would not have been        
possible for any man to report a passage
 of this length without greatly         
disturbing ,footnote3                   
',disturbing2'--neither perhaps should  
,i much have sought to avoid alterations
 if the original had been lying before  
me3 for it takes the shape of a dream2  
and this most brilliant of all ,german  
writers wanted in that field the severe 
simplicity1 that horror of the too much1
 belonging to ,grecian architecture1    
which is essential to the perfection of 
a dream considered as a work of art4 ,he
 was too elaborate1 to realize the      
grandeur of the shadowy4 the texture of 
the composition3 by altering1 one makes 
it partly one's own2 but it is right to 
mention1 that the sublime turn at the   

end belongs entirely to ,john ,paul4    
',god called up from dreams a man into  
the vestibule of heaven1 saying1 --,come
 thou hither1 and see the glory of my   
house4 ,and to the servants that stood  
around his throne he said1--,take him1  
and undress him from his robes of flesh3
 cleanse his vision1 and put a new      
breath into his nostrils3 only touch not
 with any change his human heart--the   
heart that weeps and trembles4 ,it was  
done2 and1 with a mighty angel for his  
guide1 the man stood ready for his      
infinite voyage2 and from the terraces  
of heaven1 without sound or farewell1 at
 once they wheeled away into endless    
space4 ,sometimes with the solemn flight
 of angel wing they fled through        
,zaarrahs of darkness1 through          
wildernesses of death1 that divided the 
worlds of life3 sometimes they swept    
over frontiers1 that were quickening    
under prophetic motions from ,god4      
,then1 from a distance that is counted  
only in heaven1 light dawned for a time 

through a sleepy film3 by unutterable   
pace the light swept to them1 they by   
unutterable pace to the light3 in a     
moment the rushing of planets was upon  
them3 in a moment the blazing of suns   
was around them4 ,then came eternities  
of twilight1 that revealed1 but were not
 revealed4 ,to the right hand and to the
 left towered mighty constellations1    
that by self-repetitions and answers    
from afar1 that by counter-positions1   
built up triumphal gates1 whose         
architraves1 whose archways--horizontal1
 upright--rested1 rose--at altitudes1 by
 spans-- that seemed ghostly from       
infinitude4 ,without measure were the   
architraves1 past number were the       
archways1 beyond memory the gates4      
,within were stairs that scaled the     
eternities above1 that descended to the 
eternities below3 above was below1 below
 was above1 to the man stripped of      
gravitating body3 depth was swallowed up
 in height insurmountable1 height was   
swallowed up in depth unfathomable4     

,suddenly as thus they rode from        
infinite to infinite1 suddenly as thus  
they tilted over abysmal worlds1 a      
mighty cry arose--that systems more     
mysterious1 that worlds more            
billowy1--other heights1 and other      
depths1--were coming1 were nearing1 were
 at hand4 ,then the man sighed1 and     
stopped1 shuddered and wept4 ,his       
over-laden heart uttered itself in      
tears2 and he said1--,angel1 ,i will go 
no farther4 ,for the spirit of man aches
 with this infinity4 ,insufferable is   
the glory of ,god4 ,let me lie down in  
the grave from the persecutions of the  
infinite2 for end1 ,i see1 there is     
none4 ,and from all the listening stars 
that shone around issued a choral voice1
 ,the man speaks truly3 end there is    
none1 that ever yet we heard of4 ,end is
 there none8 the angel solemnly         
demanded3 ,is there indeed no end8 ,and 
is this the sorrow that kills you8 ,but 
no voice answered1 that he might answer 
himself4 ,then the angel threw up his   

glorious hands to the heaven of heavens2
 saying1 ,end is there none to the      
universe of ,god8 ,lo6 also there is no 
,beginning4'   ,,note4--,on throwing his
 eyes hastily over the preceding paper1 
the writer becomes afraid that some     
readers may give such an interpretation 
to a few playful expressions upon the   
age of our earth1 c41 as to class him   
with those who use geology1 cosmology1  
c41 for purposes of attack1 or          
insinuation against the ,scriptures4    
,upon this point1 therefore1 he wishes  
to make a firm explanation of his own   
opinions1 which1 7whether right or      
wrong17 will liberate him1 once and for 
all1 from any such jealousy4  ,it is    
sometimes said1 that the revealer of a  
true religion1 does not come amongst men
 for the sake of teaching truths in     
science1 or correcting errors in        
science4 ,most justly is this said3 but 
often in terms far too feeble4 ,for     
generally these terms are such as to    
imply1 that1 although no function of his

 mission1 it was yet open to him--      
although not pressing with the force of 
an obligation upon the revealer1 it was 
yet at his discretion--if not to correct
 other men's errors1 yet at least in his
 own person to speak with scientific    
precision4 ,i contend that it was not4  
,i contend1 that to have uttered the    
truths of astronomy1 of geology1 c41 at 
the era of new- born ,christianity1 was 
not only below the purposes of a        
religion1 but would have been against   
them4 ,even upon errors of a far more   
important class than any errors in      
science can ever be1-- superstitions1   
for instance1 that degraded the very    
idea of ,god2 prejudices and false      
usages1 that laid waste human happiness1
 7such as slavery and many hundreds of  
other abuses that might be mentioned17  
the rule evidently acted upon by the    
,founder of ,christianity was this--    
,given the purification of the fountain1
 once assumed that the fountains of     
truth are cleansed1 all these derivative

 currents of evil will cleanse          
themselves4 ,and the only exceptions1   
which ,i remember1 to this rule1 are two
 cases in which1 from the personal      
appeal made to his decision1 ,christ    
would have made himself a party to      
wretched delusions1 if he had not       
condescended to expose their folly4     
,but1 as a general rule1 the branches of
 error were disregarded1 and the roots  
only attacked4 ,if1 then1 so lofty a    
station was taken with regard even to   
such errors as had moral and spiritual  
relations1 how much more with regard to 
the comparative trifles1 7as in the     
ultimate relations of human nature they 
are17 of merely human science6 ,but1 for
 my part1 ,i go further1 and assert1    
that upon three reasons it was          
impossible for any messenger from ,god1 
7or offering himself in that character17
 for a moment to have descended into the
 communication of truth merely          
scientific1 or economic1 or worldly4    
,and the reasons are these3 ,first1     

,because it would have degraded his     
mission1 by lowering it to the base     
level of a collision with human         
curiosity1 or with petty and transitory 
interests4 ,secondly1 ,because it would 
have ruined his mission2 would utterly  
have prostrated the free agency and the 
proper agency of that mission4 ,he that1
 in those days1 should have proclaimed  
the true theory of the ,solar ,system   
and the heavenly forces1 would have been
 shut up at once--as a lunatic likely to
 become dangerous4 ,but suppose him to  
have escaped that2 still1 as a divine   
teacher1 he has no liberty of caprice4  
,he must stand to the promises of his   
own acts4 ,uttering the first truth of a
 science1 he is pledged to the second3  
taking the main step1 he is committed to
 all which follow4 ,he is thrown at once
 upon the endless controversies which   
science in every stage provokes1 and in 
none more than in the earliest4 ,or1 if 
he retires as from a scene of contest   
that he had not anticipated1 he retires 

as one confessing a human precipitance  
and a human oversight1 weaknesses1      
venial in others1 but fatal to the      
pretensions of a divine teacher4        
,starting besides from such pretensions1
 he could not 7as others might7 have the
 privilege of selecting arbitrarily or  
partially4 ,if upon one science1 then   
upon all1--if upon science1 then upon1  
art1--if upon art and science1 then upon
 every branch of social economy1 upon   
every organ of civilization1 his        
reformations and advances are equally   
due2 due as to all1 if due as to any4   
,to move in one direction1 is           
constructively to undertake for all4    
,without power to retreat1 he has thus  
thrown the intellectual interests of his
 followers into a channel utterly alien 
to the purposes of a spiritual mission4 
,thus far he has simply failed3 but next
 comes a worse result2 an evil1 not     
negative but positive4 ,because1        
thirdly1 to apply the light of a        
revelation for the benefit of a merely  

human science1 which is virtually done  
by so applying the illumination of an   
inspired teacher1 is--to assault        
capitally the scheme of ,god's          
discipline and training for man4 ,to    
improve by heavenly means1 if but in one
 solitary science--to lighten1 if but in
 one solitary section1 the condition of 
difficulty which had been designed for  
the strengthening and training of human 
faculties1 is pro tanto to disturb--to  
cancel--to contradict a previous purpose
 of ,god1 made known by silent          
indications from the beginning of the   
world4 ,wherefore did ,god give to man  
the powers for contending with          
scientific difficulties8 ,wherefore did 
he lay a secret train of continual      
occasions1 that should rise1 by         
intervals1 through thousands of         
generations1 for provoking and          
developing those activities in man's    
intellect1 if1 after all1 he is to send 
a messenger of his own1 more than human1
 to intercept and strangle all these    

great purposes8 ,when1 therefore1 the   
persecutors of ,galileo1 alleged that   
,jupiter1 for instance1 could not move  
in the way alleged1 because then the    
,bible would have proclaimed it1--as    
they thus threw back upon ,god the      
burthen of discovery1 which he had      
thrown upon ,galileo1 why did they not1 
by following out their own logic1 throw 
upon the ,bible the duty of discovering 
the telescope1 or discovering the       
satellites of ,jupiter8 ,and1 as no such
 discoveries were there1 why did they   
not1 by parity of logic1 and for mere   
consistency1 deny the telescope as a    
fact1 deny the ,jovian planets as facts8
 ,but this it is to mistake the very    
meaning and purposes of a revelation4 ,a
 revelation is not made for the purpose 
of showing to idle men that which they  
may show to themselves1 by faculties    
already given to them1 if only they will
 exert those faculties1 but for the     
purpose of showing that which the moral 
darkness of man will not1 without       

supernatural light1 allow him to        
perceive4 ,with disdain1 therefore1 must
 every considerate person regard the    
notion1--that ,god could wilfully       
interfere with his own plans1 by        
accrediting ambassadors to reveal       
astronomy1 or any other science1 which  
he has commanded men to cultivate       
without revelation1 by endowing them    
with all the natural powers for doing   
so4  ,even as regards astronomy1 a      
science so nearly allying itself to     
religion by the loftiness and by the    
purity of its contemplations1 ,scripture
 is nowhere the parent of any doctrine1 
nor so much as the silent sanctioner of 
any doctrine4 ,scripture cannot become  
the author of falsehood1--though it were
 as to a trifle1 cannot become a party  
to falsehood4 ,and it is made impossible
 for ,scripture to teach falsely1 by the
 simple fact that ,scripture1 on such   
subjects1 will not condescend to teach  
at all4 ,the ,bible adopts the erroneous
 language of men1 7which at any rate it 

must do1 in order to make itself        
understood17 not by way of sanctioning a
 theory1 but by way of using a fact4    
,the ,bible uses 7postulates7 the       
phenomena of day and night1 of summer   
and winter1 and expresses them1 in      
relation to their causes1 as men express
 them1 men1 even1 that are scientific   
astronomers4 ,but the results1 which are
 all that concern ,scripture1 are       
equally true1 whether accounted for by  
one hypothesis which is philosophically 
just1 or by another which is popular and
 erring4  ,now1 on the other hand1 in   
geology and cosmology1 the case is still
 stronger4 ,here there is no opening for
 a compliance even with popular         
language4 ,here1 where there is no such 
stream of apparent phenomena running    
counter 7as in astronomy7 to the real   
phenomena1 neither is there any popular 
language opposed to the scientific4 ,the
 whole are abstruse speculations1 even  
as regards their objects1 not dreamed of
 as possibilities1 either in their true 

aspects or their false aspects1 till    
modern times4 ,the ,scriptures1         
therefore1 nowhere allude to such       
sciences1 either under the shape of     
histories1 applied to processes current 
and in movement1 or under the shape of  
theories applied to processes past and  
accomplished4 ,the ,mosaic cosmogony1   
indeed1 gives the succession of natural 
births2 and that succession will        
doubtless be more and more confirmed and
 illustrated as geology advances4 ,but  
as to the time1 the duration1 of this   
cosmogony1 it is the idlest of notions  
that the ,scriptures either have or     
could have condescended to human        
curiosity upon so awful a prologue to   
the drama of this world4 ,genesis would 
no more have indulged so mean a passion 
with respect to the mysterious          
inauguration of the world1 than the     
,apocalypse with respect to its         
mysterious close4 ',yet the six days of 
,moses6' ,days6 ,but is any man so      
little versed in biblical language as   

not to know that 7except in the merely  
historical parts of the ,jewish records7
 every section of time has a secret and 
separate acceptation in the ,scriptures8
 ,does an on1 though a ,grecian word1   
bear scripturally either in ,daniel or  
in ,saint ,john any sense known to      
,grecian ears8 ,do the seventy weeks of 
the prophet mean weeks in the sense of  
human calendars8 ,already the ,psalms1  
7xc7 already ,st4 ,peter1 7#b;d ,epist47
 warn us of a peculiar sense attached to
 the word day in divine ears8 ,and who  
of the innumerable interpreters         
understands the twelve hundred and odd  
days in ,daniel1 or his two thousand and
 odd days1 to mean1 by possibility1     
periods of twenty-four hours8 ,surely   
the theme of ,moses was as mystical1 and
 as much entitled to the benefit of     
mystical language1 as that of the       
prophets4  ,the sum of the matter is    
this3--,god1 by a ,hebrew prophet1 is   
sublimely described as the ,revealer2   
and1 in variation of his own expression1

 the same prophet describes him as the  
,being 'that knoweth the darkness4'     
,under no idea can the relations of ,god
 to man be more grandly expressed4 ,but 
of what is he the revealer8 ,not surely 
of those things which he has enabled man
 to reveal for himself1 and which he has
 commanded him so to reveal1 but of     
those things which1 were it not through 
special light from heaven1 must         
eternally remain sealed up in the       
inaccessible darkness4 ,on this         
principle we should all laugh at a      
revealed cookery4 ,but essentially the  
same ridicule applies to a revealed     
astronomy1 or a revealed geology4 ,as a 
fact1 there is no such astronomy or     
geology3 as a possibility1 by the a     
priori argument which ,i have used1     
7viz41 that a revelation on such fields1
 would contradict other machineries of  
providence17 there can be no such       
astronomy or geology4 ,consequently     
there can be none such in the ,bible4   
,consequently there is none4            

,consequently there can be no schism or 
feud upon these subjects between the    
,bible and the philosophies outside4    
,geology is a field left open1 with the 
amplest permission from above1 to the   
widest and wildest speculations of man4 
,,modern ,,superstition   ,it is said   
continually--that the age of miracles is
 past4 ,we deny that it is so in any    
sense which implies this age to differ  
from all other generations of man except
 one4 ,it is neither past1 nor ought we 
to wish it past4 ,superstition is no    
vice in the constitution of man3 it is  
not true that1 in any philosophic view1 
primus in orbe deos fecit timor         
--meaning by fecit even so much as      
raised into light4 ,as ,burke remarked1 
the timor at least must be presumed to  
preexist1 and must be accounted for1 if 
not the gods4 ,if the fear created the  
gods1 what created the fear8 ,far more  
true1 and more just to the grandeur of  
man1 it would have been to say--,primus 
in orbe deos fecit sensus infiniti4     

,even in the lowest ,caffre1 more goes  
to the sense of a divine being than     
simply his wrath or his power4          
,superstition1 indeed1 or the sympathy  
with the invisible1 is the great test of
 man's nature1 as an earthly combining  
with a celestial4 ,in superstition lies 
the possibility of religion4 ,and though
 superstition is often injurious1       
degrading1 demoralizing1 it is so1 not  
as a form of corruption or degradation1 
but as a form of non-development4 ,the  
crab is harsh1 and for itself worthless4
 ,but it is the germinal form of        
innumerable finer fruits3 not apples    
only the most exquisite1 and pears2 the 
peach and the nectarine are said to have
 radiated from this austere stock when  
cultured1 developed1 and transferred to 
all varieties of climate4 ,superstition 
will finally pass into pure forms of    
religion as man advances4 ,it would be  
matter of lamentation to hear that      
superstition had at all decayed until   
man had made corresponding steps in the 

purification and development of his     
intellect as applicable to religious    
faith4 ,let us hope that this is not so4
 ,and1 by way of judging1 let us throw a
 hasty eye over the modes of popular    
superstition4 ,if these manifest their  
vitality1 it will prove that the popular
 intellect does not go along with the   
bookish or the worldly 7philosophic we  
cannot call it7 in pronouncing the      
miraculous extinct4 ,the popular feeling
 is all in all4  ,this function of      
miraculous power1 which is most widely  
diffused through ,pagan and ,christian  
ages alike1 but which has the least root
 in the solemnities of the imagination1 
we may call the ,ovidian4 ,by way of    
distinction1 it may be so called2 and   
with some justice1 since ,ovid in his   
,metamorphoses gave the first elaborate 
record of such a tendency in human      
superstition4 ,it is a movement of      
superstition under the domination of    
human affections2 a mode of spiritual   
awe which seeks to reconcile itself with

 human tenderness or admiration2 and    
which represents supernatural power as  
expressing itself by a sympathy with    
human distress or passion concurrently  
with human sympathies1 and as supporting
 that blended sympathy by a symbol      
incarnated with the fixed agencies of   
nature4 ,for instance1 a pair of        
youthful lovers perish by a double      
suicide originating in a fatal mistake1 
and a mistake operating in each case    
through a noble self-oblivion4 ,the tree
 under which their meeting has been     
concerted1 and which witnesses their    
tragedy1 is supposed ever afterwards to 
express the divine sympathy with this   
catastrophe in the gloomy color of its  
fruit3--    ',at tu1 qu ramis 7arbor67  
miserabile corpus   ,nunc tegis unius1  
mox es tectura duorum1   ,signa tene    
cdis3--pullosque et luctibus aptos      
,semper habe fructus--gemini monumenta  
cruoris3'  ,such is the dying adjuration
 of the lady to the tree4 ,and the fruit
 becomes from that time a monument of a 

double sympathy--sympathy from man1     
sympathy from a dark power standing     
behind the agencies of nature1 and      
speaking through them4 ,meantime the    
object of this sympathy is understood to
 be not the individual catastrophe1 but 
the universal case of unfortunate love  
exemplified in this particular romance4 
,the inimitable grace with which ,ovid  
has delivered these early traditions of 
human tenderness1 blending with human   
superstition1 is notorious2 the         
artfulness of the pervading connection1 
by which every tale in the long         
succession is made to arise             
spontaneously out of that which         
precedes1 is absolutely unrivalled2 and 
this it was1 with his luxuriant gayety1 
which procured for him a preference1    
even with ,milton1 a poet so opposite by
 intellectual constitution4 ,it is but  
reasonable1 therefore1 that this        
function of the miraculous should bear  
the name of ,ovidian4 ,pagan it was in  
its birth2 and to paganism its titles   

ultimately ascend4 ,yet we know that in 
the transitional state through the      
centuries succeeding to ,christ1 during 
which paganism and ,christianity were   
slowly descending and ascending1 as if  
from two different strata of the        
atmosphere1 the two powers interchanged 
whatsoever they could4 7,see ,conyer's  
,middleton2 and see ,blount of our own  
days47 ,it marked the earthly nature of 
paganism1 that it could borrow little or
 nothing by organization3 it was fitted 
to no expansion4 ,but the true faith1   
from its vast and comprehensive         
adaptation to the nature of man1 lent   
itself to many corruptions--some deadly 
in their tendencies1 some harmless4     
,amongst these last was the ,ovidian    
form of connecting the unseen powers    
moving in nature with human sympathies  
of love or reverence4 ,the legends of   
this kind are universal and endless4 ,no
 land1 the most austere in its          
,protestantism1 but has adopted these   
superstitions3 and everywhere by those  

even who reject them they are           
entertained with some degree of         
affectionate respect4 ,that the ass1    
which in its very degradation still     
retains an under-power of sublimity1    
,footnote3 ',an under-power of          
sublimity4'-- ,everybody knows that     
,homer compared the ,telamonian ,ajax1  
in a moment of heroic endurance1 to an  
ass4 ,this1 however1 was only under a   
momentary glance from a peculiar angle  
of the case4 ,but the ,mahometan1 too   
solemn1 and also perhaps too stupid to  
catch the fanciful colors of things1    
absolutely by choice1 under the ,bagdad 
,caliphate1 decorated a most favorite   
hero with the title of the ,ass--which  
title is repeated with veneration to    
this day4 ,the wild ass is one of the   
few animals which has the reputation of 
never flying from an enemy4 or of       
sublime suggestion through its ancient  
connection with the wilderness1 with the
 ,orient1 with ,jerusalem1 should have  
been honored amongst all animals1 by the

 visible impression upon its back of    
,christian symbols --seems reasonable   
even to the infantine understanding when
 made acquainted with its meekness1 its 
patience1 its suffering life1 and its   
association with the founder of         
,christianity in one great triumphal    
solemnity4 ,the very man who brutally   
abuses it1 and feels a hardhearted      
contempt for its misery and its         
submission1 has a semi- conscious       
feeling that the same qualities were    
possibly those which recommended it to a
 distinction1 ,footnote3 ',which        
recommended it to a distinction4'--,it  
might be objected that the ,oriental ass
 was often a superb animal2 that it is  
spoken of prophetically as such2 and    
that historically the ,syrian ass is    
made known to us as having been used in 
the prosperous ages of ,judea for the   
riding of princes4 ,but this is no      
objection4 ,those circumstances in the  
history of the ass were requisite to    
establish its symbolic propriety in a   

great symbolic pageant of triumph4      
,whilst1 on the other hand1 the         
individual animal1 there is good reason 
to think1 was marked by all the         
qualities of the general race as a      
suffering and unoffending tribe in the  
animal creation4 ,the asses on which    
princes rode were of a separate color1  
of a peculiar breed1 and improved1 like 
the ,english racer1 by continual care4  
when all things were valued upon a scale
 inverse to that of the world4 ,certain 
it is1 that in all ,christian lands the 
legend about the ass is current amongst 
the rural population4 ,the haddock1     
again1 amongst marine animals1 is       
supposed1 throughout all maritime       
,europe1 to be a privileged fish2 even  
in austere ,scotland1 every child can   
point out the impression of ,st4        
,peter's thumb1 by which from age to age
 it is distinguished from fishes having 
otherwise an external resemblance4 ,all 
domesticated cattle1 having the benefit 
of man's guardianship and care1 are     

believed throughout ,england and        
,germany to go down upon their knees at 
one particular moment of ,christmas eve1
 when the fields are covered with       
darkness1 when no eye looks down but    
that of ,god1 and when the exact        
anniversary hour revolves of the angelic
 song1 once rolling over the fields and 
flocks of ,palestine4 ,footnote3        
,mahometanism1 which everywhere pillages
 ,christianity1 cannot but have its own 
face at times glorified by its stolen   
jewels4 ,this solemn hour of jubilation1
 gathering even the brutal natures into 
its fold1 recalls accordingly the       
,mahometan legend 7which the reader may 
remember is one of those incorporated   
into ,southey's ,thalaba7 of a great    
hour revolving once in every year1      
during which the gates of ,paradise were
 thrown open to their utmost extent1 and
 gales of happiness issued forth upon   
the total family of man4 ,the           
,glastonbury ,thorn is a more local     
superstition2 but at one time the legend

 was as widely diffused as that of      
,loretto1 with the angelic translation  
of its sanctities3 on ,christmas        
morning1 it was devoutly believed by all
 ,christendom1 that this holy thorn put 
forth its annual blossoms4 ,and with    
respect to the aspen tree1 which ,mrs4  
,hemans very naturally mistook for a    
,welsh legend1 having first heard it in 
,denbighshire1 the popular faith is     
universal--that it shivers mystically in
 sympathy with the horror of that mother
 tree in ,palestine which was compelled 
to furnish materials for the cross4     
,neither would it in this case be any   
objection1 if a passage were produced   
from ,solinus or ,theophrastus1 implying
 that the aspen tree had always         
shivered--for the tree might presumably 
be penetrated by remote presentiments1  
as well as by remote remembrances4 ,in  
so vast a case the obscure sympathy     
should stretch1 ,janus-like1 each way4  
,and an objection of the same kind to   
the rainbow1 considered as the sign or  

seal by which ,god attested his covenant
 in bar of all future deluges1 may be   
parried in something of the same way4   
,it was not then first created--true3   
but it was then first selected by       
preference1 amongst a multitude of      
natural signs as yet unappropriated1 and
 then first charged with the new        
function of a message and a ratification
 to man4 ,pretty much the same theory1  
that is1 the same way of accounting for 
the natural existence without disturbing
 the supernatural functions1 may be     
applied to the great constellation of   
the other hemisphere1 called the        
,southern ,cross4 ,it is viewed         
popularly in ,south ,america1 and the   
southern parts of our northern          
hemisphere1 as the great banner1 or     
gonfalon1 held aloft by ,heaven before  
the ,spanish heralds of the true faith  
in #adib4 ,to that superstitious and    
ignorant race it costs not an effort to 
suppose1 that by some synchronizing     
miracle1 the constellation had been then

 specially called into existence at the 
very moment when the first ,christian   
procession1 bearing a cross in their    
arms1 solemnly stepped on shore from the
 vessels of ,christendom4 ,we           
,protestants know better3 we understand 
the impossibility of supposing such a   
narrow and local reference in orbs1 so  
transcendently vast as those composing  
the constellation--orbs removed from    
each other by such unvoyageable worlds  
of space1 and having1 in fact1 no real  
reference to each other more than to any
 other heavenly bodies whatsoever4 ,the 
unity of synthesis1 by which they are   
composed into one figure of a cross1 we 
know to be a mere accidental result from
 an arbitrary synthesis of human fancy4 
,take such and such stars1 compose them 
into letters1 and they will spell such a
 word4 ,but still it was our own        
choice--a synthesis of our own fancy1   
originally to combine them in this way4 
,they might be divided from each other1 
and otherwise combined4 ,all this is    

true3 and yet1 as the combination does  
spontaneously offer itself ,footnote3   
',does spontaneously offer              
itself4'--,heber 7,bishop of ,calcutta7 
complains that this constellation is not
 composed of stars answering his        
expectation in point of magnitude4 ,but 
he admits that the dark barren space    
around it gives to this inferior        
magnitude a very advantageous relief4 to
 every eye1 as the glorious cross does  
really glitter for ever through the     
silent hours of a vast hemisphere1 even 
they who are not superstitious1 may     
willingly yield to the belief--that1 as 
the rainbow was laid in the very        
elements and necessities of nature1 yet 
still bearing a pre- dedication to a    
service which would not be called for   
until many ages had passed1 so also the 
mysterious cipher of man's imperishable 
hopes may have been entwined and        
enwreathed with the starry heavens from 
their earliest creation1 as a           
prefiguration--as a silent heraldry of  

hope through one period1 and as a       
heraldry of gratitude through the other4
  ,all these cases which we have been   
rehearsing1 taking them in the fullest  
literality1 agree in this general point 
of union--they are all silent           
incarnations of miraculous              
power--miracles1 supposing them to have 
been such originally1 locked up and     
embodied in the regular course of       
nature1 just as we see lineaments of    
faces and of forms in petrifactions1 in 
variegated marbles1 in spars1 or in     
rocky strata1 which our fancy interprets
 as once having been real human         
existences2 but which are now confounded
 with the substance of a mineral        
product4 ,even those who are most       
superstitious1 therefore1 look upon     
cases of this order as occupying a      
midway station between the physical and 
the hyperphysical1 between the regular  
course of nature and the providential   
interruption of that course4 ,the stream
 of the miraculous is here confluent    

with the stream of the natural4 ,by such
 legends the credulous man finds his    
superstition but little nursed2 the     
incredulous finds his philosophy but    
little revolted4 ,both alike will be    
willing to admit1 for instance1 that the
 apparent act of reverential            
thanksgiving1 in certain birds1 when    
drinking1 is caused and supported by a  
physiological arrangement2 and yet1     
perhaps1 both alike would bend so far to
 the legendary faith as to allow a child
 to believe1 and would perceive a pure  
childlike beauty in believing1 that the 
bird was thus rendering a homage of deep
 thankfulness to the universal ,father1 
who watches for the safety of sparrows1 
and sends his rain upon the just and    
upon the unjust4 ,in short1 the faith in
 this order of the physico- miraculous  
is open alike to the sceptical and the  
non-sceptical3 it is touched            
superficially with the coloring of      
superstition1 with its tenderness1 its  
humility1 its thankfulness1 its awe2    

but1 on the other hand1 it is not       
therefore tainted with the coarseness1  
with the silliness1 with the credulity  
of superstition4 ,such a faith reposes  
upon the universal signs diffused       
through nature1 and blends with the     
mysterious of natural grandeurs wherever
 found--with the mysterious of the      
starry heavens1 with the mysterious of  
music1 and with that infinite form of   
the mysterious for man's dimmest        
misgivings--    ',whose dwelling is the 
light of setting suns4'  ,but1 from this
 earliest note in the ascending scale of
 superstitious faith1 let us pass to a  
more alarming key4 ,this first1 which we
 have styled 7in equity as well as for  
distinction7 the ,ovidian1 is too rial1 
too allegoric1 almost to be susceptible 
of much terror4 ,it is the mere fancy1  
in a mood half-playful1 half-tender1    
which submits to the belief4 ,it is the 
feeling1 the sentiment1 which creates   
the faith2 not the faith which creates  
the feeling4 ,and thus far we see that  

modern feeling and ,christian feeling   
has been to the full as operative as any
 that is peculiar to paganism2 judging  
by the ,romish ,legenda1 very much more 
so4 ,the ,ovidian illustrations1 under a
 false superstition1 are entitled to    
give the designation1 as being the      
first1 the earliest1 but not at all as  
the richest4 ,besides that1 ,ovid's     
illustrations emanated often from       
himself individually1 not from the      
popular mind of his country2 ours of the
 same classification uniformly repose on
 large popular traditions from the whole
 of ,christian antiquity4 ,these again  
are agencies of the supernatural which  
can never have a private or personal    
application2 they belong to all mankind 
and to all generations4 ,but the next in
 order are more solemn2 they become     
terrific by becoming personal4 ,these   
comprehend all that vast body of the    
marvellous which is expressed by the    
word ,ominous4 ,on this head1 as        
dividing itself into the ancient and    

modern1 we will speak next4  ,everybody 
is aware of the deep emphasis which the 
,pagans laid upon words and upon names1 
under this aspect of the ominous4 ,the  
name of several places was formally     
changed by the ,roman government1 solely
 with a view to that contagion of evil  
which was thought to lurk in the        
syllables1 if taken significantly4      
,thus1 the town of ,maleventum1 7,ill-  
come1 as one might render it17 had its  
name changed by the ,romans to          
,beneventum1 7or ,welcome47 ,epidamnum  
again1 the ,grecian ,calais1            
corresponding to the ,roman ,dover of   
,brundusium1 was a name that would have 
startled the stoutest-hearted ,roman    
'from his propriety4' ,had he suffered  
this name to escape him inadvertently1  
his spirits would have forsaken him--he 
would have pined away under a certainty 
of misfortune1 like a poor ,negro of    
,koromantyn who is the victim of        
,obi4,footnote3 ',the victim of         
,obi4'--,it seems worthy of notice1 that

 this magical fascination is generally  
called ,obi1 and the magicians ,obeah   
men1 throughout ,guinea1 ,negroland1 c42
 whilst the ,hebrew or ,syriac word for 
the rites of necromancy1 was ,ob or     
,obh1 at least when ventriloquism was   
concerned4 ,as a ,greek word1 which it  
was1 the name imported no ill2 but for a
 ,roman to say ,ibo ,epidamnum1 was in  
effect saying1 though in a hybrid       
dialect1 half-,greek half-,roman1 ',i   
will go to ruin4' ,the name was         
therefore changed to ,dyrrachium2 a     
substitution which quieted more         
anxieties in ,roman hearts than the     
erection of a light-house or the        
deepening of the harbor mouth4 ,a case  
equally strong1 to take one out of many 
hundreds that have come down to us1 is  
reported by ,livy4 ,there was an officer
 in a ,roman legion1 at some period of  
the ,republic1 who bore the name either 
of ,atrius ,umber or ,umbrius ,ater3 and
 this man being ordered on some         
expedition1 the soldiers refused to     

follow him4 ,they did right4 ,we        
remember that ,mr4 ,coleridge used      
facetiously to call the well-known      
sister of ,dr4 ,aikin1 ,mrs4 ,barbauld1 
'that pleonasm of nakedness'--the idea  
of nakedness being reduplicated and     
reverberated in the bare and the bald4  
,this ,atrius ,umber might be called    
'that pleonasm of darkness2' and one    
might say to him1 in the words of       
,othello1 ',what needs this iteration8' 
,to serve under the ,gloomy was enough  
to darken the spirit of hope2 but to    
serve under the ,black ,gloomy was      
really rushing upon destruction4 ,yet it
 will be alleged that ,captain ,death   
was a most favorite and heroic leader in
 the ,english navy2 and that in our own 
times1 ,admiral ,coffin1 though an      
,american by birth1 has not been        
unpopular in the same service4 ,this is 
true3 and all that can be said is1 that 
these names were two-edged swords1 which
 might be made to tell against the enemy
 as well as against friends4 ,and       

possibly the ,roman centurion might have
 turned his name to the same account1   
had he possessed the great ,dictator's  
presence of mind2 for he1 when landing  
in ,africa1 having happened to          
stumble--an omen of the worst character1
 in ,roman estimation--took out its     
sting by following up his own oversight1
 as if it had been intentional1 falling 
to the ground1 kissing it1 and          
ejaculating that in this way he         
appropriated the soil4  ,omens of every 
class were certainly regarded1 in       
ancient ,rome1 with a reverence that can
 hardly be surpassed4 ,but yet1 with    
respect to these omens derived from     
names1 it is certain that our modern    
times have more memorable examples on   
record4 ,out of a large number which    
occur to us1 we will cite two3--,the    
present ,king of the ,french bore in his
 boyish days a title which he would not 
have borne1 but for an omen of bad      
augury attached to his proper title4 ,he
 was called the ,duc de ,chartres before

 the ,revolution1 whereas his proper    
title was ,duc de ,valois4 ,and the     
origin of the change was this3--,the    
,regent's father had been the sole      
brother of ,louis ,quatorze4 ,he married
 for his first wife our ,english        
princess ,henrietta1 the sister of      
,charles ,,ii41 7and through her        
daughter1 by the way1 it is that the    
house of ,savoy1 i4e4 of ,sardinia1 has 
pretensions to the ,english throne47    
,this unhappy lady1 it is too well      
established1 was poisoned4 ,voltaire1   
amongst many others1 has affected to    
doubt the fact2 for which in his time   
there might be some excuse4 ,but since  
then better evidences have placed the   
matter beyond all question4 ,we now know
 both the fact1 and the how1 and the    
why4 ,the ,duke1 who probably was no    
party to the murder of his young wife1  
though otherwise on bad terms with her1 
married for his second wife a coarse    
,german princess1 homely in every sense1
 and a singular contrast to the elegant 

creature whom he had lost4 ,she was a   
daughter of the ,bavarian ,elector2     
ill-tempered by her own confession1     
self- willed1 and a plain speaker to    
excess2 but otherwise a woman of honest 
,german principles4 ,unhappy she was    
through a long life2 unhappy through the
 monotony as well as the malicious      
intrigues of the ,french court2 and so  
much so1 that she did her best 7though  
without effect7 to prevent her ,bavarian
 niece from becoming dauphiness4 ,she   
acquits her husband1 however1 in the    
memoirs which she left behind1 of any   
intentional share in her unhappiness2   
she describes him constantly as a       
well-disposed prince4 ,but whether it   
were1 that often walking in the dusk    
through the numerous apartments of that 
vast mansion which her husband had so   
much enlarged1 naturally she turned her 
thoughts to the injured lady who had    
presided there before herself2 or       
whether it arose from the inevitable    
gloom which broods continually over     

mighty palaces1 so much is known for    
certain1 that one evening1 in the       
twilight1 she met1 at a remote quarter  
of the reception-rooms1 something that  
she conceived to be a spectre4 ,what she
 fancied to have passed on that         
occasion1 was never known except to her 
nearest friends2 and if she made any    
explanations in her memoirs1 the editor 
has thought fit to suppress them4 ,she  
mentions only1 that in consequence of   
some ominous circumstances relating to  
the title of ,valois1 which was the     
proper second title of the ,orleans     
family1 her son1 the ,regent1 had       
assumed in his boyhood that of ,duc de  
,chartres4 ,his elder brother was dead1 
so that the superior title was open to  
him2 but1 in consequence of those       
mysterious omens1 whatever they might   
be1 which occasioned much whispering at 
the time1 the great title of ,valois was
 laid aside for ever as of bad augury2  
nor has it ever been resumed through a  
century and a half that have followed   

that mysterious warning2 nor will it be 
resumed unless the numerous children of 
the present ,orleans branch should find 
themselves distressed for ancient       
titles2 which is not likely1 since they 
enjoy the honors of the elder house1 and
 are now the children of ,france in a   
technical sense4  ,here we have a great 
,european case of state omens in the    
eldest of ,christian houses4 ,the next  
which we shall cite is equally a state  
case1 and carries its public            
verification along with itself4 ,in the 
spring of #agii1 when ,napoleon was     
lying before ,acre1 he became anxious   
for news from ,upper ,egypt1 whither he 
had despatched ,dessaix in pursuit of a 
distinguished ,mameluke leader4 ,this   
was in the middle of ,may4 ,not many    
days after1 a courier arrived with      
favorable despatches--favorable in the  
main1 but reporting one tragical        
occurrence on a small scale that1 to    
,napoleon1 for a superstitious reason1  
outweighed the public prosperity4 ,a    

djerme1 or ,nile boat of the largest    
class1 having on board a large party of 
troops and of wounded men1 together with
 most of a regimental band1 had run     
ashore at the village of ,benouth4 ,no  
case could be more hopeless4 ,the       
neighboring ,arabs were of the ,yambo   
tribe-- of all ,arabs the most          
ferocious4 ,these ,arabs and the        
,fellahs 7whom1 by the way1 many of our 
countrymen are so ready to represent as 
friendly to the ,french and hostile to  
ourselves17 had taken the opportunity of
 attacking the vessel4 ,the engagement  
was obstinate2 but at length the        
inevitable catastrophe could be delayed 
no longer4 ,the commander1 an ,italian  
named ,morandi1 was a brave man2 any    
fate appeared better than that which    
awaited him from an enemy so malignant4 
,he set fire to the powder magazine2 the
 vessel blew up2 ,morandi perished in   
the ,nile2 and all of less nerve1 who   
had previously reached the shore in     
safety1 were put to death to the very   

last man1 with cruelties the most       
detestable1 by their inhuman enemies4   
,for all this ,napoleon cared little2   
but one solitary fact there was in the  
report which struck him with            
consternation4 ,this ill-fated          
djerme--what was it called8 ,it was     
called ,l',italie2 and in the name of   
the vessel ,napoleon read an augury of  
the fate which had befallen the ,italian
 territory4 ,considered as a dependency 
of ,france1 he felt certain that ,italy 
was lost2 and ,napoleon was             
inconsolable4 ,but what possible        
connection1 it was asked1 can exist     
between this vessel on the ,nile and a  
remote peninsula of ,southern ,europe8  
',no matter1' replied ,napoleon2 'my    
presentiments never deceive me4 ,you    
will see that all is ruined4 ,i am      
satisfied that my ,italy1 my conquest1  
is lost to ,france6' ,so1 indeed1 it    
was4 ,all ,european news had long been  
intercepted by the ,english cruisers2   
but immediately after the battle with   

the ,vizier in ,july #agii1 an ,english 
admiral first informed the ,french army 
of ,egypt that ,massena and others had  
lost all that ,bonaparte had won in     
#agif4 ,but it is a strange illustration
 of human blindness1 that this very     
subject of ,napoleon's lamentation--this
 very campaign of #agii--;it was1 with  
its blunders and its long equipage of   
disasters1 that paved the way for his   
own elevation to the ,consulship1 just  
seven calendar months from the receipt  
of that ,egyptian despatch2 since most  
certainly1 in the struggle of ,brumaire 
#agii1 doubtful and critical through    
every stage1 it was the pointed contrast
 between his ,italian campaigns and     
those of his successors which gave      
effect to ,napoleon's pretensions with  
the political combatants1 and which     
procured them a ratification amongst the
 people4 ,the loss of ,italy was        
essential to the full effect of         
,napoleon's previous conquest4 ,that and
 the imbecile characters of ,napoleon's 

chief military opponents were the true  
keys to the great revolution of         
,brumaire4 ,the stone which he rejected 
became the keystone of the arch4 ,so    
that1 after all1 he valued the omen     
falsely2 though the very next news from 
,europe1 courteously communicated by his
 ,english enemies1 showed that he had   
interpreted its meaning rightly4  ,these
 omens1 derived from names1 are         
therefore common to the ancient and the 
modern world4 ,but perhaps1 in strict   
logic1 they ought to have been classed  
as one subdivision or variety under a   
much larger head1 viz4 words generally1 
no matter whether proper names or       
appellatives1 as operative powers and   
agencies1 having1 that is to say1 a     
charmed power against some party        
concerned from the moment that they     
leave the lips4  ,homer describes       
prayers as having a separate life1      
rising buoyantly upon wings1 and making 
their way upwards to the throne of      
,jove4 ,such1 but in a sense gloomy and 

terrific1 is the force ascribed under a 
widespread superstition1 ancient and    
modern1 to words uttered on critical    
occasions2 or to words uttered at any   
time1 which point to critical occasions4
 ,hence the doctrine of euphaemismos1   
the necessity of abstaining from strong 
words or direct words in expressing     
fatal contingencies4 ,it was shocking1  
at all times of paganism1 to say of a   
third person--',if he should die2' or to
 suppose the case that he might be      
murdered4 ,the very word death was      
consecrated and forbidden4 ,si quiddam  
humanum passus fuerit was the extreme   
form to which men advanced in such      
cases4 ,and this scrupulous feeling1    
originally founded on the supposed      
efficacy of words1 prevails to this day4
 ,it is a feeling undoubtedly supported 
by good taste1 which strongly impresses 
upon us all the discordant tone of all  
impassioned subjects1 7death1 religion1 
c417 with the common key of ordinary    
conversation4 ,but good taste is not in 

itself sufficient to account for a      
scrupulousness so general and so        
austere4 ,in the lowest classes there is
 a shuddering recoil still felt from    
uttering coarsely and roundly the       
anticipation of a person's death4       
,suppose a child1 heir to some estate1  
the subject of conversation--the        
hypothesis of his death is put          
cautiously1 under such forms as1 ',if   
anything but good should happen2' 'if   
any change should occur2' 'if any of us 
should chance to miscarry2' and so      
forth4 ,always a modified expression is 
sought--always an indirect one4 ,and    
this timidity arises under the old      
superstition still lingering amongst    
men1 like that ancient awe1 alluded to  
by ,wordsworth1 for the sea and its deep
 secrets--feelings that have not1 no1   
nor ever will1 utterly decay4 ,no excess
 of nautical skill will ever perfectly  
disenchant the great abyss from its     
terrors--no progressive knowledge will  
ever medicine that dread misgiving of a 

mysterious and pathless power given to  
words of a certain import1 or uttered in
 certain situations1 by a parent1 to    
persecuting or insulting children2 by   
the victim of horrible oppression1 when 
laboring in final agonies2 and by       
others1 whether cursing or blessing1 who
 stand central to great passions1 to    
great interests1 or to great            
perplexities4  ,and here1 by way of     
parenthesis1 we may stop to explain the 
force of that expression1 so common in  
,scripture1 ',thou hast said it4' ,it is
 an answer often adopted by our         
,saviour2 and the meaning we hold to be 
this3 ,many forms in eastern idioms1 as 
well as in the ,greek occasionally1     
though meant interrogatively1 are of a  
nature to convey a direct categorical   
affirmation1 unless as their meaning is 
modified by the cadence and intonation4 
,art thou1 detached from this vocal and 
accentual modification1 is equivalent to
 thou art4 ,nay1 even apart from this   
accident1 the popular belief authorized 

the notion1 that simply to have uttered 
any great thesis1 though                
unconsciously--simply to have united    
verbally any two great ideas1 though for
 a purpose the most different or even   
opposite1 had the mysterious power of   
realizing them in act4 ,an exclamation1 
though in the purest spirit of sport1 to
 a boy1 ',you shall be our imperator1'  
was many times supposed to be the       
forerunner and fatal mandate for the    
boy's elevation4 ,such words executed   
themselves4 ,to connect1 though but for 
denial or for mockery1 the ideas of     
,jesus and the ,messiah1 furnished an   
augury that eventually they would be    
found to coincide1 and to have their    
coincidence admitted4 ,it was an        
argumentum ad hominem1 and drawn from a 
popular faith4  ,but a modern reader    
will object the want of an accompanying 
design or serious meaning on the part of
 him who utters the words--he never     
meant his words to be taken             
seriously--nay1 his purpose was the very

 opposite4 ,true3 and precisely that is 
the reason why his words are likely to  
operate effectually1 and why they should
 be feared4 ,here lies the critical     
point which most of all distinguishes   
this faith4 ,words took effect1 not     
merely in default of a serious use1 but 
exactly in consequence of that default4 
,it was the chance word1 the stray word1
 the word uttered in jest1 or in        
trifling1 or in scorn1 or unconsciously1
 which took effect2 whilst ten thousand 
words1 uttered with purpose and         
deliberation1 were sure to prove inert4 
,one case will illustrate               
this3--,alexander of ,macedon1 in the   
outset of his great expedition1         
consulted the oracle at ,delphi4 ,for   
the sake of his army1 had he been even  
without personal faith1 he desired to   
have his enterprise consecrated4 ,no    
persuasions1 however1 would move the    
priestess to enter upon her painful and 
agitating duties for the sake of        
obtaining the regular answer of the god4

 ,wearied with this1 ,alexander seized  
the great lady by the arm1 and using as 
much violence as was becoming to the two
 characters--of a great prince acting   
and a great priestess suffering--he     
pushed her gently backwards to the      
tripod on which1 in her professional    
character1 she was to seat herself4     
,upon this1 in the hurry and excitement 
of the moment1 the priestess exclaimed1 
,o pai1 anixaitos ei--,o son1 thou art  
irresistible2 never adverting for an    
instant to his martial purposes1 but    
simply to his personal importunities4   
,the person whom she thought of as      
incapable of resistance1 was herself1   
and all she meant consciously was--,o   
son1 ,i can refuse nothing to one so    
earnest4 ,but mark what followed3       
,alexander desisted at once--he asked   
for no further oracle--he refused it1   
and exclaimed joyously3--',now then1    
noble priestess1 farewell2 ,i have the  
oracle--,i have your answer1 and better 
than any which you could deliver from   

the tripod4 ,i am invincible--so you    
have declared1 you cannot revoke it4    
,true1 you thought not of ,persia--you  
thought only of my importunity4 ,but    
that very fact is what ratifies your    
answer4 ,in its blindness ,i recognise  
its truth4 ,an oracle from a god might  
be distorted by political ministers of  
the god1 as in time past too often has  
been suspected4 ,the oracle has been    
said to ,medize1 and in my own father's 
time to ,philippize4 ,but an oracle     
delivered unconsciously1 indirectly1    
blindly1 that is the oracle which cannot
 deceive4' ,such was the all-famous     
oracle which ,alexander accepted--such  
was the oracle on which he and his army 
reposing went forth 'conquering and to  
conquer4'  ,exactly on this principle do
 the ,turks act1 in putting so high a   
value on the words of idiots4           
,enlightened ,christians have often     
wondered at their allowing any weight to
 people bereft of understanding4 ,but   
that is the very reason for allowing    

them weight3 that very defect it is     
which makes them capable of being organs
 for conveying words from higher        
intelligences4 ,a fine human            
intelligence cannot be a passive        
instrument--it cannot be a mere tube for
 conveying the words of inspiration3    
such an intelligence will intermingle   
ideas of its own1 or otherwise modify   
what is given1 and pollute what is      
sacred4  ,it is also on this principle  
that the whole practice and doctrine of 
,sortilegy rest4 ,let us confine        
ourselves to that mode of sortilegy     
which is conducted by throwing open     
privileged books at random1 leaving to  
chance the page and the particular line 
on which the oracular functions are     
thrown4 ,the books used have varied with
 the caprice or the error of ages4 ,once
 the ,hebrew ,scriptures had the        
preference4 ,probably they were laid    
aside1 not because the reverence for    
their authority decayed1 but because it 
increased4 ,in later times ,virgil has  

been the favorite4 ,considering the very
 limited range of ideas to which ,virgil
 was tied by his theme--a colonizing    
expedition in a barbarous age1 no worse 
book could have been selected3          
,footnote3 ',no worse book could have   
been selected4'--,the probable reason   
for making so unhappy a choice seems to 
have been that ,virgil1 in the middle   
ages1 had the character of a            
necromancer1 a diviner1 c4 ,this we all 
know from ,dante4 ,now1 the original    
reason for this strange translation of  
character and functions we hold to have 
arisen from the circumstance of his     
maternal grandfather having borne the   
name of ,magus4 ,people in those ages   
held that a powerful enchanter1         
exorciser1 c41 must have a magician     
amongst his cognati2 the power must run 
in the blood1 which on the maternal side
 could be undeniably ascertained4 ,under
 this preconception1 they took ,magus   
not for a proper name1 but for a        
professional designation4 ,amongst many 

illustrations of the magical character  
sustained by ,virgil in the middle ages1
 we may mention that a writer1 about the
 year #abjj1 or the era of our ,robin   
,hood1 published by ,montfaucon1 and    
cited by ,gibbon in his last volume1    
says of ,virgil1-- that ',captus a      
,romanis invisibiliter exiit1 ivitque   
,neapopolim4' so little indeed does the 
,a,eneid exhibit of human life in its   
multiformity1 that much tampering with  
the text is required to bring real cases
 of human interest and real situations  
within the scope of any ,virgilian      
sentence1 though aided by the utmost    
latitude of accommodation4 ,a king1 a   
soldier1 a sailor1 c41 might look for   
correspondences to their own            
circumstances2 but not many others4     
,accordingly1 everybody remembers the   
remarkable answer which ,charles ,i4    
received at ,oxford from this ,virgilian
 oracle1 about the opening of the       
,parliamentary war4 ,but from this      
limitation in the range of ideas it was 

that others1 and very pious people too1 
have not thought it profane to resume   
the old reliance on the ,scriptures4 ,no
 case1 indeed1 can try so severely1 or  
put upon record so conspicuously1 this  
indestructible propensity for seeking   
light out of darkness--this thirst for  
looking into the future by the aid of   
dice1 real or figurative1 as the fact of
 men eminent for piety having yielded to
 the temptation4 ,we give one           
instance--the instance of a person who1 
in practical theology1 has been1        
perhaps1 more popular than any other in 
any church4 ,dr4 ,doddridge1 in his     
earlier days1 was in a dilemma both of  
conscience and of taste as to the       
election he should make between two     
situations1 one in possession1 both at  
his command4 ,he was settled at         
,harborough1 in ,leicestershire1 and was
 'pleasing himself with the view of a   
continuance' in that situation4 ,true1  
he had received an invitation to        
,northampton2 but the reasons against   

complying seemed so strong1 that nothing
 was wanting but the civility of going  
over to ,northampton1 and making an     
apologetic farewell4 ,on the last       
,sunday in ,november of the year #agbi1 
the doctor went and preached a sermon in
 conformity with those purposes4 ',but1'
 says he1 'on the morning of that day an
 incident happened1 which affected me   
greatly4' ,on the night previous1 it    
seems1 he had been urged very           
importunately by his ,northampton       
friends to undertake the vacant office4 
,much personal kindness had concurred   
with this public importunity3 the good  
doctor was affected2 he had prayed      
fervently1 alleging in his prayer1 as   
the reason which chiefly weighed with   
him to reject the offer1 that it was far
 beyond his forces1 and chiefly because 
he was too young ,footnote3 ',because he
 was too young'--,dr4 ,doddridge was    
born in the summer of #agjb2            
consequently he was at this era of his  
life about twenty-seven years old1 and  

consequently not so obviously entitled  
to the excuse of youth4 ,but he pleaded 
his youth1 not with a view to the       
exertions required1 but to the          
auctoritas and responsibilities of the  
situation4 and had no assistant4 ,he    
goes on thus3--',as soon as ever this   
address' 7meaning the prayer7 'was      
ended1 ,i passed through a room of the  
house in which ,i lodged1 where a child 
was reading to his mother1 and the only 
words ,i heard distinctly were these1   
,and as thy days1 so shall thy strength 
be4' ,this singular coincidence between 
his own difficulty and a scriptural line
 caught at random in passing hastily    
through a room1 7but observe1 a line    
insulated from the context1 and placed  
in high relief to his ear17 shook his   
resolution4 ,accident co-operated2 a    
promise to be fulfilled at ,northampton1
 in a certain contingency1 fell due at  
the instant2 the doctor was detained1   
this detention gave time for further    
representations2 new motives arose1 old 

difficulties were removed1 and finally  
the doctor saw1 in all this succession  
of steps1 the first of which1 however1  
lay in the ,sortes ,biblic1 clear       
indications of a providential guidance4 
,with that conviction he took up his    
abode at ,northampton1 and remained     
there for the next thirty-one years1    
until he left it for his grave at       
,lisbon2 in fact1 he passed at          
,northampton the whole of his public    
life4 ,it must1 therefore1 be allowed to
 stand upon the records of sortilegy1   
that in the main direction of his       
life--not1 indeed1 as to its spirit1 but
 as to its form and local connections--a
 ,protestant divine of much merit1 and  
chiefly in what regards practice1 and of
 the class most opposed to superstition1
 took his determining impulse from a    
variety of the ,sortes ,virgilian4      
,this variety was known in early times  
to the ,jews--as early1 indeed1 as the  
era of the ,grecian ,pericles1 if we are
 to believe the ,talmud4 ,it is known   

familiarly to this day amongst ,polish  
,jews1 and is called ,bathcol1 or the   
daughter of a voice2 the meaning of     
which appellation is this3--,the ,urim  
and ,thummim1 or oracle in the          
breast-plate of the high priest1 spoke  
directly from ,god4 ,it was1 therefore1 
the original or mother-voice4 ,but about
 the time of ,pericles1 that is1 exactly
 one hundred years before the time of   
,alexander the ,great1 the light of     
prophecy was quenched in ,malachi or    
,haggai2 and the oracular jewels in the 
breast-plate became simultaneously dim4 
,henceforwards the mother-voice was     
heard no longer3 but to this succeeded  
an imperfect or daughter-voice1         
7,bathcol17 which lay in the first words
 happening to arrest the attention at a 
moment of perplexity4 ,an illustration1 
which has been often quoted from the    
,talmud1 is to the following            
effect3--,rabbi ,tochanan1 and ,rabbi   
,simeon ,ben ,lachish1 were anxious     
about a friend1 ,rabbi ,samuel1 six     

hundred miles distant on the ,euphrates4
 ,whilst talking earnestly together on  
this subject in ,palestine1 they passed 
a school2 they paused to listen3 it was 
a child reading the first book of       
,samuel2 and the words which they caught
 were these--,and ,samuel died4 ,these  
words they received as a ,bath-col3 and 
the next horseman from the ,euphrates   
brought word accordingly that ,rabbi    
,samuel had been gathered to his fathers
 at some station on the ,euphrates4     
,here is the very same case1 the same   
,bath-col substantially1 which we have  
cited from ,orton's ,life of ,doddridge4
 ,and ,du ,cange himself notices1 in his
 ,glossary1 the relation which this bore
 to the ,pagan ,sortes4 ',it was1' says 
he1 'a fantastical way of divination1   
invented by the ,jews1 not unlike the   
,sortes ,virgilian of the heathens4     
,for1 as with them the first words they 
happened to dip into in the works of    
that poet were a kind of oracle whereby 
they predicted future events1--so1 with 

the ,jews1 when they appealed to        
,bath-col1 the first words they heard   
from any one's mouth were looked upon as
 a voice from ,heaven directing them in 
the matter they inquired about4'  ,if   
the reader imagines that this ancient   
form of the practical miraculous is at  
all gone out of use1 even the example of
 ,dr4 ,doddridge may satisfy him to the 
contrary4 ,such an example was sure to  
authorize a large imitation4 ,but1 even 
apart from that1 the superstition is    
common4 ,the records of conversion      
amongst felons and other ignorant       
persons might be cited by hundreds upon 
hundreds to prove that no practice is   
more common than that of trying the     
spiritual fate1 and abiding by the      
import of any passage in the ,scriptures
 which may first present itself to the  
eye4 ,cowper1 the poet1 has recorded a  
case of this sort in his own experience4
 ,it is one to which all the unhappy are
 prone4 ,but a mode of questioning the  
oracles of darkness1 far more childish1 

and1 under some shape or other1 equally 
common amongst those who are prompted by
 mere vacancy of mind1 without that     
determination to sacred fountains which 
is impressed by misery1 may be found in 
the following extravagant silliness of  
,rousseau1 which we give in his own     
words--a case for which he admits that  
he himself would have shut up any other 
man 7meaning in a lunatic hospital7 whom
 he had seen practising the same        
absurdities3--  ',au milieu de mes tudes
 et d'une vie innocente autant qu'on la 
puisse mener1 et malgr tout ce qu'on    
m'avoit pu dire1 la peur de l',enfer    
m'agitoit encore4 ,souvent je me        
demandois--,en quel tat suis-je8 ,si je 
mourrois  l'instant mme1 serois-je damn8
 ,selon mes ,jansnistes1 he had been    
reading the books of the ,port ,royal1  
la chose est indubitable3 mais1 selon ma
 conscience1 il me paroissoit que non4  
,toujours craintif et flottant dans     
cette cruelle incertitude1 j'avois      
recours 7pour en sortir7 aux expdients  

les plus risibles1 et pour lesquels je  
ferois volontiers enfermer un homme si  
je lui en voyois faire autant4 444 ,un  
jour1 rvant  ce triste sujet1 je        
m'exerois machinalement  lancer les     
pierres contre les troncs des arbres2 et
 cela avec mon addresse ordinaire1      
c'est--dire sans presque jamais en      
toucher aucun4 ,tout au milieu de ce bel
 exercise1 je m'avisai de faire une     
espce de pronostic pour calmer mon      
inquitude4 ,je me dis --je m'en vais    
jeter cette pierre contre l'arbre qui   
est vis--vis de moi3 si je le touche1   
signe de salut3 si je le manque1 signe  
de damnation4 ,tout en disant ainsi1 je 
jette ma pierre d'une main tremblante1  
et avec un horrible battement de coeur1 
mais si heureusement qu'elle va frapper 
au beau-milieu de l'arbre3 ce qui       
vritablement n'toit pas difficile3 car  
j'avois eu soin de le choisir fort gros 
et fort prs4 ,depuis lors je n'ai plus  
doubt de mon salut4 ,je ne sais1 en me  
rappelant ce trait1 si je dois rire ou  

gmir sur moimme4'--,les ,confessions1   
,partie ,i4 ,livre ,,vi4  ,now1 really1 
if ,rousseau thought fit to try such    
tremendous appeals by taking 'a shy' at 
any random object1 he should have       
governed his sortilegy 7for such it may 
be called7 with something more like     
equity4 ,fair play is a jewel3 and in   
such a case1 a man is supposed to play  
against an adverse party hid in         
darkness4 ,to shy at a cow within six   
feet distance gives no chance at all to 
his dark antagonist4 ,a pigeon rising   
from a trap at a suitable distance might
 be thought a sincere staking of the    
interest at issue3 but1 as to the massy 
stem of a tree 'fort gros et fort       
prs'--the sarcasm of a ,roman emperor   
applies1 that to miss under such        
conditions implied an original genius   
for stupidity1 and to hit was no trial  
of the case4 ,after all1 the            
sentimentalist had youth to plead in    
apology for this extravagance4 ,he was  
hypochondriacal2 he was in solitude2 and

 he was possessed by gloomy imaginations
 from the works of a society in the     
highest public credit4 ,but most readers
 will be aware of similar appeals to the
 mysteries of ,providence1 made in      
public by illustrious sectarians1       
speaking from the solemn station of a   
pulpit4 ,we forbear to quote cases of   
this nature1 though really existing in  
print1 because we feel that the         
blasphemy of such anecdotes is more     
revolting and more painful to pious     
minds than the absurdity is amusing4    
,meantime it must not be forgotten1 that
 the principle concerned1 though it may 
happen to disgust men when associated   
with ludicrous circumstances1 is1 after 
all1 the very same which has latently   
governed very many modes of ordeal1 or  
judicial inquiry2 and which has been    
adopted1 blindly1 as a moral rule1 or   
canon1 equally by the blindest of the   
,pagans1 the most fanatical of the      
,jews1 and the most enlightened of the  
,christians4 ,it proceeds upon the      

assumption that man by his actions puts 
a question to ,heaven2 and that ,heaven 
answers by the event4 ,lucan1 in a well 
known passage1 takes it for granted that
 the cause of ,csar had the approbation 
of the gods4 ,and why8 ,simply from the 
event4 ,it was notoriously the          
triumphant cause4 ,it was victorious1   
7victrix causa ,deis placuit2 sed victa 
,catoni47 ,it was the 'victrix causa2'  
and1 as such1 simply because it was     
'victrix1' it had a right in his eyes to
 postulate the divine favor as mere     
matter of necessary interference3       
whilst1 on the other hand1 the victa    
causa1 though it seemed to ,lucan       
sanctioned by human virtue in the person
 of ,cato1 stood unappealably condemned4
 ,this mode of reasoning may strike the 
reader as merely ,pagan4 ,not at all4   
,in ,england1 at the close of the       
,parliamentary war1 it was generally    
argued--that ,providence had decided the
 question against the ,royalists by the 
mere fact of the issue4 ,milton himself1

 with all his high-toned morality1 uses 
this argument as irrefragable3 which is 
odd1 were it only on this account--that 
the issue ought necessarily to have been
 held for a time as merely hypothetic1  
and liable to be set aside by possible  
counter-issues through one generation at
 the least4 ,but the capital argument   
against such doctrine is to be found in 
the ,new ,testament4 ,strange that      
,milton should overlook1 and strange    
that moralists in general have          
overlooked1 the sudden arrest given to  
this dangerous but most prevalent mode  
of reasoning by the ,founder of our     
faith4 ,he first1 he last1 taught to his
 astonished disciples the new truth--at 
that time the astounding truth-- that no
 relation exists between the immediate  
practical events of things on the one   
side1 and divine sentences on the other4
 ,there was no presumption1 he teaches  
them1 against a man's favor with ,god1  
or that of his parents1 because he      
happened to be afflicted to extremity   

with bodily disease4 ,there was no      
shadow of an argument for believing a   
party of men criminal objects of        
heavenly wrath because upon them1 by    
fatal preference1 a tower had fallen1   
and because their bodies were           
exclusively mangled4 ,how little can it 
be said that ,christianity has yet      
developed the fulness of its power1 when
 kings and senates so recently acted    
under a total oblivion of this great    
though novel ,christian doctrine1 and   
would do so still1 were it not that     
religious arguments have been banished  
by the progress of manners from the     
field of political discussion4  ,but1   
quitting this province of the ominous1  
where it is made the object of a direct 
personal inquest1 whether by private or 
by national trials1 or the sortilegy of 
events1 let us throw our eyes over the  
broader field of omens1 as they offer   
themselves spontaneously to those who do
 not seek1 or would even willingly evade
 them4 ,there are few of these1 perhaps 

none1 which are not universal in their  
authority1 though every land in turn    
fancies them 7like its proverbs7 of     
local prescription and origin4 ,the     
death-watch extends from ,england to    
,cashmere1 and across ,india diagonally 
to the remotest nook of ,bengal1 over a 
three thousand miles' distance from the 
entrance of the ,indian ,punjaub4 ,a    
hare crossing a man's path on starting  
in the morning1 has been held in all    
countries alike to prognosticate evil in
 the course of that day4 ,thus1 in the  
,confessions of a ,thug1 7which is      
partially built on a real judicial      
document1 and everywhere conforms to the
 usages of ,hindostan17 the hero of the 
horrid narrative ,footnote3 ',the hero  
of the horrid narrative4'--,horrid it   
certainly is2 and one incident in every 
case gives a demoniacal air of coolness 
to the hellish atrocities1 viz the      
regular forwarding of the bheels1 or    
grave- diggers4 ,but else the tale tends
 too much to monotony2 and for a reason 

which ought to have checked the author  
in carrying on the work to three        
volumes1 namely1 that although there is 
much dramatic variety in the            
circumstances of the several cases1     
there is none in the catastrophes4 ,the 
brave man and the coward1 the erect     
spirit fighting to the last1 and the    
poor creature that despairs from the    
first1--all are confounded in one       
undistinguishing end by sudden          
strangulation4 ,this was the original   
defect of the plan4 ,the sudden         
surprise1 and the scientific noosing as 
with a ,chilian lasso1 constituted in   
fact a main feature of ,thuggee4 ,but   
still1 the gradual theatrical           
arrangement of each ,thug severally by  
the side of a victim1 must often have   
roused violent suspicion1 and that in   
time to intercept the suddenness of the 
murder4 ,now1 for the sake of the       
dramatic effect1 this interception ought
 more often to have been introduced1    
else the murders are but so many blind  

surprises as if in sleep4 charges some  
disaster of his own upon having         
neglected such an omen of the morning4  
,the same belief operated in ,pagan     
,italy4 ,the same omen announced to     
,lord ,lindsay's ,arab attendants in the
 desert the approach of some disaster1  
which partially happened in the morning4
 ,and a ,highlander of the #db;d        
,regiment1 in his printed memoirs1      
notices the same harbinger of evil as   
having crossed his own path on a day of 
personal disaster in ,spain4  ,birds are
 even more familiarly associated with   
such ominous warnings4 ,this chapter in 
the great volume of superstition was    
indeed cultivated with unusual          
solicitude amongst the                  
,pagans--ornithomancy grew into an      
elaborate science4 ,but if every rule   
and distinction upon the number and the 
position of birds1 whether to the right 
or the left1 had been collected from our
 own village matrons amongst ourselves1 
it would appear that no more of this    

,pagan science had gone to wreck than   
must naturally follow the difference    
between a believing and a disbelieving  
government4 ,magpies are still of awful 
authority in village life1 according to 
their number1 c42 for a striking        
illustration of which we may refer the  
reader to ,sir ,walter ,scott's         
,demonology1 reported not at            
second-hand1 but from ,sir ,walter's    
personal communication with some        
seafaring fellow-traveller in a         
stage-coach4  ,among the ancient stories
 of the same class is one which we shall
 repeat--having reference to that ,herod
 ,agrippa1 grandson of ,herod the       
,great1 before whom ,st4 ,paul made his 
famous apology at ,csarea4 ,this        
,agrippa1 overwhelmed by debts1 had fled
 from ,palestine to ,rome in the latter 
years of ,tiberius4 ,his mother's       
interest with the widow of ,germanicus  
procured him a special recommendation to
 her son ,caligula4 ,viewing this child 
and heir of the popular ,germanicus as  

the rising sun1 ,agrippa had been too   
free in his language4 ,true1 the uncle  
of ,germanicus was the reigning prince2 
but he was old1 and breaking up4 ,true1 
the son of ,germanicus was not yet on   
the throne2 but he soon would be2 and   
,agrippa was rash enough to call the    
,emperor a superannuated old fellow1 and
 even to wish for his death4 ,sejanus   
was now dead and gone2 but there was no 
want of spies3 and a certain ,macro     
reported his words to ,tiberius4        
,agrippa was in consequence arrested2   
the ,emperor himself condescending to   
point out the noble ,jew to the officer 
on duty4 ,the case was a gloomy one1 if 
,tiberius should happen to survive much 
longer3 and the story of the omen       
proceeds thus3--',now ,agrippa stood in 
his bonds before the ,imperial palace1  
and in his affliction leaned against a  
certain tree1 upon the boughs of which  
it happened that a bird had alighted    
which the ,romans call bubo1 or the owl4
 ,all this was steadfastly observed by a

 ,german prisoner1 who asked a soldier  
what might be the name and offence of   
that man habited in purple4 ,being told 
that the man's name was ,agrippa1 and   
that he was a ,jew of high rank1 who had
 given a personal offence to the        
,emperor1 the ,german asked permission  
to go near and address him2 which being 
granted1 he spoke thus3--,this disaster1
 ,i doubt not1 young man1 is trying to  
your heart2 and perhaps you will not    
believe me when ,i announce to you      
beforehand the providential deliverance 
which is impending4 ,however1 this much 
,i will say--and for my sincerity let me
 appeal to my native gods1 as well as to
 the gods of this ,rome1 who have       
brought us both into trouble--that no   
selfish objects prompt me to this       
revelation--for a revelation it is--and 
to the following effect3--,it is fated  
that you shall not long remain in       
chains4 ,your deliverance will be       
speedy2 you shall be raised to the very 
highest rank and power2 you shall be the

 object of as much envy as now you are  
of pity2 you shall retain your          
prosperity till death2 and you shall    
transmit that prosperity to your        
children4 ,but--and there the ,german   
paused4 ,agrippa was agitated2 the      
bystanders were attentive2 and after a  
time1 the ,german1 pointing solemnly to 
the bird1 proceeded thus3--,but this    
remember heedfully--that1 when next you 
see the bird which now perches above    
your head1 you will have only five days 
longer to live6 ,this event will be     
surely accomplished by that same        
mysterious god who has thought fit to   
send the bird as a warning sign2 and    
you1 when you come to your glory1 do not
 forget me that foreshadowed it in your 
humiliation4' ,the story adds1 that     
,agrippa affected to laugh when the     
,german concluded2 after which it goes  
on to say1 that in a few weeks1 being   
delivered by the death of ,tiberius2    
being released from prison by the very  
prince on whose account he had incurred 

the risk2 being raised to a tetrarchy1  
and afterwards to the kingdom of all    
,judea2 coming into all the prosperity  
which had been promised to him by the   
,german2 and not losing any part of his 
interest at ,rome through the           
assassination of his patron             
,caligula--he began to look back        
respectfully to the words of the        
,german1 and forwards with anxiety to   
the second coming of the bird4 ,seven   
years of sunshine had now slipped away  
as silently as a dream4 ,a great        
festival1 shows and vows1 was on the    
point of being celebrated in honor of   
,claudius ,csar1 at ,strato's ,tower1   
otherwise called ,csarea1 the ,roman    
metropolis of ,palestine4 ,duty and     
policy alike required that the king of  
the land should go down and unite in    
this mode of religious homage to the    
emperor4 ,he did so2 and on the second  
morning of the festival1 by way of doing
 more conspicuous honor to the great    
solemnity1 he assumed a very sumptuous  

attire of silver armor1 burnished so    
highly as to throw back a dazzling glare
 from the sun's morning beams upon the  
upturned eyes of the vast multitude     
around him4 ,immediately from the       
sycophantish part of the crowd1 of whom 
a vast majority were ,pagans1 ascended a
 cry of glorification as to some        
manifestation of ,deity4 ,agrippa1      
gratified by this success of his new    
apparel1 and by this flattery1 not      
unusual in the case of kings1 had not   
the firmness 7though a ,jew1 and        
conscious of the wickedness1 greater in 
himself than in the heathen crowd17 to  
reject the blasphemous homage4 ,voices  
of adoration continued to ascend2 when  
suddenly1 looking upward to the vast    
awnings prepared for screening the      
audience from the noonday heats1 the    
king perceived the same ominous bird    
which he had seen at ,rome in the day of
 his affliction1 seated quietly1 and    
looking down upon himself4 ,in that same
 moment an icy pang shot through his    

intestines4 ,he was removed into the    
palace2 and at the end of five days1    
completely worn out by pain1 ,agrippa   
expired in the #edth year of his age1   
and the seventh of his sovereign power4 
,whether the bird1 here described as an 
owl1 was really such1 may be doubted1   
considering the narrow nomenclature of  
the ,romans for all zoological purposes1
 and the total indifference of the      
,roman mind to all distinctions in      
natural history which are not upon the  
very largest scale4 ,we should much     
suspect that the bird was a magpie4     
,meantime1 speaking of ornithoscopy in  
relation to ,jews1 we remember another  
story in that subdivision of the subject
 which it may be worth while repeating2 
not merely on its own account1 as       
wearing a fine oriental air1 but also   
for the correction which it suggests to 
a very common error4  ,in some period of
 ,syrian warfare1 a large military      
detachment was entering at some point of
 ,syria from the desert of the          

,euphrates4 ,at the head of the whole   
array rode two men of some distinction3 
one was an augur of high reputation1 the
 other was a ,jew called ,mosollam1 a   
man of admirable beauty1 a matchless    
horseman1 an unerring archer1 and       
accomplished in all martial arts4 ,as   
they were now first coming within       
enclosed grounds1 after a long march in 
the wilderness1 the augur was most      
anxious to inaugurate the expedition by 
some considerable omen4 ,watching       
anxiously1 therefore1 he soon saw a bird
 of splendid plumage perching on a low  
wall4 ',halt6' he said to the advanced  
guard3 and all drew up in a line4 ,at   
that moment of silence and expectation1 
,mosollam1 slightly turning himself in  
his saddle1 drew his bow-string to his  
ear2 his ,jewish hatred of ,pagan       
auguries burned within him2 his         
inevitable shaft went right to its mark1
 and the beautiful bird fell dead4 ,the 
augur turned round in fury4 ,but the    
,jew laughed at him4 ',this bird1 you   

say1 should have furnished us with omens
 of our future fortunes4 ,but had he    
known anything of his own1 he would     
never have perched where he did1 or have
 come within the range of ,mosollam's   
archery4 ,how should that bird know our 
destiny1 who did not know that it was   
his own to be shot by ,mosollam the     
,jew8'  ,now1 this is a most common but 
a most erroneous way of arguing4 ,in a  
case of this kind1 the bird was not     
supposed to have any conscious          
acquaintance with futurity1 either for  
his own benefit or that of others4 ,but 
even where such a consciousness may be  
supposed1 as in the case of oneiromancy1
 or prophecy by means of dreams1 it must
 be supposed limited1 and the more      
limited in a personal sense as they are 
illimitable in a sublime one4 ,who      
imagines that1 because a ,daniel or     
,ezekiel foresaw the grand revolutions  
of the earth1 therefore they must or    
could have foreseen the little details  
of their own ordinary life8 ,and even   

descending from that perfect inspiration
 to the more doubtful power of augury   
amongst the ,pagans1 7concerning which  
the most eminent of theologians have    
held very opposite theories17 one thing 
is certain1 that1 so long as we         
entertain such pretensions1 or discuss  
them at all1 we must take them with the 
principle of those who professed such   
arts1 not with principles of our own    
arbitrary invention4  ,one example will 
make this clear3--,there are in ,england
 ,footnote3 ',there are in              
,england'--,especially in               
,somersetshire1 and for twenty miles    
round ,wrington1 the birthplace of      
,locke4 ,nobody sinks for wells without 
their advice4 ,we ourselves knew an     
amiable and accomplished ,scottish      
family1 who1 at an estate called        
,belmadrothie1 in memory of a similar   
property in ,ross shire1 built a house  
in ,somersetshire1 and resolved to find 
water without help from the jowser4 ,but
 after sinking to a greater depth than  

ever had been known before1 and spending
 nearly #bjj1 they were finally obliged 
to consult the jowser1 who found water  
at once4 a class of men who practise the
 ,pagan rhabdomancy in a limited sense4 
,they carry a rod or rhabdos 7rhabdos7  
of willow3 this they hold horizontally2 
and by the bending of the rod towards   
the ground they discover the favorable  
places for sinking wells2 a matter of   
considerable importance in a province so
 ill-watered as the northern district of
 ,somersetshire1 c4 ,these people are   
locally called jowsers2 and it is       
probable1 that from the suspicion with  
which their art has been usually        
regarded amongst people of education1 as
 a mere legerdemain trick of            
,dousterswivel's1 is derived the slang  
word to chouse for swindle4 ,meantime1  
the experimental evidences of a real    
practical skill in these men1 and the   
enlarged compass of speculation in these
 days1 have led many enlightened people 
to a ,stoic epochey1 or suspension of   

judgment1 on the reality of this        
somewhat mysterious art4 ,now1 in the   
,east1 there are men who make the same  
pretensions in a more showy branch of   
the art4 ,it is not water1 but treasures
 which they profess to find by some     
hidden kind of rhabdomancy4 ,the very   
existence of treasures with us is       
reasonably considered a thing of        
improbable occurrence4 ,but in the      
unsettled ,east1 and with the low       
valuation of human life wherever        
,mahometanism prevails1 insecurity and  
other causes must have caused millions  
of such deposits in every century to    
have perished as to any knowledge of    
survivors4 ,the sword has been moving   
backwards and forwards1 for instance1   
like a weaver's shuttle1 since the time 
of ,mahmoud the ,ghaznevide1 ,footnote3 
,mahmood of ,ghizni1 which1 under the   
,european name of ,ghaznee1 was so      
recently taken in one hour by our       
,indian army under ,lord ,keane ,mahmood
 was the first ,mahometan invader of    

,hindostan4 in ,anno ,domini #ajjj1 in  
the vast regions between the ,tigris1   
the ,oxus1 and the ,indus4 ,regularly as
 it approached1 gold and jewels must    
have sunk by whole harvests into the    
ground4 ,a certain per centage has been 
doubtless recovered3 a larger per       
centage has disappeared for ever4 ,hence
 naturally the jealousy of barbarous    
,orientals that we ,europeans1 in       
groping amongst pyramids1 sphynxes1 and 
tombs1 are looking for buried treasures4
 ,the wretches are not so wide astray in
 what they believe as in what they      
disbelieve4 ,the treasures do really    
exist which they fancy2 but then also   
the other treasures in the glorious     
antiquities have that existence for our 
sense of beauty which to their brutality
 is inconceivable4 ,in these            
circumstances1 why should it surprise us
 that men will pursue the science of    
discovery as a regular trade8 ,many     
discoveries of treasure are doubtless   
made continually1 which1 for obvious    

reasons1 are communicated to nobody4    
,some proportion there must be between  
the sowing of such grain as diamonds or 
emeralds1 and the subsequent reaping1   
whether by accident or by art4 ,for1    
with regard to the last1 it is no more  
impossible1 prima fronte1 that a        
substance may exist having an occult    
sympathy with subterraneous water or    
subterraneous gold1 than that the magnet
 should have a sympathy 7as yet occult7 
with the northern pole of our planet4   
,the first flash of careless thought    
applied to such a case will suggest1    
that men holding powers of this nature  
need not offer their services for hire  
to others4 ,and this1 in fact1 is the   
objection universally urged by us       
,europeans as decisive against their    
pretensions4 ,their knavery1 it is      
fancied1 stands self-recorded2 since1   
assuredly1 they would not be willing to 
divide their subterranean treasures1 if 
they knew of any4 ,but the men are not  
in such self- contradiction as may seem4

 ,lady ,hester ,stanhope1 from the      
better knowledge she had acquired of    
,oriental opinions1 set ,dr4 ,madden    
right on this point4 ,the ,oriental     
belief is that a fatality attends the   
appropriator of a treasure in any case  
where he happens also to be the         
discoverer4 ,such a person1 it is held1 
will die soon1 and suddenly--so that he 
is compelled to seek his remuneration   
from the wages or fees of his employers1
 not from the treasure itself4  ,many   
more secret laws are held sacred amongst
 the professors of that art than that   
which was explained by ,lady ,hester    
,stanhope4 ,these we shall not enter    
upon at present3 but generally we may   
remark1 that the same practices of      
subterranean deposits1 during our       
troubled periods in ,europe1 led to the 
same superstitions4 ,and it may be      
added1 that the same error has arisen in
 both cases as to some of these         
superstitions4 ,how often must it have  
struck people of liberal feelings1 as a 

scandalous proof of the preposterous    
value set upon riches by poor men1 that 
ghosts should popularly be supposed to  
rise and wander for the sake of         
revealing the situations of buried      
treasures4 ,for ourselves1 we have been 
accustomed to view this popular belief  
in the light of an argument for pity    
rather than for contempt towards poor   
men1 as indicating the extreme pressure 
of that necessity which could so have   
demoralized their natural sense of      
truth4 ,but certainly1 in whatever      
feelings originating1 such popular      
superstitions as to motives of ghostly  
missions did seem to argue a deplorable 
misconception of the relation subsisting
 between the spiritual world and the    
perishable treasures of this perishable 
world4 ,yet1 when we look into the      
,eastern explanations of this case1 we  
find that it is meant to express1 not   
any overvaluation of riches1 but the    
direct contrary passion4 ,a human spirit
 is punished--such is the               

notion--punished in the spiritual world 
for excessive attachment to gold1 by    
degradation to the office of its        
guardian2 and from this office the      
tortured spirit can release itself only 
by revealing the treasure and           
transferring the custody4 ,it is a penal
 martyrdom1 not an elective passion for 
gold1 which is thus exemplified in the  
wanderings of a treasure-ghost4  ,but1  
in a field where of necessity we are so 
much limited1 we willingly pass from the
 consideration of these treasure or     
khasne phantoms 7which alone            
sufficiently ensure a swarm of ghostly  
terrors for all ,oriental ruins of      
cities17 to the same marvellous         
apparitions1 as they haunt other        
solitudes even more awful than those of 
ruined cities4 ,in this world there are 
two mighty forms of perfect             
solitude--the ocean and the desert3 the 
wilderness of the barren sands1 and the 
wilderness of the barren waters4 ,both  
are the parents of inevitable           

superstitions --of terrors1 solemn1     
ineradicable1 eternal4 ,sailors and the 
children of the desert are alike overrun
 with spiritual hauntings1 from         
accidents of peril essentially connected
 with those modes of life1 and from the 
eternal spectacle of the infinite4      
,voices seem to blend with the raving of
 the sea1 which will for ever impress   
the feeling of beings more than human3  
and every chamber of the great          
wilderness which1 with little           
interruption1 stretches from the        
,euphrates to the western shores of     
,africa1 has its own peculiar terrors   
both as to sights and sounds4 ,in the   
wilderness of ,zin1 between ,palestine  
and the ,red ,sea1 a section of the     
desert well known in these days to our  
own countrymen1 bells are heard daily   
pealing for matins1 or for vespers1 from
 some phantom convent that no search of 
,christian or of ,bedouin ,arab has ever
 been able to discover4 ,these bells    
have sounded since the ,crusades4 ,other

 sounds1 trumpets1 the ,alala of armies1
 c41 are heard in other regions of the  
,desert4 ,forms1 also1 are seen of more 
people than have any right to be walking
 in human paths3 sometimes forms of     
avowed terror2 sometimes1 which is a    
case of far more danger1 appearances    
that mimic the shapes of men1 and even  
of friends or comrades4 ,this is a case 
much dwelt on by the old travellers1 and
 which throws a gloom over the spirits  
of all ,bedouins1 and of every cafila or
 caravan4 ,we all know what a sensation 
of loneliness or 'eeriness' 7to use an  
expressive term of the ballad poetry7   
arises to any small party assembling in 
a single room of a vast desolate        
mansion3 how the timid among them fancy 
continually that they hear some remote  
door opening1 or trace the sound of     
suppressed footsteps from some distant  
staircase4 ,such is the feeling in the  
desert1 even in the midst of the        
caravan4 ,the mighty solitude is seen3  
the dread silence is anticipated which  

will succeed to this brief transit of   
men1 camels1 and horses4 ,awe prevails  
even in the midst of society3 but1 if   
the traveller should loiter behind from 
fatigue1 or be so imprudent as to ramble
 aside-- should he from any cause once  
lose sight of his party1 it is held that
 his chance is small of recovering their
 traces4 ,and why8 ,not chiefly from the
 want of footmarks where the wind       
effaces all impressions in half an hour1
 or of eyemarks where all is one blank  
ocean of sand1 but much more from the   
sounds or the visual appearances which  
are supposed to beset and to seduce all 
insulated wanderers4  ,everybody knows  
the superstitions of the ancients about 
the ,nympholeptoi1 or those who had seen
 ,pan4 ,but far more awful and gloomy   
are the existing superstitions1         
throughout ,asia and ,africa1 as to the 
perils of those who are phantom-haunted 
in the wilderness4 ,the old ,venetian   
traveller ,marco ,polo states them well3
 he speaks1 indeed1 of the ,eastern or  

,tartar deserts2 the steppes which      
stretch from ,european ,russia to the   
footsteps of the ,chinese throne2 but   
exactly the same creed prevails amongst 
the ,arabs1 from ,bagdad to ,suez and   
,cairo-- from ,rosetta to ,tunis--,tunis
 to ,timbuctoo or ,mequinez4 ',if1      
during the daytime1' says he1 'any      
person should remain behind until the   
caravan is no longer in sight1 he hears 
himself unexpectedly called to by name1 
and in a voice with which he is         
familiar4 ,not doubting that the voice  
proceeds from some of his comrades1 the 
unhappy man is beguiled from the right  
direction2 and soon finding himself     
utterly confounded as to the path1 he   
roams about in distraction until he     
perishes miserably4 ,if1 on the other   
hand1 this perilous separation of       
himself from the caravan should happen  
at night1 he is sure to hear the uproar 
of a great cavalcade a mile or two to   
the right or left of the true track4 ,he
 is thus seduced on one side3 and at    

break of day finds himself far removed  
from man4 ,nay1 even at noon-day1 it is 
well known that grave and respectable   
men to all appearance will come up to a 
particular traveller1 will bear the look
 of a friend1 and will gradually lure   
him by earnest conversation to a        
distance from the caravan2 after which  
the sounds of men and camels will be    
heard continually at all points but the 
true one2 whilst an insensible turning  
by the tenth of an inch at each separate
 step from the true direction will very 
soon suffice to set the traveller's face
 to the opposite point of the compass   
from that which his safety requires1 and
 which his fancy represents to him as   
his real direction4 ,marvellous1 indeed1
 and almost passing belief1 are the     
stories reported of these desert        
phantoms1 which are said at times to    
fill the air with choral music from all 
kinds of instruments1 from drums1 and   
the clash of arms3 so that oftentimes a 
whole caravan are obliged to close up   

their open ranks1 and to proceed in a   
compact line of march4'  ,lord ,lindsay1
 in his very interesting travels in     
,egypt1 ,edom1 c41 agrees with ,warton  
in supposing 7and probably enough7 that 
from this account of the desert         
traditions in ,marco ,polo was derived  
,milton's fine passage in ,comus3--     
',of calling shapes1 and beckoning      
shadows dire1   ,and aery tongues that  
syllable men's names   ,on sands1 and   
shores1 and desert wildernesses4'  ,but 
the most remarkable of these desert     
superstitions1 as suggested by the      
mention of ,lord ,lindsay1 is one which 
that young nobleman1 in some place which
 we cannot immediately find1 has        
noticed1 but which he only was destined 
by a severe personal loss immediately to
 illustrate4 ,lord ,l4 quotes from      
,vincent le ,blanc an anecdote of a man 
in his own caravan1 the companion of an 
,arab merchant1 who disappeared in a    
mysterious manner4 ,four ,moors1 with a 
retaining fee of #ajj ducats1 were sent 

in quest of him1 but came back re       
infecta4 ',and 'tis uncertain1' adds ,le
 ,blanc1 'whether he was swallowed up in
 the sands1 or met his death by any     
other misfortune2 as it often happens1  
by the relation of a merchant then in   
our company1 who told us1 that two years
 before1 traversing the same journey1 a 
comrade of his1 going a little aside    
from the company1 saw three men who     
called him by his name2 and one of them1
 to his thinking1 favored very much his 
companion2 and1 as he was about to      
follow them1 his real companion calling 
him to come back to his company1 he     
found himself deceived by the others1   
and thus was saved4 ,and all travellers 
in these parts hold1 that in the deserts
 are many such phantasms seen1 that     
strive to seduce the traveller4' ,thus  
far it is the traveller's own fault1    
warned as he is continually by the      
extreme anxiety of the ,arab leaders or 
guides1 with respect to all who stray to
 any distance1 if he is duped or enticed

 by these pseudo-men3 though1 in the    
case of ,lapland dogs1 who ought to have
 a surer instinct of detection for      
counterfeits1 we know from ,sir ,capel  
de ,broke and others1 that they are     
continually wiled away by the wolves who
 roam about the nightly encampments of  
travellers4 ,but there is a secondary   
disaster1 according to the ,arab        
superstition1 awaiting those whose eyes 
are once opened to the discernment of   
these phantoms4 ,to see them1 or to hear
 them1 even where the traveller is      
careful to refuse their lures1 entails  
the certainty of death in no long time4 
,this is another form of that universal 
faith which made it impossible for any  
man to survive a bodily commerce1 by    
whatever sense1 with a spiritual being4 
,we find it in the ,old ,testament1     
where the expression1 ',i have seen ,god
 and shall die1' means simply a         
supernatural being2 since no ,hebrew    
believed it possible for a nature purely
 human to sustain for a moment the sight

 of the ,infinite ,being4 ,we find the  
same faith amongst ourselves1 in case of
 doppelgnger becoming apparent to the   
sight of those whom they counterfeit2   
and in many other varieties4 ,we modern 
,europeans1 of course1 laugh at these   
superstitions2 though1 as ,la ,place    
remarks1 7,essai sur les ,probabilits17 
any case1 however apparently incredible1
 if it is a recurrent case1 is as much  
entitled to a fair valuation as if it   
had been more probable                  
beforehand4,footnote3 ',is as much      
entitled to a fair valuation1 under the 
lans of induction1 as if it had been    
more probable beforehand'--,one of the  
cases which ,la ,place notices as       
entitled to a grave consideration1 but  
which would most assuredly be treated as
 a trivial phenomenon1 unworthy of      
attention1 by commonplace spectators1   
is--when a run of success1 with no      
apparent cause1 takes place on heads or 
tails1 7pile ou croix7 ,most people     
dismiss such a case as pure accident4   

,but ,la ,place insists on its being    
duly valued as a fact1 however          
unaccountable as an effect4 ,so again1  
if in a large majority of experiences   
like those of ,lord ,lindsay's party in 
the desert1 death should follow1 such a 
phenomenon is as well entitled to its   
separate valuation as any other4 ,this  
being premised1 we who connect          
superstition with the personal result1  
are more impressed by the disaster which
 happened to ,lord ,lindsay1 than his   
lordship1 who either failed to notice   
the nexus between the events1 or        
possibly declined to put the case too   
forward in his reader's eye1 from the   
solemnity of the circumstances1 and the 
private interest to himself and his own 
family1 of the subsequent event4 ,the   
case was this3--,mr4 ,william ,wardlaw  
,ramsay1 the companion 7and we believe  
relative7 of ,lord ,lindsay1 a man whose
 honorable character1 and whose         
intellectual accomplishments speak for  
themselves1 in the posthumus memorabilia

 of his travels published by ,lord ,l41 
had seen an array of objects in the     
desert1 which facts immediately         
succeeding demonstrated to have been a  
mere ocular lusus1 or 7according to     
,arab notions7 phantoms4 ,during the    
absence from home of an ,arab sheikh1   
who had been hired as conductor of ,lord
 ,lindsay's party1 a hostile tribe      
7bearing the name of ,tellaheens7 had   
assaulted and pillaged his tents4       
,report of this had reached the ,english
 travelling party2 it was known that the
 ,tellaheens were still in motion1 and a
 hostile rencounter was looked for for  
some days4 ,at length1 in crossing the  
well known valley of the ,wady ,araba1  
that most ancient channel of            
communication between the ,red ,sea and 
,judea1 c41 ,mr4 ,ramsay saw1 to his own
 entire conviction1 a party of horse    
moving amongst some sand-hills4         
,afterwards it became certain1 from     
accurate information1 that this must    
have been a delusion4 ,it was           

established1 that no horseman could have
 been in that neighborhood at that time4
 ,lord ,lindsay records the case as an  
illustration of 'that spiritualized tone
 the imagination naturally assumes1 in  
scenes presenting so little sympathy    
with the ordinary feelings of humanity2'
 and he reports the case in these       
pointed terms3 --',mr4 ,ramsay1 a man of
 remarkably strong sight1 and by no     
means disposed to superstitious         
credulity1 distinctly saw a party of    
horse moving among the sand-hills2 and  
,i do not believe he was ever able to   
divest himself of that impression4'     
,no--and1 according to ,arab            
interpretation1 very naturally so2 for1 
according to their faith1 he really had 
seen the horsemen2 phantom horseman     
certainly1 but still objects of sight4  
,the sequel remains to be told--by the  
,arabian hypothesis1 ,mr4 ,ramsay had   
but a short time to live--he was under a
 secret summons to the next world4 ,and 
accordingly1 in a few weeks after this1 

whilst ,lord ,lindsay had gone to visit 
,palmyra1 ,mr4 ,ramsay died at          
,damascus4  ,this was a case exactly    
corresponding to the ,pagan nympholepsis
 --he had seen the beings whom it is not
 lawful to see and live4 ,another case  
of ,eastern superstition1 not less      
determined1 and not less remarkably     
fulfilled1 occurred some years before to
 ,dr4 ,madden1 who travelled pretty much
 in the same route as ,lord ,lindsay4   
,the doctor1 as a phrenologist1 had been
 struck with the very singular          
conformation of a skull which he saw    
amongst many others on an altar in some 
,syrian convent4 ,he offered a          
considerable sum in gold for it2 but it 
was by repute the skull of a saint2 and 
the monk with whom ,dr4 ,m4 attempted to
 negotiate1 not only refused his offers1
 but protested that even for the        
doctor's sake1 apart from the interests 
of the convent1 he could not venture on 
such a transfer3 for that1 by the       
tradition attached to it1 the skull     

would endanger any vessel carrying it   
from the ,syrian shore3 the vessel might
 escape2 but it would never succeed in  
reaching any but a ,syrian harbor4      
,after this1 for the credit of our      
country1 which stands so high in the    
,east1 and should be so punctiliously   
tended by all ,englishmen1 we are sorry 
to record that ,dr4 ,madden 7though     
otherwise a man of scrupulous honor7    
yielded to the temptation of            
substituting for the saint's skull      
another less remarkable from his own    
collection4 ,with this saintly relic he 
embarked on board a ,grecian ship2 was  
alternately pursued and met by storms   
the most violent2 larboard and          
starboard1 on every quarter1 he was     
buffeted2 the wind blew from every point
 of the compass2 the doctor honestly    
confesses that he often wished this     
baleful skull back in safety on the     
quiet altar from which he took it2 and  
finally1 after many days of anxiety1 he 
was too happy in finding himself again  

restored to some oriental port1 from    
which he secretly vowed never again to  
sail with a saint's skull1 or with any  
skull1 however remarkable               
phrenologically1 not purchased in an    
open market4  ,thus we have pursued1    
through many of its most memorable      
sections1 the spirit of the miraculous  
as it moulded and gathered itself in the
 superstitions of ,paganism2 and we have
 shown that1 in the modern superstitions
 of ,christianity1 or of ,mahometanism1 
7often enough borrowed from ,christian  
sources17 there is a pretty regular     
correspondence4 ,speaking with a        
reference to the strictly popular       
belief1 it cannot be pretended for a    
moment1 that miraculous agencies are    
slumbering in modern ages4 ,for one     
superstition of that nature which the   
,pagans had1 we can produce twenty4 ,and
 if1 from the collation of numbers1 we  
should pass to that of quality1 it is a 
matter of notoriety1 that from the very 
philosophy of ,paganism1 and its slight 

root in the terrors or profounder       
mysteries of spiritual nature1 no       
comparison could be sustained for a     
moment between the true religion and any
 mode whatever of the false4 ,ghosts we 
have purposely omitted1 because that    
idea is so peculiarly ,christian        
,footnote3 ',because that idea is so    
peculiarly ,christian'--,one reason1    
additional to the main one1 why the idea
 of a ghost could not be conceived or   
reproduced by ,paganism1 lies in the    
fourfold resolution of the human nature 
at death1 viz4--#a4 corpus2 #b4 manes2  
#c4 spiritus2 #d4 anima4 ,no            
reversionary consciousness1 no          
restitution of the total nature1        
sentient and active1 was thus possible4 
,pliny has a story which looks like a   
ghost story2 but it is all moonshine--a 
mere simulacrum4 as to reject all       
counterparts or affinities from other   
modes of the supernatural4 ,the         
,christian ghost is too awful a         
presence1 and with too large a          

substratum of the real1 the impassioned1
 the human1 for our present purposes4   
,we deal chiefly with the wilder and    
more rial forms of superstition2 not so 
far off from fleshly nature as the      
purely allegoric--not so near as the    
penal1 the purgatorial1 the penitential4
 ,in this middle class1 ',gabriel's     
hounds'--the 'phantom ship'--the gloomy 
legends of the charcoal burners in the  
,german forests--and the local or       
epichorial superstitions from every     
district of ,europe1 come forward by    
thousands1 attesting the high activity  
of the miraculous and the hyperphysical 
instincts1 even in this generation1     
wheresoever the voice of the people     
makes itself heard4  ,but in ,pagan     
times1 it will be objected1 the popular 
superstitions blended themselves with   
the highest political functions1 gave a 
sanction to national counsels1 and      
oftentimes gave their starting point to 
the very primary movements of the state4
 ,prophecies1 omens1 miracles1 all      

worked concurrently with senates or     
princes4 ,whereas in our days1 says     
,charles ,lamb1 the witch who takes her 
pleasure with the moon1 and summons     
,beelzebub to her sabbaths1 nevertheless
 trembles before the beadle1 and hides  
herself from the overseer4 ,now1 as to  
the witch1 even the horrid ,canidia of  
,horace1 or the more dreadful ,erichtho 
of ,lucan1 seems hardly to have been    
much respected in any era4 ,but for the 
other modes of the supernatural1 they   
have entered into more frequent         
combinations with state functions and   
state movements in our modern ages than 
in the classical age of ,paganism4 ,look
 at prophecies1 for example3 the ,romans
 had a few obscure oracles afloat1 and  
they had the ,sibylline books under the 
state seal4 ,these books1 in fact1 had  
been kept so long1 that1 like port wine 
superannuated1 they had lost their      
flavor and body4 ,footnote3 ',like port 
wine superannuated1 the ,sibylline books
 had lost their flavor and their        

body4'--,there is an allegoric          
description in verse1 by ,mr4 ,rogers1  
of an ice-house1 in which winter is     
described as a captive1 c41 which is    
memorable on this account1 that a       
brother poet1 on reading the passage1   
mistook it1 7from not understanding the 
allegorical expressions17 either        
sincerely or maliciously1 for a         
description of the house-dog4 ,now1 this
 little anecdote seems to embody the    
poor ,sibyl's history1--from a stern icy
 sovereign1 with a petrific mace1 she   
lapsed into an old toothless mastiff4   
,she continued to snore in her ancient  
kennel for above a thousand years4 ,the 
last person who attempted to stir her up
 with a long pole1 and to extract from  
her paralytic dreaming some growls or   
snarls against ,christianity1 was       
,aurelian1 in a moment of public panic4 
,but the thing was past all tampering4  
,the poor creature could neither be     
kicked nor coaxed into vitality4 ,on the
 other hand1 look at ,france4 ,henry the

 historian1 speaking of the fifteenth   
century1 describes it as a national     
infirmity of the ,english to be         
prophecy-ridden4 ,perhaps there never   
was any foundation for this as an       
exclusive remark2 but assuredly not in  
the next century4 ,there had been with  
us ,british1 from the twelfth century1  
,thomas of ,ercildoune in the north1 and
 many monkish local prophets for every  
part of the island2 but latterly        
,england had no terrific prophet1       
unless1 indeed ,nixon of the ,vale      
,royal in ,cheshire1 who uttered his    
dark oracles sometimes with a merely    
,cestrian1 sometimes with a national    
reference4 ,whereas in ,france1         
throughout the sixteenth century1 every 
principal event was foretold            
successively1 with an accuracy that     
still shocks and confounds us4 ,francis 
the ,first1 who opens the century1 7and 
by many is held to open the book of     
modern history1 as distinguished from   
the middle or feudal history17 had the  

battle of ,pavia foreshown to him1 not  
by name1 but in its results--by his own 
,spanish captivity--by the exchange for 
his own children upon a frontier river  
of ,spain--finally1 by his own          
disgraceful death1 through an infamous  
disease conveyed to him under a deadly  
circuit of revenge4 ,this king's son1   
,henry the ,second1 read some years     
before the event a description of that  
tournament1 on the marriage of the      
,scottish ,queen with his eldest son1   
,francis ,,ii41 which proved fatal to   
himself1 through the awkwardness of the 
,compte de ,montgomery and his own      
obstinacy4 ,after this1 and we believe a
 little after the brief reign of        
,francis ,,ii41 arose ,nostradamus1 the 
great prophet of the age4 ,all the      
children of ,henry ,,ii4 and of         
,catharine de ,medici1 one after the    
other1 died in circumstances of         
suffering and horror1 and ,nostradamus  
pursued the whole with ominous          
allusions4 ,charles ,,ix41 though the   

authorizer of the ,bartholomew massacre1
 was the least guilty of his party1 and 
the only one who manifested a dreadful  
remorse4 ,henry ,,iii41 the last of the 
brothers1 died1 as the reader will      
remember1 by assassination4 ,and all    
these tragic successions of events are  
still to be read more or less dimly     
prefigured in verses of which we will   
not here discuss the dates4 ,suffice it1
 that many authentic historians attest  
the good faith of the prophets2 and     
finally1 with respect to the first of   
the ,bourbon dynasty1 ,henry ,,iv41 who 
succeeded upon the assassination of his 
brother-in-law1 we have the peremptory  
assurance of ,sully and other           
,protestants1 countersigned by writers  
both historical and controversial1 that 
not only was he prepared1 by many       
warnings1 for his own tragical          
death--not only was the day1 the hour   
prefixed--not only was an almanac sent  
to him1 in which the bloody summer's day
 of #afaj was pointed out to his        

attention in bloody colors2 but the mere
 record of the king's last afternoon    
shows beyond a doubt the extent and the 
punctual limitation of his anxieties4   
,in fact1 it is to this attitude of     
listening expectation in the king1 and  
breathless waiting for the blow1 that   
,schiller alludes in that fine speech of
 ,wallenstein to his sister1 where he   
notices the funeral knells that sounded 
continually in ,henry's ears1 and1 above
 all1 his prophetic instinct1 that      
caught the sound from a far distance of 
his murderer's motions1 and could       
distinguish1 amidst all the tumult of a 
mighty capital1 those stealthy steps    
----',which even then were seeking him  
,throughout the streets of ,paris4'  ,we
 profess not to admire ,henry the       
,fourth of ,france1 whose secret        
character we shall1 on some other       
occasion1 attempt to expose4 ,but his   
resignation to the appointments of      
,heaven1 in dismissing his guards1 as   
feeling that against a danger so        

domestic and so mysterious1 all fleshly 
arms were vain1 has always struck us as 
the most like magnanimity of anything in
 his very theatrical life4  ,passing to 
our own country1 and to the times       
immediately in succession1 we fall upon 
some striking prophecies1 not verbal but
 symbolic1 if we turn from the broad    
highway of public histories1 to the     
by-paths of private memories4 ,either   
,clarendon it is1 in his ,life 7not his 
public history71 or else ,laud1 who     
mentions an anecdote connected with the 
coronation of ,charles ,i41 7the        
son-in-law of the murdered ,bourbon17   
which threw a gloom upon the spirits of 
the royal friends1 already saddened by  
the dreadful pestilence which           
inaugurated the reign of this ill-fated 
prince1 levying a tribute of one life in
 sixteen from the population of the     
,english metropolis4 ,at the coronation 
of ,charles1 it was discovered that all 
,london would not furnish the quantity  
of purple velvet required for the royal 

robes and the furniture of the throne4  
,what was to be done8 ,decorum required 
that the furniture should be all en     
suite4 ,nearer than ,genoa no           
considerable addition could be expected4
 ,that would impose a delay of #aej     
days4 ,upon mature consideration1 and   
chiefly of the many private interests   
that would suffer amongst the multitudes
 whom such a solemnity had called up    
from the country1 it was resolved to    
robe the ,king in white velvet4 ,but    
this1 as it afterwards occurred1 was the
 color in which victims were arrayed4   
,and thus1 it was alleged1 did the      
,king's council establish an augury of  
evil4 ,three other ill omens1 of some   
celebrity1 occurred to ,charles ,i41    
viz41 on occasion of creating his son   
,charles a knight of the ,bath1 at      
,oxford some years after2 and at the bar
 of that tribunal which sat in judgment 
upon him4  ,the reign of his second son1
 ,james ,,ii41 the next reign that could
 be considered an unfortunate reign1 was

 inaugurated by the same evil omens4    
,the day selected for the coronation 7in
 #afhe7 was a day memorable for         
,england--it was ,st4 ,george's day1 the
 #bc;d of ,april1 and entitled1 even on 
a separate account1 to be held a sacred 
day as the birthday of ,shakspeare in   
#aefd1 and his deathday in #afaf4 ,the  
,king saved a sum of sixty thousand     
pounds by cutting off the ordinary      
cavalcade from the ,tower of ,london to 
,westminster4 ,even this was imprudent4 
,it is well known that1 amongst the     
lowest class of the ,english1 there is  
an obstinate prejudice 7though          
unsanctioned by law7 with respect to the
 obligation imposed by the ceremony of  
coronation4 ,so long as this ceremony is
 delayed1 or mutilated1 they fancy that 
their obedience is a matter of mere     
prudence1 liable to be enforced by arms1
 but not consecrated either by law or by
 religion4 ,the change made by ,james   
was1 therefore1 highly imprudent2 shorn 
of its antique traditionary usages1 the 

yoke of conscience was lightened at a   
moment when it required a double        
ratification4 ,neither was it called for
 on motives of economy1 for ,james was  
unusually rich4 ,this voluntary         
arrangement was1 therefore1 a bad       
beginning2 but the accidental omens were
 worse4 ,they are thus reported by      
,blennerhassett1 7,history of ,england  
to the end of ,george ,i41 ,vol4 iv41 p4
 #agfj1 printed at                      
,newcastle-upon-,tyne3 #agea47 ',the    
crown being too little for the ,king's  
head1 was often in a tottering          
condition1 and like to fall off4' ,even 
this was observed attentively by        
spectators of the most opposite         
feelings4 ,but there was another        
simultaneous omen1 which affected the   
,protestant enthusiasts1 and the        
superstitious1 whether ,catholic or     
,protestant1 still more alarmingly4     
',the same day the king's arms1         
pompously painted in the great altar    
window of a ,london church1 suddenly    

fell down without apparent cause1 and   
broke to pieces1 whilst the rest of the 
window remained standing4               
,blennerhassett mutters the dark terrors
 which possessed himself and others4'   
',these1' says he1 'were reckoned ill   
omens to the king4'  ,in ,france1 as the
 dreadful criminality of the ,french    
sovereigns through the #agth century    
began to tell powerfully1 and reproduce 
itself in the miseries and tumults of   
the ,french populace through the #ahth  
century1 it is interesting to note the  
omens which unfolded themselves at      
intervals4 ,a volume might be written   
upon them4 ,the ,french ,bourbons       
renewed the picture of that fatal house 
which in ,thebes offered to the ,grecian
 observers the spectacle of dire        
auguries1 emerging from darkness through
 three generations1  plusieurs reprises4
 ,everybody knows the fatal pollution of
 the marriage pomps on the reception of 
,marie ,antoinette in ,paris2 the       
numbers who perished are still spoken of

 obscurely as to the amount1 and with   
shuddering awe for the unparalleled     
horrors standing in the background of   
the fatal reign --horrors    ',that     
hush'd in grim repose1 await their      
evening prey4'  ,but in the life of     
,goethe is mentioned a still more       
portentous 7though more shadowy7 omen in
 the pictorial decorations of the arras 
which adorned the pavilion on the       
,french frontier2 the first objects     
which met the ,austrian ,archduchess on 
being hailed as ,dauphiness1 was a      
succession of the most tragic groups    
from the most awful section of the      
,grecian theatre4 ,the next alliance of 
the same kind between the same great    
empires1 in the persons of ,napoleon and
 the ,archduchess ,marie ,louisa1 was   
overshadowed by the same unhappy omens1 
and1 as we all remember1 with the same  
unhappy results1 within a brief period  
of five years4  ,or1 if we should resort
 to the fixed and monumental rather than
 to these auguries of great             

nations--such1 for instance1 as were    
embodied in those ,palladia1 or         
protesting talismans1 which capital     
cities1 whether ,pagan or ,christian1   
glorified through a period of           
twenty-five hundred years1 we shall find
 a long succession of these enchanted   
pledges1 from the earliest precedent of 
,troy 7whose palladium was undoubtedly a
 talisman7 down to that equally         
memorable1 and bearing the same name1 at
 ,western ,rome4 ,we may pass1 by a vast
 transition of two and a half millennia1
 to that great talisman of              
,constantinople1 the triple serpent1    
7having perhaps an original reference to
 the ,mosaic serpent of the wilderness1 
which healed the infected by the simple 
act of looking upon it1 as the symbol of
 the ,redeemer1 held aloft upon the     
,cross for the deliverance from moral   
contagion47 ,this great consecrated     
talisman1 venerated equally by          
,christian1 by ,pagan1 and by           
,mahometan1 was struck on the head by   

,mahomet the ,second1 on that same day1 
,may #bith of #adec1 in which he        
mastered by storm this glorious city1   
the bulwark of eastern ,christendom1 and
 the immediate rival of his own         
,european throne at ,adrianople4 ,but   
mark the superfetation of omens-- omen  
supervening upon omen1 augury engrafted 
upon augury4 ,the hour was a sad one for
 ,christianity2 just #gbj years before  
the western horn of ,islam had been     
rebutted in ,france by the ,germans1    
chiefly under ,charles ,martel4 ,but now
 it seemed as though another horn1 even 
more vigorous1 was preparing to assault 
,christendom and its hopes from the     
eastern quarter4 ,at this epoch1 in the 
very hour of triumph1 when the last of  
the ,csars had glorified his station1   
and sealed his testimony by martyrdom1  
the fanatical ,sultan1 riding to his    
stirrups in blood1 and wielding that    
iron mace which had been his sole       
weapon1 as well as cognizance1 through  
the battle1 advanced to the column1     

round which the triple serpent roared   
spirally upwards4 ,he smote the brazen  
talisman2 he shattered one head2 he left
 it mutilated as the record of his great
 revolution2 but crush it1 destroy it1  
he did not--as a symbol prefiguring the 
fortunes of ,mahometanism1 his people   
noticed1 that in the critical hour of   
fate1 which stamped the ,sultan's acts  
with efficacy through ages1 he had been 
prompted by his secret genius only to   
'scotch the snake1' not to crush it4    
,afterwards the fatal hour was gone by2 
and this imperfect augury has since     
concurred traditionally with the        
,mahometan prophecies about the         
,adrianople gate of ,constantinople1 to 
depress the ultimate hopes of ,islam in 
the midst of all its insolence4 ,the    
very haughtiest of the ,mussulmans      
believe that the gate is already in     
existence1 through which the red        
,giaours 7the ,russi7 shall pass to the 
conquest of ,stamboul2 and that         
everywhere1 in ,europe at least1 the hat

 of ,frangistan is destined to surmount 
the turban--the crescent must go down   
before the cross4     ,,coleridge ,,and 
,,opium-,,eating4   ,what is the deadest
 of things earthly8 ,it is1 says the    
world1 ever forward and rash--'a        
door-nail6' ,but the world is wrong4    
,there is a thing deader than a         
door-nail1 viz41 ,gillman's ,coleridge1 
,vol4 ,i4 ,dead1 more dead1 most dead1  
is ,gillman's ,coleridge1 ,vol4 ,i42 and
 this upon more arguments than one4 ,the
 book has clearly not completed its     
elementary act of respiration2 the      
systole of ,vol4 ,i4 is absolutely      
useless and lost without the diastole of
 that ,vol4 ,,ii41 which is never to    
exist4 ,that is one argument1 and       
perhaps this second argument is         
stronger4 ,gillman's ,coleridge1 ,vol4  
,i41 deals rashly1 unjustly1 and almost 
maliciously1 with some of our own       
particular friends2 and yet1 until late 
in this summer1 ,anno ,domini #ahdd1    
we--that is1 neither ourselves nor our  

friends--ever heard of its existence4   
,now a sloth1 even without the benefit  
of ,mr4 ,waterton's evidence to his     
character1 will travel faster than that4
 ,but malice1 which travels fastest of  
all things1 must be dead and cold at    
starting1 when it can thus have lingered
 in the rear for six years2 and         
therefore1 though the world was so far  
right1 that people do say1 ',dead as a  
door-nail1' yet1 henceforward1 the      
weakest of these people will see the    
propriety of saying--',dead as          
,gillman's ,coleridge4'  ,the reader of 
experience1 on sliding over the surface 
of this opening paragraph1 begins to    
think there's mischief singing in the   
upper air4 ',no1 reader1 not at all4 ,we
 never were cooler in our days4 ,and    
this we protest1 that1 were it not for  
the excellence of the subject1          
,coleridge and ,opium-,eating1 ,mr4     
,gillman would have been dismissed by us
 unnoticed4 ,indeed1 we not only forgive
 ,mr4 ,gillman1 but we have a kindness  

for him2 and on this account1 that he   
was good1 he was generous1 he was most  
forbearing1 through twenty years1 to    
poor ,coleridge1 when thrown upon his   
hospitality4 ,an excellent thing that1  
,mr4 ,gillman1 till1 noticing the theme 
suggested by this unhappy ,vol4 ,i41 we 
are forced at times to notice its       
author1 ,nor is this to be regretted4   
,we remember a line of ,horace never yet
 properly translated1 viz3--    ',nec   
scutica dignum horribili sectere        
flagello4'  ,the true translation of    
which1 as we assure the unlearned       
reader1 is-- ',nor must you pursue with 
the horrid knout of ,christopher that   
man who merits only a switching4' ,very 
true4 ,we protest against all attempts  
to invoke the exterminating knout2 for  
that sends a man to the hospital for two
 months2 but you see that the same      
judicious poet1 who dissuades an appeal 
to the knout1 indirectly recommends the 
switch1 which1 indeed1 is rather        
pleasant than otherwise1 amiably playful

 in some of its little caprices1 and in 
its worst1 suggesting only a pennyworth 
of diachylon4  ,we begin by professing1 
with hearty sincerity1 our fervent      
admiration of the extraordinary man who 
furnishes the theme for ,mr4 ,gillman's 
coup-d'essai in biography4 ,he was1 in a
 literary sense1 our brother--for he    
also was amongst the contributors to    
,blackwood-- and will1 we presume1 take 
his station in that ,blackwood gallery  
of portraits1 which1 in a century hence1
 will possess more interest for         
intellectual ,europe than any merely    
martial series of portraits1 or any     
gallery of statesmen assembled in       
congress1 except as regards one or two  
leaders2 for defunct major-generals1 and
 secondary diplomatists1 when their date
 is past1 awake no more emotion than    
last year's advertisements1 or obsolete 
directories2 whereas those who1 in a    
stormy age1 have swept the harps of     
passion1 of genial wit1 or of the       
wrestling and gladiatorial reason1      

become more interesting to men when they
 can no longer be seen as bodily agents1
 than even in the middle chorus of that 
intellectual music over which1 living1  
they presided4  ,of this great camp     
,coleridge was a leader1 and fought     
amongst the primipili2 yet1             
comparatively1 he is still unknown4     
,heavy1 indeed1 are the arrears still   
due to philosophic curiosity on the real
 merits1 and on the separate merits1 of 
,samuel ,taylor ,coleridge4 ,coleridge  
as a poet--,coleridge as a philosopher6 
,how extensive are those questions1 if  
those were all6 and upon neither        
question have we yet any                
investigation--such as1 by compass of   
views1 by research1 or even by          
earnestness of sympathy with the        
subject1 can1 or ought to satisfy1 a    
philosophic demand4 ,blind is that man  
who can persuade himself that the       
interest in ,coleridge1 taken as a total
 object1 is becoming an obsolete        
interest4 ,we are of opinion that even  

,milton1 now viewed from a distance of  
two centuries1 is still inadequately    
judged or appreciated in his character  
of poet1 of patriot and partisan1 or1   
finally1 in his character of            
accomplished scholar4 ,but1 if so1 how  
much less can it be pretended that      
satisfaction has been rendered to the   
claims of ,coleridge8 for1 upon ,milton1
 libraries have been written4 ,there has
 been time for the malice of men1 for   
the jealousy of men1 for the enthusiasm1
 the scepticism1 the adoring admiration 
of men1 to expand themselves6 ,there has
 been room for a ,bentley1 for an       
,addison1 for a ,johnson1 for a wicked  
,lauder1 for an avenging ,douglas1 for  
an idolizing ,chateaubriand2 and yet1   
after all1 little enough has been done  
towards any comprehensive estimate of   
the mighty being concerned4 ,piles of   
materials have been gathered to the     
ground2 but1 for the monument which     
should have risen from these materials1 
neither the first stone has been laid1  

nor has a qualified architect yet       
presented his credentials4 ,on the other
 hand1 upon ,coleridge little1          
comparatively1 has yet been written1    
whilst the separate characters on which 
the judgment is awaited1 are more by one
 than those which ,milton sustained4    
,coleridge1 also1 is a poet2 ,coleridge1
 also1 was mixed up with the fervent    
politics of his age--an age how         
memorably reflecting the revolutionary  
agitations of ,milton's age4 ,coleridge1
 also1 was an extensive and brilliant   
scholar4 ,whatever might be the separate
 proportions of the two men in each     
particular department of the three here 
noticed1 think as the reader will upon  
that point1 sure we are that either     
subject is ample enough to make a strain
 upon the amplest faculties4 ,how       
alarming1 therefore1 for any honest     
critic1 who should undertake this later 
subject of ,coleridge1 to recollect     
that1 after pursuing him through a      
zodiac of splendors corresponding to    

those of ,milton in kind1 however       
different in degree--after weighing him 
as a poet1 as a philosophic politician1 
as a scholar1 he will have to wheel     
after him into another orbit1 into the  
unfathomable nimbus of transcendental   
metaphysics4 ,weigh him the critic must 
in the golden balance of philosophy the 
most abstruse--a balance which even     
itself requires weighing previously1 or 
he will have done nothing that can be   
received for an estimate of the         
composite ,coleridge4 ,this astonishing 
man1 be it again remembered1 besides    
being an exquisite poet1 a profound     
political speculator1 a philosophic     
student of literature through all its   
chambers and recesses1 was also a       
circumnavigator on the most pathless    
waters of scholasticism and metaphysics4
 ,he had sounded1 without guiding       
charts1 the secret deeps of ,proclus and
 ,plotinus2 he had laid down buoys on   
the twilight1 or moonlight1 ocean of    
,jacob ,boehmen2 ,footnote3 ',,jacob    

,,boehmen4' ,we ourselves had the honor 
of presenting to ,mr4 ,coleridge1 ,law's
 ,english version of ,jacob--a set of   
huge quartos4 ,some months afterwards we
 saw this work lying open1 and one      
volume at least overflowing1 in parts1  
with the commentaries and the           
corollaries of ,coleridge4 ,whither has 
this work1 and so many others swathed   
about with ,coleridge's ,,ms4 notes1    
vanished from the world8 he had cruised 
over the broad ,atlantic of ,kant and   
,schelling1 of ,fichte and ,oken4 ,where
 is the man who shall be equal to these 
things8 ,we at least make no such       
adventurous effort2 or1 if ever we      
should presume to do so1 not at present4
 ,here we design only to make a coasting
 voyage of survey round the headlands   
and most conspicuous seamarks of our    
subject1 as they are brought forward by 
,mr4 ,gillman1 or collaterally suggested
 by our own reflections2 and especially 
we wish to say a word or two on         
,coleridge as an opium-eater4           

,naturally the first point to which we  
direct our attention1 is the history and
 personal relations of ,coleridge4      
,living with ,mr4 ,gillman for nineteen 
years as a domesticated friend1         
,coleridge ought to have been known     
intimately4 ,and it is reasonable to    
expect1 from so much intercourse1 some  
additions to our slender knowledge of   
,coleridge's adventures1 7if we may use 
so coarse a word17 and of the secret    
springs at work in those early struggles
 of ,coleridge at ,cambridge1 ,london1  
,bristol1 which have been rudely told to
 the world1 and repeatedly told1 as     
showy romances1 but never rationally    
explained4  ,the anecdotes1 however1    
which ,mr4 ,gillman has added to the    
personal history of ,coleridge1 are as  
little advantageous to the effect of his
 own book as they are to the interest of
 the memorable character which he seeks 
to illustrate4 ,always they are told    
without grace1 and generally are        
suspicious in their details4 ,mr4       

,gillman we believe to be too upright a 
man for countenancing any untruth4 ,he  
has been deceived4 ,for example1 will   
any man believe this8 ,a certain        
'excellent equestrian' falling in with  
,coleridge on horseback1 thus accosted  
him-- ',pray1 ,sir1 did you meet a      
tailor along the road8' ',a tailor6'    
answered ,coleridge2 ',i did meet a     
person answering such a description1 who
 told me he had dropped his goose2 that 
if ,i rode a little further ,i should   
find it2 and ,i guess he must have meant
 you4' ,in ,joe ,miller this story would
 read1 perhaps1 sufferably4 ,joe has a  
privilege2 and we do not look too       
narrowly into the mouth of a            
,joe-,millerism4 ,but ,mr4 ,gillman1    
writing the life of a philosopher1 and  
no jest-book1 is under a different law  
of decorum4 ,that retort1 however1 which
 silences the jester1 it may seem1 must 
be a good one4 ,and we are desired to   
believe that1 in this case1 the baffled 
assailant rode off in a spirit of benign

 candor1 saying aloud to himself1 like  
the excellent philosopher that he       
evidently was1 ',caught a ,tartar6'     
,but another story of a sporting        
baronet1 who was besides a ,member of   
,parliament1 is much worse1 and         
altogether degrading to ,coleridge4     
,this gentleman1 by way of showing off  
before a party of ladies1 is represented
 as insulting ,coleridge by putting     
questions to him on the qualities of his
 horse1 so as to draw the animal's      
miserable defects into public notice1   
and then closing his display by         
demanding what he would take for the    
horse 'including the rider4' ,the       
supposed reply of ,coleridge might seem 
good to those who understand nothing of 
true dignity2 for1 as an impromptu1 it  
was smart and even caustic4 ,the        
baronet1 it seems1 was reputed to have  
been bought by the minister2 and the    
reader will at once divine that the     
retort took advantage of that current   
belief1 so as to throw back the sarcasm1

 by proclaiming that neither horse nor  
rider had a price placarded in the      
market at which any man could become    
their purchaser4 ,but this was not the  
temper in which ,coleridge either did   
reply1 or could have replied4 ,coleridge
 showed1 in the spirit of his manner1 a 
profound sensibility to the nature of a 
gentleman2 and he felt too justly what  
it became a self-respecting person to   
say1 ever to have aped the sort of      
flashy fencing which might seem fine to 
a theatrical blood4  ,another story is  
self-refuted3 ',a hired partisan' had   
come to one of ,coleridge's political   
lectures with the express purpose of    
bringing the lecturer into trouble2 and 
most preposterously he laid himself open
 to his own snare by refusing to pay for
 admission4 ,spies must be poor artists 
who proceed thus4 ,upon which ,coleridge
 remarked--',that1 before the gentleman 
kicked up a dust1 surely he would down  
with the dust4' ,so far the story will  
not do4 ,but what follows is possible   

enough4 ,the same 'hired' gentleman1 by 
way of giving unity to the tale1 is     
described as having hissed4 ,upon this a
 cry arose of ',turn him out6' ,but     
,coleridge interfered to protect him2 he
 insisted on the man's right to hiss if 
he thought fit2 it was legal to hiss2 it
 was natural to hiss2 'for what is to be
 expected1 gentlemen1 when the cool     
waters of reason come in contact with   
red-hot aristocracy1 but a hiss8' ,euge6
  ,amongst all the anecdotes1 however of
 this splendid man1 often trivial1 often
 incoherent1 often unauthenticated1     
there is one which strikes us as both   
true and interesting2 and we are        
grateful to ,mr4 ,gillman for preserving
 it4 ,we find it introduced1 and        
partially authenticated1 by the         
following sentence from ,coleridge      
himself3--',from eight to fourteen ,i   
was a playless day-dreamer1 a helluo    
librorum2 my appetite for which was     
indulged by a singular incident4 ,a     
stranger1 who was struck by my          

conversation1 made me free of a         
circulating library in ,king's ,street1 
,cheapside4' ,the more circumstantial   
explanation of ,mr4 ,gillman is this3   
,the incident indeed was singular4      
,going down the ,strand1 in one of his  
day-dreams1 fancying himself swimming   
across the ,hellespont1 thrusting his   
hands before him as in the act of       
swimming1 his hand came in contact with 
a gentleman's pocket4 ,the gentleman    
seized his hand1 turning round1 and     
looking at him with some anger--,what6  
so young1 and yet so wicked8 at the same
 time accused him of an attempt to pick 
his pocket4 ,the frightened boy sobbed  
out his denial of the intention1 and    
explained to him how he thought himself 
,leander swimming across the            
,hellespont4 ,the gentleman was so      
struck and delighted with the novelty of
 the thing1 and with the simplicity and 
intelligence of the boy1 that he        
subscribed1 as before stated1 to the    
library2 in consequence of which        

,coleridge was further enabled to       
indulge his love of reading4'  ,we fear 
that this slovenly narrative is the very
 perfection of bad story-telling4 ,but  
the story itself is striking1 and1 by   
the very oddness of the incidents1 not  
likely to have been invented4 ,the      
effect1 from the position of the two    
parties--on the one side1 a simple child
 from ,devonshire1 dreaming in the      
,strand that he was swimming over from  
,sestos to ,abydos1 and1 on the other1  
the experienced man1 dreaming only of   
this world1 its knaves and its thieves1 
but still kind and generous --is        
beautiful and picturesque4 ,oh6 si sic  
omnia6  ,but the most interesting to us 
of the personalities connected with     
,coleridge are his feuds and his        
personal dislikes4 ,incomprehensible to 
us is the war of extermination which    
,coleridge made upon the political      
economists4 ,did ,sir ,james ,steuart1  
in speaking of vine-dressers1 7not as   
vine-dressers1 but generally as         

cultivators17 tell his readers1 that1 if
 such a man simply replaced his own     
consumption1 having no surplus whatever 
or increment for the public capital1 he 
could not be considered a useful        
citizen8 ,not the beast in the          
,revelation is held up by ,coleridge as 
more hateful to the spirit of truth than
 the ,jacobite baronet4 ,and yet we know
 of an author--viz41 one ,s4 ,t4        
,coleridge--who repeated that same      
doctrine without finding any evil in it4
 ,look at the first part of the         
,wallenstein1 where ,count ,isolani     
having said1 ',pooh6 we are all his     
subjects1' i4 e41 soldiers1 7though     
unproductive laborers17 not less than   
productive peasants1 the emperor's envoy
 replies--',yet with a difference1      
general2' and the difference implies    
,sir ,james's scale1 his vine-dresser   
being the equatorial case between the   
two extremes of the envoy4 ,malthus     
again1 in his population-book1 contends 
for a mathematic difference between     

animal and vegetable life1 in respect to
 the law of increase1 as though the     
first increased by geometrical ratios1  
the last by arithmetical6 ,no           
proposition more worthy of laughter2    
since both1 when permitted to expand1   
increase by geometrical ratios1 and the 
latter by much higher ratios4 ,whereas1 
,malthus persuaded himself of his       
crotchet simply by refusing the         
requisite condition in the vegetable    
case1 and granting it in the other4 ,if 
you take a few grains of wheat1 and are 
required to plant all successive        
generations of their produce in the same
 flower-pot for ever1 of course you     
neutralize its expansion by your own act
 of arbitrary limitation4 ,footnote3    
,malthus would have rejoined by         
saying--that the flowerpot limitation   
was the actual limitation of nature in  
our present circumstances4 ,in ,america 
it is otherwise1 he would say1 but      
,england is the very flowerpot you      
suppose2 she is a flowerpot which cannot

 be multiplied1 and cannot even be      
enlarged4 ,very well1 so be it 7which we
 say in order to waive irrelevant       
disputes74 ,but then the true inference 
will be--not that vegetable increase    
proceeds under a different law from that
 which governs animal increase1 but     
that1 through an accident of position1  
the experiment cannot be tried in       
,england4 ,surely the levers of         
,archimedes1 with submission to ,sir    
,edward ,b4 ,lytton1 were not the less  
levers because he wanted the locum      
standi4 ,it is proper1 by the way1 that 
we should inform the reader of this     
generation where to look for            
,coleridge's skirmishings with ,malthus4
 ,they are to be found chiefly in the   
late ,mr4 ,william ,hazlitt's work on   
that subject3 a work which ,coleridge so
 far claimed as to assert that it had   
been substantially made up from his own 
conversation4 ,but so you would do1 if  
you tried the case of animal increase by
 still exterminating all but one        

replacing couple of parents4 ,this is   
not to try1 but merely a pretence of    
trying1 one order of powers against     
another4 ,that was folly4 ,but          
,coleridge combated this idea in a      
manner so obscure1 that nobody          
understood it4 ,and leaving these       
speculative conundrums1 in coming to the
 great practical interests afloat in the
 ,poor ,laws1 ,coleridge did so little  
real work1 that he left1 as a res       
integra1 to ,dr4 ,alison1 the capital   
argument that legal and adequate        
provision for the poor1 whether impotent
 poor or poor accidentally out of work1 
does not extend pauperism--no1 but is   
the one great resource for putting it   
down4 ,dr4 ,alison's overwhelming and   
experimental manifestations of that     
truth have prostrated ,malthus and his  
generation for ever4 ,this comes of not 
attending to the ,latin maxim--',hoc    
age'--mind the object before you4 ,dr4  
,alison1 a wise man1 'hoc egit3'        
,coleridge 'aliud egit4' ,and we see the

 result4 ,in a case which suited him1 by
 interesting his peculiar feeling1      
,coleridge could command    ',attention 
full ten times as much as there needs4' 
,but search documents1 value evidence1  
or thresh out bushels of statistical    
tables1 ,coleridge could not1 any more  
than he could ride with ,elliot's       
dragoons4  ,another instance of         
,coleridge's inaptitude for such studies
 as political economy is found in his   
fancy1 by no means 'rich and rare1' but 
meagre and trite1 that taxes can never  
injure public prosperity by mere excess 
of quantity2 if they injure1 we are to  
conclude that it must be by their       
quality and mode of operation1 or by    
their false appropriation1 7as1 for     
instance1 if they are sent out of the   
country and spent abroad47 ,because1    
says ,coleridge1 if the taxes are       
exhaled from the country as vapors1 back
 they come in drenching showers4 ,twenty
 pounds ascend in a ,scotch mist to the 
,chancellor of the ,exchequer from      

,leeds2 but does it evaporate8 ,not at  
all3 ,by return of post down comes an   
order for twenty pounds' worth of ,leeds
 cloth1 on account of ,government1      
seeing that the poor men of the ----th  
regiment want new gaiters4 ,true2 but of
 this return twenty pounds1 not more    
than four will be profit1 i4e41 surplus 
accruing to the public capital2 whereas1
 of the original twenty pounds1 every   
shilling was surplus4 ,the same unsound 
fancy has been many times brought       
forward2 often in ,england1 often in    
,france4 ,but it is curious1 that its   
first appearance upon any stage was     
precisely two centuries ago1 when as yet
 political economy slept with the       
pre-,adamites1 viz41 in the ,long       
,parliament4 ,in a quarto volume of the 
debates during #afdd-de1 printed as an  
independent work1 will be found the same
 identical doctrine1 supported very     
sonorously by the same little love of an
 illustration from the see-saw of mist  
and rain4  ,political economy was not   

,coleridge's forte4 ,in politics he was 
happier4 ,in mere personal politics1 he 
7like every man when reviewed from a    
station distant by forty years7 will    
often appear to have erred2 nay1 he will
 be detected and nailed in error4 ,but  
this is the necessity of us all4 ,keen  
are the refutations of time4 ,and       
absolute results to posterity are the   
fatal touchstone of opinions in the     
past4 ,it is undeniable1 besides1 that  
,coleridge had strong personal          
antipathies1 for instance1 to ,messrs4  
,pitt and ,dundas4 ,yet why1 we never   
could understand4 ,we once heard him    
tell a story upon ,windermere1 to the   
late ,mr4 ,curwen1 then ,m4 ,p4 for     
,workington1 which was meant1           
apparently1 to account for this feeling4
 ,the story amounted to this2 that1 when
 a freshman at ,cambridge1 ,mr4 ,pitt   
had wantonly amused himself at a dinner 
party in ,trinity1 in smashing with     
filberts 7discharged in showers like    
grape-shot7 a most costly dessert set of

 cut glass1 from which ,samuel ,taylor  
,coleridge argued a principle of        
destructiveness in his cerebellum4 ,now1
 if this dessert set belonged to some   
poor suffering ,trinitarian1 and not to 
himself1 we are of opinion that he was  
faulty1 and ought1 upon his own great   
subsequent maxim1 to have been coerced  
into 'indemnity for the past1 and       
security for the future4' ,but1 besides 
that this glassy mythus belongs to an ra
 fifteen years earlier than ,coleridge's
 so as to justify a shadow of           
scepticism1 we really cannot find1 in   
such an escapade under the boiling blood
 of youth1 any sufficient justification 
of that withering malignity towards the 
name of ,pitt1 which runs through       
,coleridge's famous ,fire1 ,famine1 and 
,slaughter4 ,as this little viperous    
jeu-d'esprit 7published anonymously7    
subsequently became the subject of a    
celebrated after-dinner discussion in   
,london1 at which ,coleridge 7comme de  
raison7 was the chief speaker1 the      

reader of this generation may wish to   
know the question at issue2 and in order
 to judge of that1 he must know the     
outline of this devil's squib4 ,the     
writer brings upon the scene three      
pleasant young ladies1 viz41 ,miss      
,fire1 ,miss ,famine1 and ,miss         
,slaughter4 ',what are you up to8       
,what's the row8'--we may suppose to be 
the introductory question of the poet4  
,and the answer of the ladies makes us  
aware that they are fresh from larking  
in ,ireland1 and in ,france4 ,a glorious
 spree they had2 lots of fun2 and       
laughter a discretion4 ,at all times    
gratus puell risus ab angulo2 so that we
 listen to their little gossip with     
interest4 ,they had been setting men1 it
 seems1 by the ears2 and the drollest   
little atrocities they do certainly     
report4 ,not but we have seen better in 
the ,nenagh paper1 so far as ,ireland is
 concerned4 ,but the pet little joke was
 in ,la ,vendee4 ,miss ,famine1 who is  
the girl for our money1 raises the      

question--whether any of them can tell  
the name of the leader and prompter to  
these high jinks of hell--if so1 let her
 whisper it4    ',whisper it1 sister1 so
 and so1   ,in a dark hint--distinct and
 low4'  ,upon which the playful ,miss   
,slaughter replies3--    ',letters four 
do form his name4   99     99     99    
99     99   ,he came by stealth and     
unlock'd my den2   ,and ,i have drunk   
the blood since then   ,of thrice three 
hundred thousand men4'  ,good3 but the  
sting of the hornet lies in the         
conclusion4 ,if this quadriliteral man  
had done so much for them1 7though      
really1 we think1 #fs4 #h;d4 might have 
settled his claim17 what1 says ,fire1   
setting her arms a-kimbo1 would they do 
for him8 ,slaughter replies1 rather     
crustily1 that1 as far as a good kicking
 would go--or 7says ,famine7 a little   
matter of tearing to pieces by the      
mob--they would be glad to take tickets 
at his benefit4 ',how1 you bitches6'    
says ,fire1 'is that all8    ',i alone  

am faithful2 ,i   ,cling to him         
everlastingly4'  ,the sentiment is      
diabolical4 ,and the question argued at 
the ,london dinner-table was--,could the
 writer have been other than a devil8   
,the dinner was at the late excellent   
,mr4 ,sotheby's1 known advantageously in
 those days as the translator of        
,wieland's ,oberon4 ,several of the     
great guns amongst the literary body    
were present2 in particular1 ,sir       
,walter ,scott2 and he1 we believe1 with
 his usual good-nature1 took the        
apologetic side of the dispute4 ,in     
fact1 he was in the secret4 ,nobody     
else1 barring the author1 knew at first 
whose good name was at stake4 ,the scene
 must have been high4 ,the company      
kicked about the poor diabolic writer's 
head as if it had been a tennis-ball4   
,coleridge1 the yet unknown criminal1   
absolutely perspired and fumed in       
pleading for the defendant2 the company 
demurred2 the orator grew urgent2 wits  
began to smoke the case1 as active      

verbs2 the advocate to smoke1 as a      
neuter verb2 the 'fun grew fast and     
furious2' until at length delinquent    
arose1 burning tears in his eyes1 and   
confessed to an audience1 7now bursting 
with stifled laughter1 but whom he      
supposed to be bursting with fiery      
indignation17 ',lo6 ,i am he that wrote 
it4'  ,for our own parts1 we side with  
,coleridge4 ,malice is not always of the
 heart4 ,there is a malice of the       
understanding and the fancy4 ,neither do
 we think the worse of a man for having 
invented the most horrible and          
old-woman-troubling curse that demons   
ever listened to4 ,we are too apt to    
swear horribly ourselves2 and often have
 we frightened the cat1 to say nothing  
of the kettle1 by our shocking far too  
shocking6 oaths4  ,there were other     
celebrated men whom ,coleridge detested1
 or seemed to detest--,paley1 ,sir      
,sidney ,smith1 ,lord ,hutchinson1 7the 
last ,lord ,donoughmore17 and ,cuvier4  
,to ,paley it might seem as if his      

antipathy had been purely philosophic2  
but we believe that partly it was       
personal2 and it tallies with this      
belief1 that1 in his earliest political 
tracts1 ,coleridge charged the          
archdeacon repeatedly with his own joke1
 as if it had been a serious saying1    
viz4--',that he could not afford to keep
 a conscience2' such luxuries1 like a   
carriage1 for instance1 being obviously 
beyond the finances of poor men4  ,with 
respect to the philosophic question     
between the parties1 as to the grounds  
of moral election1 we hope it is no     
treason to suggest that both were       
perhaps in error4 ,against ,paley1 it   
occurs at once that he himself would not
 have made consequences the practical   
test in valuing the morality of an act1 
since these can very seldom be traced at
 all up to the final stages1 and in the 
earliest stages are exceedingly         
different under different circumstances2
 so that the same act1 tried by its     
consequences1 would bear a fluctuating  

appreciation4 ,this could not have been 
,paley's revised meaning4 ,consequently1
 had he been pressed by opposition1 it  
would have come out1 that by test he    
meant only speculative test3 a very     
harmless doctrine certainly1 but useless
 and impertinent to any purpose of his  
system4 ,the reader may catch our       
meaning in the following illustration4  
,it is a matter of general belief1 that 
happiness1 upon the whole1 follows in a 
higher degree from constant integrity1  
than from the closest attention to      
self-interest4 ,now happiness is one of 
those consequences which ,paley meant by
 final or remotest4 ,but we could never 
use this idea as an exponent of         
integrity1 or interchangeable criterion1
 because happiness cannot be ascertained
 or appreciated except upon long tracts 
of time1 whereas the particular act of  
integrity depends continually upon the  
election of the moment4 ,no man1        
therefore1 could venture to lay down as 
a rule1 ,do what makes you happy2 use   

this as your test of actions1 satisfied 
that in that case always you will do the
 thing which is right4 ,for he cannot   
discern independently what will make him
 happy2 and he must decide on the spot4 
,the use of the nexus between morality  
and happiness must therefore be         
inverted2 it is not practical or        
prospective1 but simply retrospective2  
and in that form it says no more than   
the good old rules hallowed in every    
cottage4 ,but this furnishes no         
practical guide for moral election which
 a man had not1 before he ever thought  
of this nexus4 ,in the sense in which it
 is true1 we need not go to the         
professor's chair for this maxim2 in the
 sense in which it would serve ,paley1  
it is absolutely false4  ,on the other  
hand1 as against ,coleridge1 it is      
certain that many acts could be         
mentioned which are judged to be good or
 bad only because their consequences are
 known to be so1 whilst the great       
catholic acts of life are entirely 7and1

 if we may so phrase it1 haughtily7     
independent of consequences4 ,for       
instance1 fidelity to a trust is a law  
of immutable morality subject to no     
casuistry whatever4 ,you have been left 
executor to a friend--you are to pay    
over his last legacy to ,x1 though a    
dissolute scoundrel2 and you are to give
 no shilling of it to the poor brother  
of ,x1 though a good man1 and a wise    
man1 struggling with adversity4 ,you are
 absolutely excluded from all           
contemplation of results4 ,it was your  
deceased friend's right to make the     
will2 it is yours simply to see it      
executed4 ,now1 in opposition to this   
primary class of actions stands another1
 such as the habit of intoxication1     
which are known to be wrong only by     
observing the consequences4 ,if         
drunkenness did not terminate1 after    
some years1 in producing bodily         
weakness1 irritability in the temper1   
and so forth1 it would not be a vicious 
act4 ,and accordingly1 if a transcendent

 motive should arise in favor of        
drunkenness1 as that it would enable you
 to face a degree of cold1 or contagion1
 else menacing to life1 a duty would    
arise1 pro hac vice1 of getting drunk4  
,we had an amiable friend who suffered  
under the infirmity of cowardice2 an    
awful coward he was when sober2 but1    
when very drunk1 he had courage enough  
for the ,seven ,champions of            
,christendom1 ,therefore1 in an         
emergency1 where he knew himself        
suddenly loaded with the responsibility 
of defending a family1 we approved      
highly of his getting drunk4 ,but to    
violate a trust could never become right
 under any change of circumstances4     
,coleridge1 however1 altogether         
overlooked this distinction3 which1 on  
the other hand1 stirring in ,paley's    
mind1 but never brought out to distinct 
consciousness1 nor ever investigated1   
nor limited1 has undermined his system4 
,perhaps it is not very important how a 
man theorizes upon morality2 happily for

 us all1 ,god has left no man in such   
questions practically to the guidance of
 his understanding2 but still1          
considering that academic bodies are    
partly instituted for the support of    
speculative truth as well as truth      
practical1 we must think it a blot upon 
the splendor of ,oxford and ,cambridge  
that both of them1 in a ,christian land1
 make ,paley the foundation of their    
ethics2 the alternative being           
,aristotle4 ,and1 in our mind1 though   
far inferior as a moralist to the       
,stoics1 ,aristotle is often less of a  
pagan than ,paley4  ,coleridge's dislike
 to ,sir ,sidney ,smith and the         
,egyptian ,lord ,hutchinson fell under  
the category of ,martial's case4        
',non amo te1 ,sabidi1 nec possum dicere
 quare1   ,hoc solum novi--non amo te1  
,sabidi4'  ,against ,lord ,hutchinson1  
we never heard him plead anything of    
moment1 except that he was finically    
,frenchified in his diction2 of which he
 gave this instance--that having        

occasion to notice a brick wall1 7which 
was literally that1 not more and not    
less17 when reconnoitring the ,french   
defences1 he called it a revtement4 ,and
 we ourselves remember his using the    
,french word gloriole rather            
ostentatiously2 that is1 when no        
particular emphasis attached to the     
case4 ,but every man has his foibles2   
and few1 perhaps1 are less conspicuously
 annoying than this of ,lord            
,hutchinson's4 ,sir ,sidney's crimes    
were less distinctly revealed to our    
mind4 ,as to ,cuvier1 ,coleridge's      
hatred of him was more to our taste2 for
 7though quite unreasonable1 we fear7 it
 took the shape of patriotism4 ,he      
insisted on it1 that our ,british ,john 
,hunter was the genuine article1 and    
that ,cuvier was a humbug4 ,now1        
speaking privately to the public1 we    
cannot go quite so far as that4 ,but1   
when publicly we address that most      
respectable character1 en grand costume1
 we always mean to back ,coleridge4 ,for

 we are a horrible ,john ,bull          
ourselves4 ,as ,joseph ,hume observes1  
it makes no difference to us--right or  
wrong1 black or white--when our         
countrymen are concerned4 ,and ,john    
,hunter1 notwithstanding he had a bee in
 his bonnet1 ,footnote3 ,vide1 in       
particular1 for the most exquisite      
specimen of pigheadedness that the world
 can furnish1 his perverse evidence on  
the once famous case at the ,warwick    
assizes1 of ,captain ,donelan for       
poisoning his brother-in-law1 ,sir      
,theodosius ,boughton4 was really a     
great man2 though it will not follow    
that ,cuvier must1 therefore1 have been 
a little one4 ,we do not pretend to be  
acquainted with the tenth part of       
,cuvier's performances2 but we suspect  
that ,coleridge's range in that respect 
was not much greater than our own4      
,other cases of monomaniac antipathy we 
might revive from our recollections of  
,coleridge1 had we a sufficient motive4 
,but in compensation1 and by way of     

redressing the balance1 he had many     
strange likings--equally                
monomaniac--and1 unaccountably1 he chose
 to exhibit his whimsical partialities  
by dressing up1 as it were1 in his own  
clothes1 such a set of scarecrows as eye
 has not beheld4 ,heavens6 what an ark  
of unclean beasts would have been       
,coleridge's private menagerie of       
departed philosophers1 could they all   
have been trotted out in succession6    
,but did the reader feel them to be the 
awful bores which1 in fact1 they were8  
,no2 because ,coleridge had blown upon  
these withered anatomies1 through the   
blowpipe of his own creative genius1 a  
stream of gas that swelled the tissue of
 their antediluvian wrinkles1 forced    
color upon their cheeks1 and splendor   
upon their sodden eyes4 ,such a process 
of ventriloquism never has existed4 ,he 
spoke by their organs4 ,they were the   
tubes2 and he forced through their      
wooden machinery his own ,beethoven     
harmonies4  ,first came ,dr4 ,andrew    

,bell4 ,we knew him4 ,was he dull8 ,is a
 wooden spoon dull8 ,fishy were his     
eyes2 torpedinous was his manner2 and   
his main idea1 out of two which he      
really had1 related to the moon--from   
which you infer1 perhaps1 that he was   
lunatic4 ,by no means4 ,it was no craze1
 under the influence of the moon1 which 
possessed him2 it was an idea of mere   
hostility to the moon4 ,the ,madras     
people1 like many others1 had an idea   
that she influenced the weather4        
,subsequently the ,herschels1 senior and
 junior1 systematized this idea2 and    
then the wrath of ,andrew1 previously in
 a crescent state1 actually dilated to a
 plenilunar orb4 ,the ,westmoreland     
people 7for at the lakes it was we knew 
him7 expounded his condition to us by   
saying that he was 'maffled2' which word
 means 'perplexed in the extreme4' ,his 
wrath did not pass into lunacy2 it      
produced simple distraction2 an uneasy  
fumbling with the idea2 like that of an 
old superannuated dog who longs to      

worry1 but cannot for want of teeth4 ,in
 this condition you will judge that he  
was rather tedious4 ,and in this        
condition ,coleridge took him up4       
,andrew's other idea1 because he had    
two1 related to education4 ,perhaps     
six-sevenths of that also came from     
,madras4 ,no matter1 ,coleridge took    
that up2 ,southey also2 but ,southey    
with his usual temperate fervor4        
,coleridge1 on the other hand1 found    
celestial marvels both in the scheme and
 in the man4 ,then commenced the        
apotheosis of ,andrew ,bell3 and because
 it happened that his opponent1         
,lancaster1 between ourselves1 really   
had stolen his ideas from ,bell1 what   
between the sad wickedness of ,lancaster
 and the celestial transfiguration of   
,bell1 gradually ,coleridge heated      
himself to such an extent1 that people1 
when referring to that subject1 asked   
each other1 ',have you heard ,coleridge 
lecture on ,bel and the ,dragon8'  ,the 
next man glorified by ,coleridge was    

,john ,woolman1 the ,quaker4 ,him1      
though we once possessed his works1 it  
cannot be truly affirmed that we ever   
read4 ,try to read ,john1 we often did2 
but read ,john we did not4 ,this1       
however1 you say1 might be our fault1   
and not ,john's4 ,very likely4 ,and we  
have a notion that now1 with our wiser  
thoughts1 we should read ,john1 if he   
were here on this table4 ,it is certain 
that he was a good man1 and one of the  
earliest in ,america1 if not in         
,christendom1 who lifted up his hand to 
protest against the slave-trade4 ,but   
still1 we suspect1 that had ,john been  
all that ,coleridge represented1 he     
would not have repelled us from reading 
his travels in the fearful way that he  
did4 ,but1 again1 we beg pardon1 and    
entreat the earth of ,virginia to lie   
light upon the remains of ,john         
,woolman2 for he was an ,israelite1     
indeed1 in whom there was no guile4     
,the third person raised to divine      
honors by ,coleridge was ,bowyer1 the   

master of ,christ's ,hospital1          
,london--a man whose name rises into the
 nostrils of all who knew him with the  
gracious odor of a tallow- chandler's   
melting-house upon melting day1 and     
whose memory is embalmed in the hearty  
detestation of all his pupils4          
,coleridge describes this man as a      
profound critic4 ,our idea of him is    
different4 ,we are of opinion that      
,bowyer was the greatest villain of the 
eighteenth century4 ,we may be wrong2   
but we cannot be far wrong4 ,talk of    
knouting indeed6 which we did at the    
beginning of this paper in the mere     
playfulness of our hearts--and which the
 great master of the knout1             
,christopher1 who visited men's         
trespasses like the ,eumenides1 never   
resorted to but in love for some great  
idea which had been outraged2 why1 this 
man knouted his way through life1 from  
bloody youth up to truculent old age4   
,grim idol6 whose altars reeked with    
children's blood1 and whose dreadful    

eyes never smiled except as the stern   
goddess of the ,thugs smiles1 when the  
sound of human lamentations inhabits her
 ears4 ,so much had the monster fed upon
 this great idea of 'flogging1' and     
transmuted it into the very nutriment of
 his heart1 that he seems to have       
conceived the gigantic project of       
flogging all mankind2 nay worse1 for    
,mr4 ,gillman1 on ,coleridge's          
authority1 tells us 7p4 #bd7 the        
following anecdote3--',sirrah1 ,i'll    
flog you1 were words so familiar to him1
 that on one occasion some female friend
 of one of the boys1' 7who had come on  
an errand of intercession17 'still      
lingering at the door1 after having been
 abruptly told to go1 ,bowyer           
exclaimed--,bring that woman here1 and  
,i'll flog her4'  ,to this horrid       
incarnation of whips and scourges1      
,coleridge1 in his ,biographia          
,literaria1 ascribes ideas upon         
criticism and taste1 which every man    
will recognise as the intense           

peculiarities of ,coleridge4 ,could     
these notions really have belonged to   
,bowyer1 then how do we know but he     
wrote ,the ,ancient ,mariner8 ,yet1 on  
consideration1 no4 ,for even ,coleridge 
admitted that1 spite of his fine        
theorizing upon composition1 ,mr4       
,bowyer did not prosper in the practice4
 ,of which he gave us this illustration2
 and as it is supposed to be the only   
specimen of the ,bowyeriana which now   
survives in this sublunary world1 we are
 glad to extend its glory4 ,it is the   
most curious example extant of the      
melodious in sound3--    '',twas thou   
that smooth'd'st the rough-rugg'd bed of
 pain4'  ',smooth'd'st6' ,would the     
teeth of a crocodile not splinter under 
that word8 ,it seems to us as if ,mr4   
,bowyer's verses ought to be boiled     
before they can be read4 ,and when he   
says1 ',twas thou1 what is the wretch   
talking to8 ,can he be apostrophizing   
the knout8 ,we very much fear it4 ,if   
so1 then1 you see 7reader67 that1 even  

when incapacitated by illness from      
operating1 he still adores the image of 
his holy scourge1 and invokes it as     
alone able to smooth 'his rough-rugg'd  
bed4' ,oh1 thou infernal ,bowyer6 upon  
whom even ,trollope 7,history of        
,christ's ,hospital7 charges 'a         
discipline tinctured with more than due 
severity2'--can there be any partners   
found for thee in a quadrille1 except   
,draco1 the bloody lawgiver1 ,bishop    
,bonner1 and ,mrs4 ,brownrigg8  ,the    
next pet was ,sir ,alexander ,ball4     
,concerning ,bowyer1 ,coleridge did not 
talk much1 but chiefly wrote2 concerning
 ,bell1 he did not write much1 but      
chiefly talked4 ,concerning ,ball1      
however1 he both wrote and talked4 ,it  
was in vain to muse upon any plan for   
having ,ball blackballed1 or for        
rebelling against ,bell4 ,think of a    
man1 who had fallen into one pit called 
,bell2 secondly1 falling into another   
pit called ,ball4 ,this was too much4   
,we were obliged to quote poetry against

 them3--    ',letters four do form his  
name2   ,he came by stealth and unlock'd
 my den2   ,and the nightmare ,i have   
felt since then   ,of thrice three      
hundred thousand men4'  ,not that we    
insinuate any disrespect to ,sir        
,alexander ,ball4 ,he was about the     
foremost1 we believe1 in all good       
qualities1 amongst ,nelson's admirable  
captains at the ,nile4 ,he commanded a  
seventy-four most effectually in that   
battle2 he governed ,malta as well as   
,sancho governed ,barataria2 and he was 
a true practical philosopher--as1       
indeed1 was ,sancho4 ,but still1 by all 
that we could ever learn1 ,sir          
,alexander had no taste for the abstract
 upon any subject2 and would have read1 
as mere delirious wanderings1 those     
philosophic opinions which ,coleridge   
fastened like wings upon his            
respectable1 but astounded1 shoulders4  
,we really beg pardon for having laughed
 a little at these crazes of ,coleridge4
 ,but laugh we did1 of mere necessity1  

in those days1 at ,bell and ,ball1      
whenever we did not groan4 ,and1 as the 
same precise alternative offered itself 
now1 viz41 that1 in recalling the case1 
we must reverberate either the groaning 
or the laughter1 we presumed the reader 
would vote for the last4 ,coleridge1 we 
are well convinced1 owed all these      
wandering and exaggerated estimates of  
men--these diseased impulses1 that1 like
 the mirage1 showed lakes and fountains 
where in reality there were only arid   
deserts1 to the derangements worked by  
opium4 ,but now1 for the sake of change1
 let us pass to another topic4 ,suppose 
we say a word or two on ,coleridge's    
accomplishments as a scholar4 ,we are   
not going to enter on so large a field  
as that of his scholarship in connection
 with his philosophic labors1           
scholarship in the result2 not this1 but
 scholarship in the means and machinery1
 range of verbal scholarship1 is what we
 propose for a moment's review4  ,for   
instance1 what sort of a ,german scholar

 was ,coleridge8 ,we dare say that1     
because in his version of the           
,wallenstein there are some             
inaccuracies1 those who may have noticed
 them will hold him cheap in this       
particular pretension4 ,but1 to a       
certain degree1 they will be wrong4     
,coleridge was not very accurate in     
anything but in the use of logic4 ,all  
his philological attainments were       
imperfect4 ,he did not talk ,german2 or 
so obscurely--and1 if he attempted to   
speak fast1 so erroneously--that in his 
second sentence1 when conversing with a 
,german lady of rank1 he contrived to   
assure her that in his humble opinion   
she was a ----4 ,hard it is to fill up  
the hiatus decorously2 but1 in fact1 the
 word very coarsely expressed that she  
was no better than she should be4 ,which
 reminds us of a parallel misadventure  
to a ,german1 whose colloquial ,english 
had been equally neglected4 ,having     
obtained an interview with an ,english  
lady1 he opened his business 7whatever  

it might be7 thus--',high-born madam1   
since your husband have kicked de       
bucket'----',sir6' interrupted the lady1
 astonished and displeased4 ',oh1       
pardon6--nine1 ten thousand pardon6     
,now1 ,i make new beginning--quite oder 
beginning4 ,madam1 since your husband   
have cut his stick'----,it may be       
supposed that this did not mend matters2
 and1 reading that in the lady's        
countenance1 the ,german drew out an    
octavo dictionary1 and said1 perspiring 
with shame at having a second time      
missed fire1--',madam1 since your       
husband have gone to kingdom come'----  
,this he said beseechingly2 but the lady
 was past propitiation by this time1 and
 rapidly moved towards the door4 ,things
 had now reached a crisis2 and1 if      
something were not done quickly1 the    
game was up4 ,now1 therefore1 taking a  
last hurried look at his dictionary1 the
 ,german flew after the lady1 crying out
 in a voice of despair--',madam1 since  
your husband1 your most respected       

husband1 have hopped de twig'----,this  
was his sheet-anchor2 and1 as this also 
came home1 of course the poor man was   
totally wrecked4 ,it turned out that the
 dictionary he had used 7,arnold's1 we  
think17--a work of a hundred years back1
 and1 from mere ignorance1 giving slang 
translations from ,tom ,brown1          
,l',estrange1 and other jocular         
writers--had put down the verb sterben  
7to die7 with the following worshipful  
series of equivalents--#a4 ,to kick the 
bucket2 #b4 ,to cut one's stick2 #c4 ,to
 go to kingdom come2 #d4 ,to hop the    
twig4  ,but1 though ,coleridge did not  
pretend to any fluent command of        
conversational ,german1 he read it with 
great ease4 ,his knowledge of ,german   
literature was1 indeed1 too much limited
 by his rare opportunities for          
commanding anything like a well-mounted 
library4 ,and particularly it surprised 
us that ,coleridge knew little or       
nothing of ,john ,paul 7,richter74 ,but 
his acquaintance with the ,german       

philosophic masters was extensive4 ,and 
his valuation of many individual ,german
 words or phrases was delicate and      
sometimes profound4  ,as a ,grecian1    
,coleridge must be estimated with a     
reference to the state and standard of  
,greek literature at that time and in   
this country4 ,porson had not yet raised
 our ideal4 ,the earliest laurels of    
,coleridge were gathered1 however1 in   
that field4 ,yet no man will1 at this   
day1 pretend that the ,greek of his     
prize ode is sufferable4 ,neither did   
,coleridge ever become an accurate      
,grecian in later times1 when better    
models of scholarship1 and better aids  
to scholarship1 had begun to multiply4  
,but still we must assert this point of 
superiority for ,coleridge1 that1 whilst
 he never was what may be called a      
well-mounted scholar in any department  
of verbal scholarship1 he yet displayed 
sometimes a brilliancy of conjectural   
sagacity1 and a felicity of philosophic 
investigation1 even in this path1 such  

as better scholars do not often attain1 
and of a kind which cannot be learned   
from books4 ,but1 as respects his       
accuracy1 again we must recall to the   
reader the state of ,greek literature in
 ,england during ,coleridge's youth2    
and1 in all equity1 as a means of       
placing ,coleridge in the balances1     
specifically we must recall the state of
 ,greek metrical composition at that    
period4  ,to measure the condition of   
,greek literature even in ,cambridge1   
about the initial period of ,coleridge1 
we need only look back to the several   
translations of ,gray's ,elegy by three 
7if not four7 of the reverend gentlemen 
at that time attached to ,eton ,college4
 ,mathias1 no very great scholar himself
 in this particular field1 made himself 
merry1 in his ,pursuits of ,literature1 
with these ,eton translations4 ,in that 
he was right4 ,but he was not right in  
praising a contemporary translation by  
,cook1 who 7we believe7 was the         
immediate predecessor of ,porson in the 

,greek chair4 ,as a specimen of this    
translation1 ,footnote3 ,it was printed 
at the end of ,aristotle's ,poetics1    
which ,dr4 ,cook edited4 we cite one    
stanza2 and we cannot be supposed to    
select unfairly1 because it is the      
stanza which ,mathias praises in        
extravagant terms4 ,here1 says he1      
,gray1 ,cook1 and ,nature1 do seem to   
contend for the mastery4 ,the ,english  
quatrain must be familiar to every      
body3--    ,the boast of heraldry1 the  
pomp of pow'r1     ,and all that beauty1
 all that wealth e'er gave1   ,await    
alike the inevitable hour3     ,the     
paths of glory lead but to the grave4   
,and the following1 we believe1 though  
quoting from a thirty-three years'      
recollection of it1 is the exact ,greek 
version of ,cook3--    ',a charis       
eugenon1 charis a basilaeidos achas     
,lora tuchaes chryseaes1 ,aphroditaes   
kala ta dora1   ,paith ama tauta        
tethiake1 kai eiden morsimon amar       
,proon kle olole1 kai ocheto xunon es   

,adaen4'  ,now really these verses1 by  
force of a little mosaic tesselation    
from genuine ,greek sources1 pass       
fluently over the tongue2 but can they  
be considered other than a cento8       
,swarms of ,english schoolboys1 at this 
day1 would not feel very proud to adopt 
them4 ,in fact1 we remember 7at a period
 say twelve years later than this7 some 
iambic verses1 which were really        
composed by a boy1 viz41 a son of ,dr4  
,prettyman1 7afterwards ,tomline17      
,bishop of ,winchester1 and1 in earlier 
times1 private tutor to ,mr4 ,pitt2 they
 were published by ,middleton1 first    
,bishop of ,calcutta1 in the preface to 
his work on the ,greek article2 and for 
racy idiomatic ,greek1 self-originated1 
and not a mere mocking- bird's iteration
 of alien notes1 are so much superior to
 all the attempts of these sexagenarian 
doctors1 as distinctly to mark the      
growth of a new era and a new generation
 in this difficult accomplishment1      
within the first decennium of this      

century4 ,it is singular that only one  
blemish is suggested by any of the      
contemporary critics in ,dr4 ,cook's    
verses1 viz41 in the word xunon1 for    
which this critic proposes to substitute
 ooinon1 to prevent1 as he observes1 the
 last syllable of ocheto from being     
lengthened by the x4 ,such              
considerations as these are necessary to
 the trutin castigatio1 before we can   
value ,coleridge's place on the scale of
 his own day2 which day1 quoad hoc1 be  
it remembered1 was #agij4  ,as to       
,french1 ,coleridge read it with too    
little freedom to find pleasure in      
,french literature4 ,accordingly1 we    
never recollect his referring for any   
purpose1 either of argument or          
illustration1 to a ,french classic4     
,latin1 from his regular scholastic     
training1 naturally he read with a      
scholar's fluency2 and indeed1 he read  
constantly in authors1 such as          
,petrarch1 ,erasmus1 ,calvin1 c41 whom  
he could not then have found in         

translations4 ,but ,coleridge had not   
cultivated an acquaintance with the     
delicacies of classic ,latinity4 ,and it
 is remarkable that ,wordsworth1        
educated most negligently at ,hawkshead 
school1 subsequently by reading the     
lyric poetry of ,horace1 simply for his 
own delight as a student of composition1
 made himself a master of ,latinity in  
its most difficult form2 whilst         
,coleridge1 trained regularly in a great
 ,southern school1 never carried his    
,latin to any classical polish4  ,there 
is another accomplishment of            
,coleridge's1 less broadly open to the  
judgment of this generation1 and not at 
all of the next--viz41 his splendid art 
of conversation1 on which it will be    
interesting to say a word4 ,ten years   
ago1 when the music of this rare        
performance had not yet ceased to       
vibrate in men's ears1 what a sensation 
was gathering amongst the educated      
classes on this particular subject6     
,what a tumult of anxiety prevailed to  

'hear ,mr4 ,coleridge'--or even to talk 
with a man who had heard him6 ,had he   
lived till this day1 not ,paganini would
 have been so much sought after4 ,that  
sensation is now decaying2 because a new
 generation has emerged during the ten  
years since his death4 ,but many still  
remain whose sympathy 7whether of       
curiosity in those who did not know him1
 or of admiration in those who did7     
still reflects as in a mirror the great 
stir upon this subject which then was   
moving in the world4 ,to these1 if they 
should inquire for the great            
distinguishing principle of ,coleridge's
 conversation1 we might say that it was 
the power of vast combination 'in linked
 sweetness long drawn out4' ,he gathered
 into focal concentration the largest   
body of objects1 apparently             
disconnected1 that any man ever yet1 by 
any magic1 could assemble1 or1 having   
assembled1 could manage4 ,his great     
fault was1 that1 by not opening         
sufficient spaces for reply or          

suggestion1 or collateral notice1 he not
 only narrowed his own field1 but he    
grievously injured the final impression4
 ,for when men's minds are purely       
passive1 when they are not allowed to   
re-act1 then it is that they collapse   
most1 and that their sense of what is   
said must ever be feeblest4 ,doubtless  
there must have been great              
conversational masters elsewhere1 and at
 many periods2 but in this lay          
,coleridge's characteristic advantage1  
that he was a great natural power1 and  
also a great artist4 ,he was a power in 
the art1 and he carried a new art into  
the power4  ,but now1 finally--having   
left ourselves little room for more--one
 or two words on ,coleridge as an       
opium-eater4  ,we have not often read a 
sentence falling from a wise man with   
astonishment so profound1 as that       
particular one in a letter of           
,coleridge's to ,mr4 ,gillman1 which    
speaks of the effort to wean one's- self
 from opium as a trivial task4 ,there   

are1 we believe1 several such passages4 
,but we refer to that one in particular 
which assumes that a single 'week' will 
suffice for the whole process of so     
mighty a revolution4 ,is indeed         
leviathan so tamed8 ,in that case the   
quarantine of the opium-eater might be  
finished within ,coleridge's time1 and  
with ,coleridge's romantic ease4 ,but   
mark the contradictions of this         
extraordinary man4 ,not long ago we were
 domesticated with a venerable rustic1  
strong-headed1 but incurably obstinate  
in his prejudices1 who treated the whole
 body of medical men as ignorant        
pretenders1 knowing absolutely nothing  
of the system which they professed to   
superintend4 ,this1 you will remark1 is 
no very singular case4 ,no2 nor1 as we  
believe1 is the antagonist case of      
ascribing to such men magical powers4   
,nor1 what is worse still1 the          
co-existence of both cases in the same  
mind1 as in fact happened here4 ,for    
this same obstinate friend of ours1 who 

treated all medical pretensions as the  
mere jest of the universe1 every 'third 
day was exacting from his own medical   
attendants some exquisite tour-de-force1
 as that they should know or should do  
something1 which1 if they had known or  
done1 all men would have suspected them 
reasonably of magic4 ,he rated the whole
 medical body as infants2 and yet what  
he exacted from them every third day as 
a matter of course1 virtually presumed  
them to be the only giants within the   
whole range of science4 ,parallel and   
equal is the contradiction of           
,coleridge4 ,he speaks of opium excess1 
his own excess1 we mean--the excess of  
twenty-five years--as a thing to be laid
 aside easily and for ever within seven 
days2 and yet1 on the other hand1 he    
describes it pathetically1 sometimes    
with a frantic pathos1 as the scourge1  
the curse1 the one almighty blight which
 had desolated his life4  ,this shocking
 contradiction we need not press4 ,all  
readers will see that4 ,but some will   

ask--,was ,mr4 ,coleridge right in      
either view8 ,being so atrociously wrong
 in the first notion1 7viz41 that the   
opium of twenty-five years was a thing  
easily to be forsworn17 where a child   
could know that he was wrong1 was he    
even altogether right1 secondly1 in     
believing that his own life1 root and   
branch1 had been withered by opium8 ,for
 it will not follow1 because1 with a    
relation to happiness and tranquillity1 
a man may have found opium his curse1   
that therefore1 as a creature of        
energies and great purposes1 he must    
have been the wreck which he seems to   
suppose4 ,opium gives and takes away4   
,it defeats the steady habit of         
exertion1 but it creates spasms of      
irregular exertion2 it ruins the natural
 power of life1 but it develops         
preternatural paroxysms of intermitting 
power4 ,let us ask of any man who holds 
that not ,coleridge himself but the     
world1 as interested in ,coleridge's    
usefulness1 has suffered by his         

addiction to opium2 whether he is aware 
of the way in which opium affected      
,coleridge2 and secondly1 whether he is 
aware of the actual contributions to    
literature--how large they were--which  
,coleridge made in spite of opium4 ,all 
who were intimate with ,coleridge must  
remember the fits of genial animation   
which were created continually in his   
manner and in his buoyancy of thought by
 a recent or by an extra dose of the    
omnipotent drug4 ,a lady1 who knew      
nothing experimentally of opium1 once   
told us1 that she 'could tell when ,mr4 
,coleridge had taken too much opium by  
his shining countenance4' ,she was      
right2 we know that mark of opium       
excesses well1 and the cause of it2 or  
at least we believe the cause to lie in 
the quickening of the insensible        
perspiration which accumulates and      
glistens on the face4 ,be that as it    
may1 a criterion it was that could not  
deceive us as to the condition of       
,coleridge4 ,and uniformly in that      

condition he made his most effective    
intellectual displays4 ,it is true that 
he might not be happy under this fiery  
animation1 and we fully believe that he 
was not4 ,nobody is happy under laudanum
 except for a very short term of years4 
,but in what way did that operate upon  
his exertions as a writer8 ,we are of   
opinion that it killed ,coleridge as a  
poet4 ',the harp of ,quantock' was      
silenced for ever by the torment of     
opium4 ,but proportionably it roused and
 stung by misery his metaphysical       
instincts into more spasmodic life4     
,poetry can flourish only in the        
atmosphere of happiness4 ,but subtle and
 perplexed investigations of difficult  
problems are amongst the commonest      
resources for beguiling the sense of    
misery4 ,and for this we have the direct
 authority of ,coleridge himself        
speculating on his own case4 ,in the    
beautiful though unequal ode entitled   
,dejection1 stanza six1 occurs the      
following passage3    ',for not to think

 of what ,i needs must feel1   ,but to  
be still and patient all ,i can2   ,and 
haply by abstruse research to steal     
,from my own nature all the natural     
man--   ,this was my sole resource1 my  
only plan2   ,till that1 which suits a  
part1 infects the whole1   ,and now is  
almost grown the habit of my soul4'     
,considering the exquisite quality of   
some poems which ,coleridge has         
composed1 nobody can grieve 7or has     
grieved7 more than ourselves1 at seeing 
so beautiful a fountain choked up with  
weeds4 ,but had ,coleridge been a       
happier man1 it is our fixed belief that
 we should have had far less of his     
philosophy1 and perhaps1 but not        
certainly1 might have had more of his   
general literature4 ,in the estimate of 
the public1 doubtless1 that will seem a 
bad exchange4 ,every man to his taste4  
,meantime1 what we wish to show is1 that
 the loss was not absolute1 but  merely 
relative4  ,it is urged1 however1 that1 
even on his philosophic speculations1   

opium operated unfavorably in one       
respect1 by often causing him to leave  
them unfinished4 ,this is true4         
,whenever ,coleridge 7being highly      
charged1 or saturated1 with opium7 had  
written with distempered vigor upon any 
question1 there occurred soon after a   
recoil of intense disgust1 not from his 
own paper only1 but even from the       
subject4 ,all opium-eaters are tainted  
with the infirmity of leaving works     
unfinished1 and suffering reactions of  
disgust4 ,but ,coleridge taxed himself  
with that infirmity in verse before he  
could at all have commenced             
opium-eating4 ,besides1 it is too much  
assumed by ,coleridge and by his        
biographer1 that to leave off opium was 
of course to regain juvenile health4    
,but all opium-eaters make the mistake  
of supposing every pain or irritation   
which they suffer to be the product of  
opium4 ,whereas a wise man will say1    
suppose you do leave off opium1 that    
will not deliver you from the load of   

years 7say sixty-three7 which you carry 
on your back4 ,charles ,lamb1 another   
man of true genius1 and another head    
belonging to the ,blackwood ,gallery1   
made that mistake in his ,confessions of
 a ,drunkard4 ',i looked back1' says he1
 'to the time when always1 on waking in 
the morning1 ,i had a song rising to my 
lips4' ,at present1 it seems1 being a   
drunkard1 he has no such song4 ,ay1 dear
 ,lamb1 but note this1 that the drunkard
 was fifty-six years old1 the songster  
was twenty-three4 ,take twenty-three    
from fifty-six1 and we have some reason 
to believe that thirty-three will       
remain2 which period of thirty-three    
years is a pretty good reason for not   
singing in the morning1 even if brandy  
has been out of the question4  ,it is   
singular1 as respects ,coleridge1 that  
,mr4 ,gillman never says one word upon  
the event of the great ,highgate        
experiment for leaving off laudanum1    
though ,coleridge came to ,mr4          
,gillman's for no other purpose2 and in 

a week1 this vast creation of new earth1
 sea1 and all that in them is1 was to   
have been accomplished4 ,we rayther     
think1 as ,bayley junior observes1 that 
the explosion must have hung fire4 ,but 
that is a trifle4 ,we have another      
pleasing hypothesis on the subject4 ,mr4
 ,wordsworth1 in his exquisite lines    
written on a fly-leaf of his own ,castle
 of ,indolence1 having described        
,coleridge as 'a noticeable man with    
large grey eyes1' goes on to say1 ',he' 
7viz41 ,coleridge7 'did that other man  
entice' to view his imagery4 ,now we are
 sadly afraid that 'the noticeable man  
with large grey eyes' did entice 'that  
other man1' viz41 ,gillman1 to commence 
opium-eating4 ,this is droll2 and it    
makes us laugh horribly4 ,gillman should
 have reformed him2 and lo6 he corrupts 
,gillman4 ,s4 ,t4 ,coleridge visited    
,highgate by way of being converted from
 the heresy of opium2 and the issue     
is--that1 in two months' time1 various  
grave men1 amongst whom our friend      

,gillman marches first in great pomp1   
are found to have faces shining and     
glorious as that of ,a,esculapius2 a    
fact of which we have already explained 
the secret meaning4 ,and scandal says   
7but then what will not scandal say87   
that a hogshead of opium goes up daily  
through ,highgate tunnel4 ,surely one   
corroboration of our hypothesis may be  
found in the fact1 that ,vol4 ,i4 of    
,gillman's ,coleridge is for ever to    
stand unpropped by ,vol4 ,,ii4 ,for we  
have already observed1 that opium-      
eaters1 though good fellows upon the    
whole1 never finish anything4  ,what    
then8 ,a man has a right never to finish
 anything4 ,certainly he has2 and by    
,magna ,charta4 ,but he has no right1 by
 ,magna ,charta or by ,parva ,charta1 to
 slander decent men1 like ourselves and 
our friend the author of the ,opium     
,confessions4 ,here it is that our      
complaint arises against ,mr4 ,gillman4 
,if he has taken to opium-eating1 can we
 help that8 ,if his face shines1 must   

our faces be blackened8 ,he has very    
improperly published some intemperate   
passages from ,coleridge's letters1     
which ought to have been considered     
confidential1 unless ,coleridge had left
 them for publication1 charging upon the
 author of the ,opium ,confessions a    
reckless disregard of the temptations   
which1 in that work1 he was scattering  
abroad amongst men4 ,now this author is 
connected with ourselves1 and we cannot 
neglect his defence1 unless in the case 
that he undertakes it himself4  ,we     
complain1 also1 that ,coleridge raises  
7and is backed by ,mr4 ,gillman in      
raising7 a distinction perfectly        
perplexing to us1 between himself and   
the author of the ,opium ,confessions   
upon the question--,why they severally  
began the practice of opium-eating8 ,in 
himself1 it seems1 this motive was to   
relieve pain1 whereas the ,confessor was
 surreptitiously seeking for pleasure4  
,ay1 indeed--where did he learn that8   
,we have no copy of the ,confessions    

here1 so we cannot quote chapter and    
verse2 but we distinctly remember1 that 
toothache is recorded in that book as   
the particular occasion which first     
introduced the author to the knowledge  
of opium4 ,whether afterwards1 having   
been thus initiated by the demon of     
pain1 the opium confessor did not apply 
powers thus discovered to purposes of   
mere pleasure1 is a question for        
himself2 and the same question applies  
with the same cogency to ,coleridge4    
,coleridge began in rheumatic pains4    
,what then8 ,this is no proof that he   
did not end in voluptuousness4 ,for our 
parts1 we are slow to believe that ever 
any man did1 or could1 learn the        
somewhat awful truth1 that in a certain 
ruby-colored elixir1 there lurked a     
divine power to chase away the genius of
 ennui1 without subsequently abusing    
this power4 ,to taste but once from the 
tree of knowledge1 is fatal to the      
subsequent power of abstinence4 ,true it
 is1 that generations have used laudanum

 as an anodyne1 7for instance1 hospital 
patients17 who have not afterwards      
courted its powers as a voluptuous      
stimulant2 but that1 be sure1 has arisen
 from no abstinence in them4 ,there are1
 in fact1 two classes of temperaments as
 to this terrific drug--those which are1
 and those which are not1 preconformed  
to its power2 those which genially      
expand to its temptations1 and those    
which frostily exclude them4 ,not in the
 energies of the will1 but in the       
qualities of the nervous organization1  
lies the dread arbitration of--,fall or 
stand3 doomed thou art to yield2 or1    
strengthened constitutionally1 to       
resist4 ,most of those who have but a   
low sense of the spells lying couchant  
in opium1 have practically none at all4 
,for the initial fascination is for them
 effectually defeated by the sickness   
which nature has associated with the    
first stages of opium-eating4 ,but to   
that other class1 whose nervous         
sensibilities vibrate to their          

profoundest depths under the first touch
 of the angelic poison1 even as a       
lover's ear thrills on hearing          
unexpectedly the voice of her whom he   
loves1 opium is the ,amreeta cup of     
beatitude4 ,you know the ,paradise      
,lost8 and you remember1 from the       
eleventh book1 in its earlier part1 that
 laudanum already existed in ,eden--nay1
 that it was used medicinally by an     
archangel2 for1 after ,michael had      
'purged with euphrasy and rue' the eyes 
of ,adam1 lest he should be unequal to  
the mere sight of the great visions     
about to unfold their draperies before  
him1 next he fortifies his fleshly      
spirits against the affliction of these 
visions1 of which visions the first was 
death4 ,and how8    ',he from the well  
of life three drops instill'd4'  ,what  
was their operation8    ',so deep the   
power of these ingredients pierced1     
,even to the inmost seat of mental      
sight1   ,that ,adam1 now enforced to   
close his eyes1   ,sank down1 and all   

his spirits became entranced4   ,but him
 the gentle angel by the hand   ,soon   
raised'----  ,the second of these lines 
it is which betrays the presence of     
laudanum4 ,it is in the faculty of      
mental vision1 it is in the increased   
power of dealing with the shadowy and   
the dark1 that the characteristic virtue
 of opium lies4 ,now1 in the original   
higher sensibility is found some        
palliation for the practice of          
opium-eating2 in the greater temptation 
is a greater excuse4 ,and in this       
faculty of self-revelation is found some
 palliation for reporting the case to   
the world1 which both ,coleridge and his
 biographer have overlooked4            
,,temperance ,,movement4   ,the most    
remarkable instance of a combined       
movement in society1 which history1     
perhaps1 will be summoned to notice1 is 
that which1 in our own days1 has applied
 itself to the abatement of             
intemperance4 ,naturally1 or by any     
direct process1 the machinery set in    

motion would seem irrelevant to the     
object3 if one hundred men unite to     
elevate the standard of temperance1 they
 can do this with effect only by        
improvements in their own separate      
cases3 each individual1 for such an     
effort of self-conquest1 can draw upon  
no resources but his own4 ,one member in
 a combination of one hundred1 when     
running a race1 can hope for no         
cooperation from his ninety-nine        
associates4 ,and yet1 by a secondary    
action1 such combinations are found     
eminently successful4 ,having obtained  
from every confederate a pledge1 in some
 shape or other1 that he will give them 
his support1 thenceforwards they bring  
the passions of shame and self-esteem to
 bear upon each member's personal       
perseverance4 ,not only they keep alive 
and continually refresh in his thoughts 
the general purpose1 which else might   
fade2 but they also point the action of 
public contempt and of self-contempt at 
any defaulter much more potently1 and   

with more acknowledged right to do so1  
when they use this influence under a    
license1 volunteered1 and signed1 and   
sealed1 by the man's own hand4 ,they    
first conciliate his countenance through
 his intellectual perceptions of what is
 right2 and next they sustain it through
 his conscience1 7the strongest of his  
internal forces17 and even through the  
weakest of his human sensibilities4     
,that revolution1 therefore1 which no   
combination of men can further by       
abating the original impulse of         
temptations1 they often accomplish      
happily by maturing the secondary       
energies of resistance4  ,already in    
their earliest stage1 these temperance  
movements had obtained1 both at home and
 abroad1 a national range of grandeur4  
,more than ten years ago1 when ,m4 de   
,tocqueville was resident in the ,united
 ,states1 the principal ,american       
society counted two hundred and seventy 
thousand members3 and in one single     
state 7,pennsylvania7 the annual        

diminution in the use of spirits had    
very soon reached half a million of     
gallons4 ,now a machinery must be so far
 good which accomplishes its end3 the   
means are meritorious for so much as    
they effect4 ,even to strengthen a      
feeble resolution by the aid of other   
infirmities1 such as shame or the very  
servility and cowardice of deference to 
public opinion1 becomes prudent and     
laudable in the service of so great a   
cause4 ,nay1 sometimes to make public   
profession of self-distrust by assuming 
the coercion of public pledges1 may     
become an expression of frank courage1  
or even of noble principle1 not fearing 
the shame of confession when it can aid 
the powers of victorious resistance4    
,yet still1 so far as it is possible1   
every man sighs for a still higher      
victory over himself3 a victory not     
tainted by bribes1 and won from no      
impulses but those inspired by his own  
higher nature1 and his own mysterious   
force of will2 powers that in no man    

were fully developed4  ,this being so1  
it is well that from time to time every 
man should throw out any hints that have
 occurred to his experience1--suggesting
 such as may be new1 renewing such as   
may be old1 towards the encouragement or
 the information of persons engaged in  
so great a struggle4 ,my own experience 
had never travelled in that course which
 could much instruct me in the miseries 
from wine1 or in the resources for      
struggling with it4 ,i had repeatedly   
been obliged indeed to lay it aside     
altogether2 but in this ,i never found  
room for more than seven or ten days'   
struggle3 excesses ,i had never         
practised in the use of wine2 simply the
 habit of using it1 and the collateral  
habits formed by excessive use of opium1
 had produced any difficulty at all in  
resigning it even on an hour's notice4  
,from opium ,i derive my right of       
offering hints at all upon the subjects 
of abstinence in other forms4 ,but the  
modes of suffering from the evil1 and   

the separate modes of suffering from the
 effort of self-conquest1 together with 
errors of judgment incident to such     
states of transitional torment1 are all 
nearly allied1 practically analogous as 
regards the remedies1 even if           
characteristically distinguished to the 
inner consciousness4 ,i make no scruple1
 therefore1 of speaking as from a       
station of high experience and of most  
watchful attention1 which never remitted
 even under sufferings that were at     
times absolutely frantic4  ,i4 ,the     
first hint is one that has been often   
offered2 viz41 the diminution of the    
particular liquor used1 by the          
introduction into each glass of some    
inert substance1 ascertained in bulk1   
and equally increasing in amount from   
day to day4 ,but this plan has often    
been intercepted by an accident3 shot1  
or sometimes bullets1 were the          
substances nearest at hand2 an objection
 arose from too scrupulous a caution of 
chemistry as to the action upon lead of 

the vinous acid4 ,yet all objection of  
this kind might be removed at once1 by  
using beads in a case where small       
decrements were wanted1 and marbles1 if 
it were thought advisable to use larger4
 ,once for all1 however1 in cases deeply
 rooted1 no advances ought ever to be   
made but by small stages3 for the       
effect1 which is insensible at first1 by
 the tenth1 twelfth1 or fifteenth day1  
generally accumulates unendurably under 
any bolder deductions4 ,i must not stop 
to illustrate this point2 but certain it
 is1 that by an error of this nature at 
the outset1 most natural to human       
impatience under exquisite suffering1   
too generally the trial is abruptly     
brought to an end through the crisis of 
a passionate relapse4  ,,ii4 ,another   
object1 and one to which the gladiator  
matched in single duel with             
intemperance1 must direct a religious   
vigilance1 is the digestibility of his  
food3 it must be digestible not only by 
its original qualities1 but also by its 

culinary preparation4 ,in this last     
point we are all of us ,manichans3 all  
of us yield a cordial assent to that    
,manichan proverb1 which refers the     
meats and the cooks of this world to two
 opposite fountains of light and of     
darkness4 ,oromasdes it is1 or the good 
principle1 that sends the food2         
,ahrimanes1 or the evil principle1 that 
everywhere sends the cooks4 ,man has    
been repeatedly described or even       
defined1 as by differential privilege of
 his nature1 ',a cooking animal4'       
,brutes1 it is said1 have faces1--man   
only has a countenance2 brutes are as   
well able to eat as man1--man only is   
able to cook what he eats4 ,such are the
 romances of self-flattery4 ,i1 on the  
contrary1 maintain1 that six thousand   
years have not availed1 in this point1  
to raise our race generally to the level
 of ingenious savages4 ,the natives of  
the ,society and the ,friendly ,isles1  
or of ,new ,zealand1 and other favored  
spots1 had1 and still have1 an art of   

cookery1 though very limited in its     
range3 the ,french ,footnote3 ,but judge
 not1 reader1 of ,french skill by the   
attempts of fourth-rate artists2 and    
understand me to speak with respect of  
this skill1 not as it is the tool of    
luxury1 but as it is the handmaid of    
health4 have an art1 and more extensive2
 but we ,english are about upon a level 
7as regards this science7 with the ape1 
to whom an instinct whispers that       
chestnuts may be roasted2 or with the   
aboriginal ,chinese of ,charles ,lamb's 
story1 to whom the experience of many   
centuries had revealed thus much1 viz41 
that a dish very much beyond the raw    
flesh of their ancestors1 might be had  
by burning down the family mansion1 and 
thus roasting the pig-stye4 ,rudest of  
barbarous devices is ,english cookery1  
and not much in advance of this         
primitive ,chinese step2 a fact which it
 would not be worth while to lament1    
were it not for the sake of the poor    
trembling deserter from the banners of  

intoxication1 who is thus1 and by no    
other cause1 so often thrown back       
beneath the yoke which he had abjured4  
,past counting are the victims of       
alcohol1 that1 having by vast efforts   
emancipated themselves for a season1 are
 violently forced into relapsing by the 
nervous irritations of demoniac cookery4
 ,unhappily for them1 the horrors of    
indigestion are relieved for the moment1
 however ultimately strengthened1 by    
strong liquors2 the relief is immediate1
 and cannot fail to be perceived2 but   
the aggravation1 being removed to a     
distance1 is not always referred to its 
proper cause4 ,this is the capital rock 
and stumbling-block in the path of him  
who is hurrying back to the camps of    
temperance2 and many a reader is likely 
to misapprehend the case through the    
habit he has acquired of supposing      
indigestion to lurk chiefly amongst     
luxurious dishes4 ,but1 on the contrary1
 it is amongst the plainest1 simplest1  
and commonest dishes that such misery   

lurks1 in ,england4 ,let us glance at   
three articles of diet1 beyond all      
comparison of most ordinary occurrence1 
viz41 potatoes1 bread1 and butcher's    
meat4 ,the art of preparing potatoes for
 human use is utterly unknown1 except in
 certain provinces of our empire1 and   
amongst certain sections of the laboring
 class4 ,in our great cities1--,london1 
,edinburgh1 c4--the sort of things which
 you see offered at table under the name
 and reputation of potatoes1 are such   
that1 if you could suppose the company  
to be composed of ,centaurs and ,lapith1
 or any other quarrelsome people1 it    
would become necessary for the police to
 interfere4 ,the potato of cities is a  
very dangerous missile2 and1 if thrown  
with an accurate aim by an angry hand1  
will fracture any known skull4 ,in      
volume and consistency1 it is very like 
a paving-stone2 only that1 ,i should    
say1 the paving-stone had the advantage 
in point of tenderness4 ,and upon this  
horrid basis1 which youthful ostriches  

would repent of swallowing1 the         
trembling1 palpitating invalid1 fresh   
from the scourging of alcohol1 is       
requested to build the superstructure of
 his dinner4 ,the proverb says1 that    
three flittings are as bad as a fire2   
and on that model ,i conceive that three
 potatoes1 as they are found at many    
,british dinner-tables1 would be equal1 
in principle of ruin1 to two glasses of 
vitriol4 ,the same savage ignorance     
appears1 and only not so often1 in the  
bread of this island4 ,myriads of       
families eat it in that early stage of  
sponge which bread assumes during the   
process of baking2 but less than sixty  
hours will not fit this dangerous       
article of human diet to be eaten4 ,and 
those who are acquainted with the works 
of ,parmentier1 or other learned        
investigators of bread and of the       
baker's art1 must be aware that this    
quality of sponginess 7though quite     
equal to the ruin of the digestive      
organs7 is but one in a legion of vices 

to which the article is liable4 ,a      
,german of much research wrote a book on
 the conceivable faults in a pair of    
shoes1 which he found to be about six   
hundred and sixty-six1 many of them1 as 
he observed1 requiring a very delicate  
process of study to find out2 whereas   
the possible faults in bread1 which are 
not less in number1 require no study at 
all for the defection2 they publish     
themselves through all varieties of     
misery4 ,but the perfection of          
barbarism1 as regards our island        
cookery1 is reserved for animal food2   
and the two poles of ,oromasdes and     
,ahrimanes are nowhere so conspicuously 
exhibited4 ,our insular sheep1 for      
instance1 are so far superior to any    
which the continent produces1 that the  
present ,prussian minister at our court 
is in the habit of questioning a man's  
right to talk of mutton as anything     
beyond a great idea1 unless he can prove
 a residence in ,great ,britain4 ,one   
sole case he cites of a dinner on the   

,elbe1 when a particular leg of mutton  
really struck him as rivalling any which
 he had known in ,england4 ,the mystery 
seemed inexplicable2 but1 upon inquiry1 
it turned out to be an importation from 
,leith4 ,yet this incomparable article1 
to produce which the skill of the feeder
 must co-operate with the peculiar      
bounty of nature1 calls forth the most  
dangerous refinements of barbarism in   
its cookery4 ,a ,frenchman requires1 as 
the primary qualification of flesh meat1
 that it should be tender4 ,we ,english 
universally1 but especially the ,scots1 
treat that quality with indifference1 or
 with bare toleration4 ,what we require 
is1 that it should be fresh1 that is1   
recently killed1 7in which state it     
cannot be digestible except by a        
crocodile27 and we present it at table  
in a transition state of leather1       
demanding the teeth of a tiger to rend  
it in pieces1 and the stomach of a tiger
 to digest it4  ,with these habits      
amongst our countrymen1 exemplified     

daily in the articles of widest use1 it 
is evident that the sufferer from       
intemperance has a harder quarantine1 in
 this island1 to support during the     
effort of restoration1 than he could    
have anywhere else in ,christendom4 ,in 
,persia1 and1 perhaps1 there only on    
this terraqueous planet1 matters might  
be even worse3 for1 whilst we ,english  
neglect the machinery of digestion1 as a
 matter entitled to little              
consideration1 the people of ,teheran   
seem unaware that there is any such     
machinery4 ,so1 at least1 one might     
presume1 from cases on record1 and      
especially from the reckless folly1     
under severe illness1 from indigestion1 
of the three ,persian princes1 who      
visited this country1 as stated by their
 official mehmander1 ,mr4 ,fraser4 ,with
 us1 the excess of ignorance1 upon this 
subject1 betrays itself oftenest in that
 vain-glorious answer made by the       
people1 who at any time are admonished  
of the sufferings which they are        

preparing for themselves by these       
outrages upon the most delicate of human
 organs4 ,they1 for their parts1 'know  
not if they have a stomach2 they know   
not what it is that dyspepsy means2'    
forgetting that1 in thus vaunting their 
strength of stomach1 they are1 at the   
same time1 proclaiming its coarseness2  
and showing themselves unaware that     
precisely those1 whom such coarseness of
 organization reprieves from immediate  
and seasonable reaction of suffering1   
are the favorite subjects of that       
heavier reaction which takes the shape  
of delirium tremens1 of palsy1 and of   
lunacy4 ,it is but a fanciful advantage 
which they enjoy1 for whom the immediate
 impunity avails only to hide the final 
horrors which are gathering upon them   
from the gloomy rear4 ,better1 by far1  
that more of immediate discomfort had   
guaranteed to them less of reversionary 
anguish4 ,it may be safely asserted1    
that few1 indeed1 are the suicides      
amongst us to which the miseries of     

indigestion have not been a large       
concurring cause2 and even where nothing
 so dreadful as that occurs1 always     
these miseries are the chief hinderance 
of the self-reforming drunkard1 and the 
commonest cause of his relapse4 ,it is  
certain1 also1 that misanthropic gloom  
and bad temper besiege that class1 by   
preference1 to whom peculiar coarseness 
or obtuse sensibility of organization   
has denied the salutary warnings and    
early prelibations of punishment which1 
happily for most men1 besiege the more  
direct and obvious frailties of the     
digestive apparatus4  ,the whole process
 and elaborate machinery of digestion   
are felt to be mean and humiliating when
 viewed in relation to our mere animal  
economy4 ,but they rise into dignity1   
and assert their own supreme importance1
 when they arc studied from another     
station1 viz41 in relation to the       
intellect and temper2 no man dares1     
then1 to despise them3 it is then seen  
that these functions of the human system

 form the essential basis upon which the
 strength and health of our higher      
nature repose2 and that upon these      
functions1 chiefly1 the general         
happiness of life is dependent4 ,all the
 rules of prudence1 or gifts of         
experience that life can accumulate1    
will never do as much for human comfort 
and welfare as would be done by a       
stricter attention1 and a wiser science1
 directed to the digestive system2 in   
this attention lies the key to any      
perfect restoration for the victim of   
intemperance3 and1 considering the      
peculiar hostility to the digestive     
health which exists in the dietetic     
habits of our own country1 it may be    
feared that nowhere upon earth has the  
reclaimed martyr to intemperance so     
difficult a combat to sustain2 nowhere1 
therefore1 is it so important to direct 
the attention upon an artificial culture
 of those resources which naturally1 and
 by the established habits of the land1 
are surest to be neglected4 ,the sheet  

anchor for the storm-beaten sufferer1   
who is laboring to recover a haven of   
rest from the agonies of intemperance1  
and who has had the fortitude to abjure 
the poison which ruined1 but which also1
 for brief intervals1 offered him his   
only consolation1 lies1 beyond all      
doubt1 in a most anxious regard to      
everything connected with this supreme  
function of our animal economy4 ,and1 as
 few men that are not regularly trained 
to medical studies can have the complex 
knowledge requisite for such a duty1    
some printed guide should be sought of a
 regular professional order4 ,twenty    
years ago1 ,dr4 ,wilson ,philip         
published a valuable book of this class1
 which united a wide range of practical 
directions as to the choice of diet1 and
 as to the qualities and tendencies of  
all esculent articles likely to be found
 at ,british tables1 with some ingenious
 speculations upon the still mysterious 
theory of digestion4 ,these were derived
 from experiments made upon rabbits1 and

 had originally been communicated by him
 to the ,royal ,society of ,london1 who 
judged them worthy of publication in    
their ,transactions4 ,i notice them     
chiefly for the sake of remarking1 that 
the rationale of digestion1 as here     
suggested1 explains the reason of a     
fact1 which merely as a fact1 had not   
been known until modern times1 viz41 the
 injuriousness to enfeebled stomachs of 
all fluid4 ,fifty years ago--and still  
lingering inveterately amongst nurses1  
and other ignorant persons--there       
prevailed a notion that 'slops' must be 
the proper resource of the              
valetudinarian2 and the same erroneous  
notion appears in the common expression 
of ignorant wonder at the sort of       
breakfasts usual amongst women of rank  
in the times of ,queen ,elizabeth4      
',what robust stomachs they must have   
had1 to support such solid meals6' ,as  
to the question of fact1 whether the    
stomachs were more or less robust in    
those days than at the present1 there is

 no need to offer an opinion4 ,but the  
question of principle concerned in      
scientific dietetics points in the very 
opposite direction4 ,by how much the    
organs of digestion are feebler1 by so  
much is it the more indispensable that  
solid food and animal food should be    
adopted4 ,a robust stomach may be equal 
to the trying task of supporting a      
fluid1 such as tea for breakfast2 but   
for a feeble stomach1 and still more for
 a stomach enfeebled by bad habits1     
broiled beef1 or something equally solid
 and animal1 but not too much subjected 
to the action of fire1 is the only      
tolerable diet4 ,this1 indeed1 is the   
one capital rule for a sufferer from    
habitual intoxication1 who must         
inevitably labor under an impaired      
digestion2 that as little as possible he
 should use of any liquid diet1 and as  
little as possible of vegetable diet4   
,beef1 and a little bread1 7at the least
 sixty hours old17 compose the          
privileged bill of fare for his         

breakfast4 ,but precisely it is1 by the 
way1 in relation to this earliest meal1 
that human folly has in one or two      
instances shown itself most ruinously   
inventive4 ,the less variety there is at
 that meal1 the more is the danger from 
any single luxury2 and there is one1    
known by the name of 'muffins1' which   
has repeatedly manifested itself to be a
 plain and direct bounty upon suicide4  
,darwin1 in his ',zoonomia1' reports a  
case where an officer1 holding the rank 
of lieutenant-colonel1 could not        
tolerate a breakfast in which this      
odious article was wanting2 but1 as a   
savage retribution invariably supervened
 within an hour or two upon this act of 
insane sensuality1 he came to a         
resolution that life was intolerable    
with muffins1 but still more intolerable
 without muffins4 ,he would stand the   
nuisance no longer2 but yet1 being a    
just man1 he would give nature one final
 chance of reforming her dyspeptic      
atrocities4 ,muffins1 therefore1 being  

laid at one angle of the                
breakfast-table1 and loaded pistols at  
another1 with rigid equity the ,colonel 
awaited the result4 ,this was naturally 
pretty much as usual3 and then1 the poor
 man1 incapable of retreating from his  
word of honor1 committed                
suicide1--having previously left a line 
for posterity to the effect 7though ,i  
forget the expression71 ',that a        
muffinless world was no world for him3  
better no life at all than a life       
dismantled of muffins4'--,dr4 ,darwin   
was a showy philosopher1 and fond of    
producing effect1 so that some allowance
 must be made in construing the affair4 
,strictly speaking1 it is probable that 
not the especial want of muffins1 but   
the general torment of indigestion1 was 
the curse from which the unhappy        
sufferer sought relief by suicide4 ,and 
the ,colonel was not the first by many a
 million1 that has fled from the very   
same form of wretchedness1 or from its  
effects upon the genial spirits1 to the 

same gloomy refuge4 ,it should never be 
forgotten that1 although some other more
 overt vexation is generally assigned as
 the proximate cause of suicide1 and    
often may be so as regards the immediate
 occasion1 too generally this vexation  
borrowed its whole power to annoy1 from 
the habitual atmosphere of irritation in
 which the system had been kept by      
indigestion4 ,so that indirectly1 and   
virtually1 perhaps1 all suicides may be 
traced to mismanaged digestion4         
,meantime1 in alluding at all to so     
dreadful a subject as suicide1 ,i do so 
only by way of giving deeper effect to  
the opinion expressed above1 upon the   
chief cause of relapse into habits of   
intemperance amongst those who have once
 accomplished their deliverance4 ,errors
 of digestion1 either from impaired     
powers1 or from powers not so much      
enfeebled as deranged1 is the one       
immeasurable source both of disease and 
of secret wretchedness to the human     
race4 ,life is laid waste by the eternal

 fretting of the vital forces1 emanating
 from this one cause4 ,and it may well  
be conceived1 that if cases so endless1 
even of suicide1 in every generation1   
are virtually traceable to this main    
root1 much more must it be able to shake
 and undermine the yet palpitating frame
 of the poor fugitive from intemperance2
 since indigestion in every mode and    
variety of its changes irresistibly     
upholds the temptation to that form of  
excitement which1 though one foremost   
cause of indigestion1 is yet unhappily  
its sole immediate palliation4  ,,iii4  
,next1 after the most vigorous          
attention1 and a scientific attention to
 the digestive system1 in power of      
operation1 stands exercise4 ,here1      
however1 most people have their own     
separate habits1 with respect to the    
time of exercise1 the duration1 and the 
particular mode1 on which a stranger    
cannot venture to intrude with his      
advice4 ,some will not endure the steady
 patience required for walking exercise2

 many benefit most by riding on         
horseback2 and in days when roads were  
more rugged1 and the springs of         
carriages less improved1 ,i have known  
people who found most advantage in the  
vibrations communicated to the frame by 
a heavy rumbling carriage4 ,for myself1 
under the ravages of opium1 ,i have     
found walking the most beneficial       
exercise2 besides that1 it requires no  
previous notice or preparation of any   
kind2 and this is a capital advantage in
 a state of drooping energies1 or of    
impatient and unresting agitation4 ,i   
may mention1 as possibly an accident of 
my individual temperament1 but possibly1
 also1 no accident at all1 that the     
relief obtained by walking was always   
most sensibly brought home to my        
consciousness1 when some part of it 7at 
least a mile and a half7 has been       
performed before breakfast4 ,in this    
there soon ceased to be any difficulty2 
for1 whilst under the full oppression of
 opium1 it was impossible for me to rise

 at any hour that could1 by the most    
indulgent courtesy1 be described as     
within the pale of morning1 no sooner   
had there been established any          
considerable relief from this           
oppression1 than the tendency was in the
 opposite direction2 the difficulty     
became continually greater of sleeping  
even to a reasonable hour4 ,having once 
accomplished the feat of walking at nine
 ,a4 ,m41 ,i backed1 in a space of seven
 or eight months1 to eight o'clock1 to  
seven1 to six1 five1 four1 three2 until 
at this point a metaphysical fear fell  
upon me that ,i was actually backing    
into 'yesterday1' and should soon have  
no sleep at all4 ,below three1 however1 
,i did not descend2 and1 for a couple of
 years1 three and a half hours' sleep   
was all that ,i could obtain in the     
twenty-four hours4 ,from this no        
particular suffering arose1 except the  
nervous impatience of lying in bed for  
one moment after awaking4 ,consequently1
 the habit of walking before breakfast  

became at length troublesome no longer  
as a most odious duty1 but1 on the      
contrary1 as a temptation that could    
hardly be resisted on the wettest       
mornings4 ,as to the quantity of the    
exercise1 ,i found that six miles a day 
formed the minimum which would support  
permanently a particular standard of    
animal spirits1 evidenced to myself by  
certain apparent symptoms4 ,i averaged  
about nine and a half miles a day2 but  
ascended on particular days to fifteen  
or sixteen1 and more rarely to          
twenty-three or twenty-four2 a quantity 
which did not produce fatigue1 on the   
contrary it spread a sense of           
improvement through almost the whole    
week that followed2 but usually1 in the 
night immediately succeeding to such an 
exertion1 ,i lost much of my sleep2 a   
privation that1 under the circumstances 
explained1 deterred me from trying the  
experiment too often4 ,for one or two   
years1 ,i accomplished more than ,i have
 here claimed1 viz41 from six to seven  

thousand miles in the twelve months4    
,let me add to this slight abstract of  
my own experience1 in a point where it  
is really difficult to offer any useful 
advice1 7the tastes and habits of men   
varying so much in this chapter of      
exercise17 that one caution seems       
applicable to the case of all persons   
suffering from nervous irritability1    
viz41 that a secluded space should be   
measured off accurately1 in some private
 grounds not liable to the interruption 
or notice of chance intruders2 for these
 annoyances are unendurable to the      
restless invalid2 to be questioned upon 
trivial things is death to him2 and the 
perpetual anticipation of such          
annoyances is little less distressing4  
,some plan must also be adopted for     
registering the number of rounds        
performed4 ,i once walked for eighteen  
months in a circuit so confined that    
forty revolutions were needed to        
complete a mile4 ,these ,i counted1 at  
one time1 by a rosary of beads2 every   

tenth round being marked by drawing a   
blue bead1 the other nine by drawing    
white beads4 ,but this plan1 ,i found in
 practice1 more troublesome and         
inaccurate than that of using ten       
detached counters1 stones1 or anything  
else that was large enough and solid4   
,these were applied to the separate bars
 of a garden chair2 the first bar       
indicating of itself the first decade1  
the second bar the second decade1 and so
 on4 ,in fact1 ,i used the chair in some
 measure as a ,roman abacus1 but on a   
still simpler plan2 and as the chair    
offered sixteen bars1 it followed1 that 
on covering the last bar of the series  
with the ten markers1 ,i perceived      
without any trouble of calculation the  
accomplishment of my fourth mile4  ,a   
necessity1 more painful to me by far    
than that of taking continued exercise1 
arose out of a cause which applies1     
perhaps1 with the same intensity only to
 opium cases1 but must also apply in    
some degree to all cases of debilitation

 from morbid stimulation of the nerves1 
whether by means of wine1 or opium1 or  
distilled liquors4 ,in travelling on the
 outside of mails1 during my youthful   
days1 for ,i could not endure the       
inside1 occasionally1 during the        
night-time1 ,i suffered naturally from  
cold3 no cloaks1 c4 were always         
sufficient to relieve this2 and ,i then 
made the discovery that opium1 after an 
hour or so1 diffuses a warmth deeper and
 far more permanent than could be had   
from any other known source4 ,i mention 
this1 to explain1 in some measure1 the  
awful passion of cold which for some    
years haunted the inverse process of    
laying aside the opium4 ,it was a       
perfect frenzy of misery2 cold was a    
sensation which then first1 as a mode of
 torment1 seemed to have been revealed4 
,in the months of ,july and ,august1 and
 not at all the less during the very    
middle watch of the day1 ,i sate in the 
closest proximity to a blazing fire2    
cloaks1 blankets1 counterpanes1         

hearthrugs1 horse-cloths1 were piled    
upon my shoulders1 but with hardly a    
glimmering of relief4 ,at night1 and    
after taking coffee1 ,i felt a little   
warmer1 and could sometimes afford to   
smile at the resemblance of my own case 
to that of ,harry ,gill4 ,footnote3     
',harry ,gill3'--,many readers1 in this 
generation1 may not be aware of this    
ballad as one amongst the early poems of
 ,wordsworth4 ,thirty or forty years    
ago1 it was the object of some insipid  
ridicule1 which ought1 perhaps1 in      
another place1 to be noticed4 ,and1     
doubtless1 this ridicule was heightened 
by the false impression that the story  
had been some old woman's superstitious 
fiction1 meant to illustrate a          
supernatural judgment on                
hard-heartedness4 ,but the story was a  
physiologic fact2 and1 originally1 it   
had been brought forward in a           
philosophic work1 by ,darwin1 who had   
the reputation of an irreligious man1   
and even of an infidel4 ,a bold         

freethinker he certainly was3 a ,deist1 
and1 by public repute1 something more4  
,but1 secretly1 ,i was struck with awe  
at the revelation of powers so          
unsearchably new1 lurking within old    
affections so familiarly known as cold4 
,upon the analogy of this case1 it might
 be thought that nothing whatever had   
yet been truly and seriously felt by    
man2 nothing searched or probed by human
 sensibilities1 to a depth below the    
surface4 ,if cold could give out        
mysteries of suffering so novel1 all    
things in the world might be yet        
unvisited by the truth of human         
sensations4 ,all experience1 worthy of  
the name1 was yet to begin4 ,meantime1  
the external phenomenon1 by which the   
cold expressed itself1 was a sense 7but 
with little reality7 of eternal freezing
 perspiration4 ,from this ,i was never  
free2 and at length1 from finding one   
general ablution sufficient for one day1
 ,i was thrown upon the irritating      
necessity of repeating it more          

frequently than would seem credible1 if 
stated4 ,at this time1 ,i used always   
hot water2 and a thought occurred to me 
very seriously that it would be best to 
live constantly1 and1 perhaps1 to sleep 
in a bath4 ,what caused me to renounce  
this plan1 was an accident that         
compelled me for one day to use cold    
water4 ,this1 first of all1 communicated
 any lasting warmth2 so that ever       
afterwards ,i used none but cold water4 
,now1 to live in a cold bath1 in our    
climate1 and in my own state of         
preternatural sensibility to cold1 was  
not an idea to dally with4 ,i wish to   
mention1 however1 for the information of
 other sufferers in the same way1 one   
change in the mode of applying the      
water1 which led to a considerable and a
 sudden improvement in the condition of 
my feelings4 ,i had endeavored to       
procure a child's battledore1 as an easy
 means 7when clothed with sponge7 of    
reaching the interspace between the     
shoulders2 which interspace1 by the way1

 is a sort of ,bokhara1 so provokingly  
situated1 that it will neither suffer   
itself to be reached from the north1 in 
which direction even the ,czar1 with his
 long arms1 has only singed his own     
fingers1 and lost six thousand camels2  
nor at all better from the south1 upon  
which line of approach the greatest     
potentate in ,southern ,asia1 viz41     
,no4--1 in ,leadenhall ,street1 has     
found it the best policy to pocket the  
little ,khan's murderous defiances and  
persevering insults4 ,there is no       
battledore long enough to reach him in  
either way4 ,in my own difficulty1 ,i   
felt almost as perplexed as the         
,honorable ,east ,india ,company1 when  
,i found that no battledore was to be   
had2 for no town was near at hand4 ,in  
default of a battledore1 therefore1 my  
necessity threw my experiment upon a    
long hair-brush2 and this1 eventually1  
proved of much greater service than any 
sponge or any battledore2 for1 the      
friction of the brush caused an         

irritation on the surface of the skin1  
which1 more than anything else1 has     
gradually diminished the once continual 
misery of unrelenting frost2 although   
even yet it renews itself most          
distressingly at uncertain intervals4   
,,iv4 ,i counsel the patient not to make
 the mistake of supposing that his      
amendment will necessarily proceed      
continuously1 or by equal increments2   
because this1 which is a common notion1 
will certainly lead to dangerous        
disappointments4 ,how frequently ,i have
 heard people encouraging a             
self-reformer by such language as       
this3--',when you have got over the     
fourth day of abstinence1 which suppose 
to be ,sunday1 then ,monday will find   
you a trifle better2 ,tuesday better    
still1--though still it should be only  
by a trifle2 and so on4 ,you may1 at    
least1 rely on never going back2 you may
 assure yourself of having seen the     
worst2 and the positive improvements1 if
 trifles separately1 must soon gather   

into a sensible magnitude4' ,this may be
 true in a case of short standing3 but1 
as a general rule1 it is perilously     
delusive4 ,on the contrary1 the line of 
progress1 if exhibited in a geometrical 
construction1 would describe an         
ascending path upon the whole1 but with 
frequent retrocessions into descending  
curves1 which1 compared with the point  
of ascent that had been previously      
gained and so vexatiously interrupted1  
would sometimes seem deeper than the    
original point of starting4 ,this       
mortifying tendency ,i can report from  
experience many times repeated with     
regard to opium2 and so unaccountably1  
as regarded all the previous grounds of 
expectation1 that ,i am compelled to    
suppose it a tendency inherent in the   
very nature of all self-restorations for
 animal systems4 ,they move perhaps     
necessarily per saltum1 by1 intermitting
 spasms1 and pulsations of unequal      
energy4  ,v4 ,i counsel the patient     
frequently to call back before his      

thoughts-- when suffering sorrowful     
collapses1 that seem unmerited by       
anything done or neglected--that such1  
and far worse1 perhaps1 must have been  
his experience1 and with no reversion of
 hope behind1 had he persisted in his   
intemperate indulgencies2 these also    
suffer their own collapses1 and 7so far 
as things not co-present can be         
compared7 by many degrees more shocking 
to the genial instincts4  ,,vi4 ,i      
exhort him to believe1 that no movement 
on his own part1 not the smallest       
conceivable1 towards the restoration of 
his healthy state1 can by possibility   
perish4 ,nothing in this direction is   
finally lost2 but often it disappears   
and hides itself2 suddenly1 however1 to 
reappear1 and in unexpected strength1   
and much more hopefully2 because such   
minute elements of improvement1 by      
reappearing at a remoter stage1 show    
themselves to have combined with other  
elements of the same kind3 so that      
equally by their gathering tendency and 

their duration through intervals of     
apparent darkness1 and below the current
 of what seemed absolute interruption1  
they argue themselves to be settled in  
the system4 ,there is no good gift that 
does not come from ,god3 almost his     
greatest is health1 with the peace which
 it inherits2 and man must reap this on 
the same terms as he was told to reap   
,god's earliest gift1 the fruits of the 
earth1 viz43 'in the sweat of his brow1'
 through labor1 often through sorrow1   
through disappointment1 but still       
through imperishable perseverance1 and  
hoping under clouds1 when all hope seems
 darkened4  ,,vii4 ,it is difficult1 in 
selecting from many memoranda of warning
 and encouragement1 to know which to    
prefer when the space disposable is     
limited4 ,but it seems to me important  
not to omit this particular caution3    
,the patient will be naturally anxious1 
as he goes on1 frequently to test the   
amount of his advance1 and its rate1 if 
that were possible4 ,but this he will   

see no mode of doing1 except through    
tentative balancings of his feelings1   
and generally of the moral atmosphere   
around him1 as to pleasure and hope1    
against the corresponding states1 so far
 as he can recall them from his periods 
of intemperance4 ,but these comparisons1
 ,i warn him1 are fallacious1 when made 
in this way2 the two states are         
incommensurable on any plan of direct   
comparison4 ,some common measure must be
 found1 and1 out of himself2 some       
positive fact1 that will not bend to his
 own delusive feeling at the moment2 as1
 for instance1 in what degree he finds  
tolerable what heretofore was not       
so--the effort of writing letters1 or   
transacting business1 or undertaking a  
journey1 or overtaking the arrears of   
labor1 that had been once thrown off to 
a distance4 ,if in these things he finds
 himself improved1 by tests that cannot 
be disputed1 he may safely disregard any
 sceptical whispers from a wayward      
sensibility which cannot yet1 perhaps1  

have recovered its normal health1       
however much improved4 ,his inner       
feelings may not yet point steadily to  
the truth1 though they may vibrate in   
that direction4 ,besides1 it is certain 
that sometimes very manifest advances1  
such as any medical man would perceive  
at a glance1 carry a man through stages 
of agitation and discomfort4 ,a far     
worse condition might happen to be less 
agitated1 and so far more bearable4     
,now1 when a man is positively suffering
 discomfort1 when he is below the line  
of pleasurable feeling1 he is no proper 
judge of his own condition1 which he    
neither will nor can appreciate4        
,tooth-ache extorts more groans than    
dropsy4  ,,viii4 ,another important     
caution is1 not to confound with the    
effects of intemperance any other       
natural effects of debility from        
advanced years4 ,many a man1 having     
begun to be intemperate at thirty1      
enters at sixty or upwards upon a career
 of self-restoration4 ,and by           

self-restoration he understands a       
renewal of that state in which he was   
when first swerving from temperance4    
,but that state1 for his memory1 is     
coincident with his state of youth4 ,the
 two states are coadunated4 ,in his     
recollections they are intertwisted too 
closely4 ,but life1 without any         
intemperance at all1 would soon have    
untwisted them4 ,charles ,lamb1 for     
instance1 at forty-five1 and ,coleridge 
at sixty1 measured their several        
conditions by such tests as the loss of 
all disposition to involuntary murmuring
 of musical airs or fragments when      
rising from bed4 ,once they had sung    
when rising in the morning light2 now   
they sang no more4 ,the vocal utterance 
of joy1 for them1 was silenced for ever4
 ,but these are amongst the changes that
 life1 stern power1 inflicts at any     
rate2 these would have happened1 and    
above all1 to men worn by the unequal   
irritations of too much thinking1 and by
 those modes of care    ,that kill the  

bloom before its time1   ,and blanch    
without the owner's crime   ,the most   
resplendent hair1  not at all the less  
had the one drunk no brandy1 nor the    
other any laudanum4 ,a man must submit  
to the conditions of humanity1 and not  
quarrel with a cure as incomplete1      
because in his climacteric year of      
sixty-three1 he cannot recover1         
entirely1 the vivacities of thirty-     
five4 ,if1 by dipping seven times in    
,jordan1 he had cleansed his whole      
leprosy of intemperance2 if1 by going   
down into ,bethesda1 he were able to    
mount again upon the pinions of his     
youth1--even then he might querulously  
say1--',but1 after all these marvels in 
my favor1 ,i suppose that one of these  
fine mornings ,i1 like other people1    
shall have to bespeak a coffin4' ,why1  
yes1 undoubtedly he will1 or somebody   
for him4 ,but privileges so especial    
were not promised even by the mysterious
 waters of ,palestine4 ,die he must4    
,and counsels tendered to the           

intemperate do not hope to accomplish   
what might have been beyond the baths of
 ,jordan or ,bethesda4 ,they do enough1 
if1 being executed by efforts in the    
spirit of earnest sincerity1 they make a
 life of growing misery moderately happy
 for the patient2 and1 through that     
great change1 perhaps1 more than        
moderately useful for others4  ,,ix4    
,one final remark ,i will make3--pointed
 to the case1 not of the yet struggling 
patient1 but of him who is fully        
re-established2 and the more so1 because
 ,i 7who am no hypocrite1 but1 rather1  
frank to an infirmity7 acknowledge1 in  
myself1 the trembling tendency at       
intervals1 which would1 if permitted1   
sweep round into currents that might be 
hard to overrule4 ,after the absolute   
restoration to health1 a man is very apt
 to say1--',now1 then1 how shall ,i use 
my health8 ,to what delightful purpose  
shall ,i apply it8 ,surely it is idle to
 carry a fine jewel in one's            
watch-pocket1 and never to astonish the 

weak minds of this world1 by wearing it 
and flashing it in their eyes4' ',but   
how8' retorts his philosophic friend2   
'my good fellow1 are you not using it at
 this moment8 ,breathing1 for instance1 
talking to me1 7though rather absurdly17
 and airing your legs at a glowing      
fire8' ',why1 yes1' the other confesses1
 'that is all true2 but ,i am dull2 and1
 if you will pardon my rudeness1 even in
 spite of your too philosophic presence4
 ,it is painful to say so1 but          
sincerely1 if ,i had the power1 at this 
moment1 to turn you1 by magic1 into a   
bottle of old port wine1 so corrupt is  
my nature1 that really ,i fear lest the 
exchange might1 for the moment1 strike  
me as agreeable4' ,such a mood1 ,i      
apprehend1 is apt to revolve upon many  
of us1 at intervals1 however firmly     
married to temperance4 ,and the         
propensity to it has a root in certain  
analogies running through our nature4   
,if the reader will permit me for a     
moment the use of what1 without such an 

apology1 might seem pedantic1 ,i would  
call it the instinct of focalizing1     
which prompts such random desires4      
,feeling is diffused over the whole     
surface of the body2 but light is       
focalized in the eye2 sound in the ear4 
,the organization of a sense or a       
pleasure seems diluted and imperfect1   
unless it is gathered by some machinery 
into one focus1 or local centre4 ,and   
thus it is that a general state of      
pleasurable feeling sometimes seems too 
superficially diffused1 and one has a   
craving to intensify or brighten it by  
concentration through some sufficient   
stimulant4 ,i1 for my part1 have tried  
every thing in this world except 'bang1'
 which1 ,i believe1 is obtained from    
hemp4 ,there are other preparations of  
hemp which have been found to give great
 relief from ennui2 not ropes1 but      
something lately introduced1 which acts 
upon the system as the laughing gas     
7nitrous oxide7 acts at times4 ,one     
farmer in ,mid- ,lothian was mentioned  

to me1 eight months ago1 as having taken
 it1 and ever since annoyed his         
neighbors by immoderate fits of         
laughter2 so that in ,january it was    
agreed to present him to the sheriff as 
a nuisance4 ,but1 for some reason1 the  
plan was laid aside2 and now1 eight     
months later1 ,i hear that the farmer is
 laughing more rapturously than ever1   
continues in the happiest frame of mind1
 the kindest of creatures1 and the      
general torment of his neighborhood4    
,now1 ,i confess to having had a lurking
 interest in this extract of hemp1 when 
first ,i heard of it3 and at intervals a
 desire will continue to make itself    
felt for some deeper compression or     
centralization of the genial feelings   
than ordinary life affords4 ,but old    
things will not avail1 and new things ,i
 am now able to resist4 ,still1 as the  
occasional craving does really arise in 
most men1 it is well to notice it2 and  
chiefly for the purpose of saying1 that 
this dangerous feeling wears off by     

degrees2 and oftentimes for long periods
 it intermits so entirely as to be even 
displaced by a profound disgust to all  
modes of artificial stimulation4 ,at    
those times ,i have remarked that the   
pleasurable condition of health does not
 seem weakened by its want of           
centralization4 ,it seems to form a     
thousand centres4 ,this it is well to   
know2 because there are many who would  
resist effectually1 if they were aware  
of any natural change going on silently 
in favor of their own efforts1 such as  
would finally ratify the success4       
,towards such a result they would gladly
 contribute by waiting and forbearing2  
whilst1 under despondency as to this    
result1 they might more easily yield to 
some chance temptation4  ,finally1 there
 is something to interest us in the time
 at which this temperance movement has  
begun to stir4 ,let me close with a     
slight notice of what chiefly impresses 
myself in the relation between this time
 and the other circumstances of the     

case4 ,in reviewing history1 we may see 
something more than mere convenience in 
distributing it into three chambers2    
ancient history1 ending in the space    
between the ,western ,empire falling and
 ,mahomet arising2 modern history1 from 
that time to this2 and a new modern     
history arising at present1 or from the 
,french ,revolution4 ,two great races of
 men1 our own in a two-headed           
form--,british and ,american1 and       
secondly1 the ,russian1 are those which1
 like rising deluges1 already reveal    
their mission to overflow the earth4    
,both these races1 partly through       
climate1 or through derivation of blood1
 and partly through the contagion of    
habits inevitable to brothers of the    
same nation1 are tainted carnally with  
the appetite for brandy1 for slings1 for
 juleps4 ,and no fire racing through the
 forests of ,nova ,scotia for three     
hundred miles in the direction of some  
doomed city1 ever moved so fiercely as  
the infection of habits amongst the     

dense and fiery populations of          
republican ,north ,america4  ,but it is 
remarkable1 that the whole ancient      
system of civilization1 all the miracles
 of ,greece and ,rome1 ,persia and      
,egypt1 moved by the machinery of races 
that were not tainted with any such     
popular marasmus4 ,the taste was        
slightly sowed1 as an artificial taste1 
amongst luxurious individuals1 but never
 ran through the laboring classes1      
through armies1 through cities ,the     
blood and the climate forbade it4 ,in   
this earliest era of history1 all the   
great races1 consequently all the great 
empires1 threw themselves1 by           
accumulation1 upon the genial climates  
of the south1--having1 in fact1 the     
magnificent lake of the ,mediterranean  
for their general centre of evolutions4 
,round this lake1 in a zone of varying  
depth1 towered the whole grandeurs of   
the ,pagan earth4 ,but1 in such         
climates1 man is naturally temperate4   
,he is so by physical coercion1 and for 

the necessities of rest and coolness4   
,the ,spaniard1 the ,moor1 or the ,arab1
 has no merit in his temperance4 ,the   
effort1 for him1 would be to form the   
taste for alcohol4 ,he has a vast       
foreground of disgust to traverse before
 he can reach a taste so remote and     
alien4 ,no need for resistance in his   
will where nature resists on his behalf4
 ,sherbet1 shaddocks1 grapes1 these were
 innocent applications to thirst4 ,and  
the great republic of antiquity said to 
her legionary sons3--',soldier1 if you  
thirst1 there is the river2--,nile1     
suppose1 or ,ebro4 ,better drink there  
cannot be4 ,of this you may take at     
discretion4 ,or1 if you wait till the   
impedimenta come up1 you may draw your  
ration of ,posca' ,what was posca8 ,it  
was1 in fact1 acidulated water2 three   
parts of superfine water to one part of 
the very best vinegar4 ,nothing stronger
 did ,rome1 that awful mother1 allow to 
her dearest children1 i4 e41 her        
legions4 ,truest of blessings1 that     

veiling itself in seeming sternness1    
drove away the wicked phantoms that     
haunt the couches of yet greater        
nations4 ',the blessings of the evil    
genii1' says an ,eastern proverb1 'these
 are curses4' ,and the stern refusals of
 wisely loving mothers1--these are the  
mightiest of gifts4  ,now1 on the other 
hand1 our northern climates have        
universally the taste1 latent if not    
developed1 for powerful liquors4 ,and   
through their blood1 as also through the
 natural tendency of the imitative      
principle amongst compatriots1 from     
these high latitudes the greatest of our
 modern nations propagate the contagion 
to their brothers1 though colonizing    
warm climates4 ,and it is remarkable    
that our modern preparations of liquors1
 even when harmless in their earliest   
stages1 are fitted1 like                
stepping-stones1 for making the         
transition to higher stages that are not
 harmless4 ,the weakest preparations    
from malt1 lead1 by graduated steps1 to 

the strongest2 until we arrive at the   
intoxicating porter of ,london1 which1  
under its local name 7so insidiously    
delusive7 of 'beer1' diffuses the most  
extensive ravages4  ,under these marked 
circumstances of difference between the 
ruling races of antiquity and of our    
modern times1 it now happens that the   
greatest era by far of human expansion  
is opening upon us4 ,two vast movements 
are hurrying into action by velocities  
continually accelerated--the great      
revolutionary movement from political   
causes concurring with the great        
physical movement in locomotion and     
social intercourse1 from the gigantic   
7though still infant7 powers of steam4  
,no such ,titan resources for modifying 
each other were ever before dreamed of  
by nations3 and the next hundred years  
will have changed the face of the world4
 ,at the opening of such a crisis1 had  
no third movement arisen of resistance  
to intemperate habits1 there would have 
been ground for despondency as to the   

amelioration of the human race4 ,but1 as
 the case stands1 the new principle of  
resistance nationally to bad habits1 has
 arisen almost concurrently with the new
 powers of national intercourse2 and    
henceforward by a change equally sudden 
and unlooked for1 that new machinery1   
which would else most surely have       
multiplied the ruins of intoxication1   
has become the strongest agency for     
hastening its extirpation4     ,,on     
,,war4   ,few people need to be         
told--that associations exist up and    
down ,christendom1 having the ambitious 
object of abolishing war4 ,some go so   
far as to believe that this evil of war1
 so ubiquitous1 so ancient and          
apparently so inalienable from man's    
position upon earth1 is already doomed2 
that not the private associations only1 
but the prevailing voice of races the   
most highly civilized1 may be looked on 
as tending to confederation against it2 
that sentence of extermination has      
virtually gone forth1 and that all which

 remains is gradually to execute that   
sentence4 ,conscientiously ,i find      
myself unable to join in these views4   
,the project seems to me the most       
romantic of all romances in the course  
of publication4 ,consequently1 when     
asked to become a member in any such    
association1 ,i have always thought it  
most respectful1 because most sincere1  
to decline4 ,yet1 as it is painful to   
refuse all marks of sympathy with       
persons whose motives one honors1 ,i    
design at my death to bequeath          
half-a-crown to the chief association   
for extinguishing war2 the said         
half-crown to be improved in all time   
coming for the benefit of the           
association1 under the trusteeship of   
,europe1 ,asia1 and ,america1 but not of
 ,africa4 ,i really dare not trust      
,africa with money1 she is not able as  
yet to take care of herself4 ,this      
half-crown1 a fund that will overshadow 
the earth before it comes to be wanted  
under the provisions of my will1 is to  

be improved at any interest whatever--no
 matter what2 for the vast period of the
 accumulations will easily make good any
 tardiness of advance1 long before the  
time comes for its commencing payment2 a
 point which will be soon understood    
from the following explanation1 by any  
gentleman that hopes to draw upon it4   
,there is in ,ceylon a granite cippus1  
or monumental pillar1 of immemorial     
antiquity2 and to this pillar a         
remarkable legend is attached4 ,the     
pillar measures six feet by six1 i4 e4  
thirty-six square feet1 on the flat     
tablet of its horizontal surface2 and in
 height several riyanas1 7which arc     
,ceylonese cubits of eighteen inches    
each17 but of these cubits1 there are   
either eight or twelve2 excuse me for   
having forgotten which4 ,at first1      
perhaps1 you will be angry1 viz41 when  
you hear that this simple difference of 
four cubits1 or six feet1 measures a    
difference for your expectations1       
whether you count your expectations in  

kicks or halfpence1 that absolutely     
strikes horror into arithmetic4 ,the    
singularity of the case is1 that the    
very solemnity of the legend and the    
wealth of the human race in time1 depend
 upon the cubical contents of the       
monument1 so that a loss of one granite 
chip is a loss of a frightful infinity2 
yet1 again1 for that very reason1 the   
loss of all but a chip1 leaves behind   
riches so appallingly too rich1 that    
everybody is careless about the four    
cubits4 ,enough is as good as a feast4  
,two bottomless abysses take as much    
time for the diver as ten2 and five     
eternities are as frightful to look down
 as four-and-twenty4 ,in the ,ceylon    
legend all turns upon the inexhaustible 
series of ages which this pillar        
guarantees4 ,but1 as one inexhaustible  
is quite enough for one race of men1 and
 you are sure of more by ineffable      
excess than you can use in any private  
consumption of your own1 you become     
generous2 'and between friends1' you    

say1 in accepting my apologies for the  
doubtful error as to the four cubits1   
'what signifies an infinity more or     
less8'  ,for the ,ceylonese legend is   
this1 that once in every hundred years  
an angel visits this granite pillar4 ,he
 is dressed in a robe of white muslin1  
muslin of that kind which the ,romans   
called aura textilis-- woven1 as might  
seem1 from zephyrs or from pulses of the
 air1 such in its transparency1 such in 
its gossamer lightness4 ,does the angel 
touch the pillar with his foot8 ,oh no6 
,even that would be something1 but even 
that is not allowed4 ,in his soundless  
flight across it1 he suffers the hem of 
his impalpable robe to sweep the surface
 as softly as a moon-beam4 ,so much and 
no more of pollution he endures from    
contact with earthly objects4 ,the      
lowest extremity of his dress1 but with 
the delicacy of light1 grazes the       
granite surface4 ,and that is all the   
attrition which the sacred granite      
receives in the course of any one       

century1 and this is all the progress   
which we1 the poor children of earth1 in
 any one century make towards the       
exhaustion of our earthly imprisonment4 
,but1 argues the subtle legend1 even    
that attrition1 when weighed in         
metaphysical scales1 cannot be denied   
its value2 it has detached from the     
pillar an atom 7no matter that it is an 
invisible atom7 of granite dust1 the    
ratio of which atom to a grain          
avoirdupois1 if expressed as a fraction 
of unity1 would by its denominator      
stretch from the ,accountant-,general's 
office in ,london to the ,milky ,way4   
,now the total mass of the granite      
represents1 on this scheme of payment1  
the total funded debt of man's race to  
,father ,time and earthly corruption2   
all this intolerable score1 chalked up  
to our debit1 we by ourselves and our   
representatives have to rub off1 before 
the granite will be rubbed away by the  
muslin robe of the proud flying angel1  
7who1 if he were a good fellow1 might   

just as well give a sly kick with his   
heel to the granite17 before time will  
be at an end1 and the burden of flesh   
accomplished4 ,but you hear it expressed
 in terms that will astonish ,baron     
,rothschild1 what is the progress in    
liquidation which we make for each      
particular century4 ,a billion of       
centuries pays off a quantity equal to a
 pinch of snuff4 ,despair seizes a man  
in contemplating a single coupon1 no    
bigger than a visiting card1 of such a  
stock as this2 and behold we have to    
keep on paying away until the total     
granite is reduced to a level with a    
grain of mustard-seed4 ,but when that is
 accomplished1 thank heaven1 our last   
generation of descendants will be       
entitled to leave at ,master ,time's    
door a visiting card1 which the meagre  
shadow cannot refuse to take1 though he 
will sicken at seeing it2 viz41 a ,p4   
,p4 ,c4 card1 upon seeing which1 the old
 thief is bound to give receipt in full 
for all debts and pretended arrears4    

,the reader perhaps knows of debts on   
both sides the ,atlantic that have no   
great prospect of being paid off sooner 
than this in ,ceylon4  ,and naturally1  
to match this order of debts1 moving off
 so slowly1 there are funds that        
accumulate as slowly4 ,my own funded    
half-crown is an illustration4 ,the     
half-crown will travel in the inverse   
order of the granite pillar4 ,the pillar
 and the half-crown move upon opposite  
tacks2 and there is a point of time     
7which it is for ,algebra to            
investigate7 when they will cross each  
other in the exact moment of their      
several bisections--my aspiring         
half-crown tending gradually towards the
 fixed stars1 so that perhaps it might  
be right to make the man in the moon    
trustee for that part of the            
accumulations which rises above the     
optics of sublunary bankers2 whilst the 
,ceylon pillar is constantly unweaving  
its own granite texture1 and dwindling  
earthwards4 ,it is probable that each of

 the parties will have reached its      
consummation about the same time4 ,what 
is to be done with the mustard- seed1   
,ceylon has forgotten to say4 ,but what 
is to be done with the half-crown and   
its surplus1 nobody can doubt after     
reading my last will and testament4     
,after reciting a few inconsiderable    
legacies to the three continents1 and to
 the man in the moon1 for any trouble   
they may have had in managing the       
hyperbolical accumulations1 ,i go on to 
observe1 that1 when war is reported to  
have taken itself off for ever1 'and no 
mistake1' 7because ,i foresee many false
 alarms of a perpetual peace17 a variety
 of inconveniences will arise to all    
branches of the ,united ,service1       
including the ,horse ,marines4 ,clearly 
there can be no more half-pay2 and even 
more clearly1 there is an end to        
full-pay4 ,pensions are at an end for   
'good service4' ,allowances for wounds  
cannot be thought of1 when all wounds   
shall have ceased except those from     

female eyes--for which the ,horse       
,guards is too little advanced in       
civilization to make any allowance at   
all4 ,bargains there will be no more    
amongst auctions of old ,government     
stores4 ,birmingham will be ruined1 or  
so much of it as depended on rifles4    
,and the great ,scotch works on the     
river ,carron will be hungering for     
beef1 so far as ,carron depended for    
beef upon carronades4 ,other arrears of 
evil will stretch after the extinction  
of war4  ,now upon my half-crown fund   
7which will be equal to anything by the 
time it is wanted7 ,i charge once and   
for ever the general relief of all these
 arrears--of the poverty1 the loss1 the 
bankruptcy1 arising by reason of this   
quietus of final extinction applied to  
war4 ,i charge the fund with a perpetual
 allowance of half-pay to all the armies
 of earth2 or indeed1 whilst my hand is 
in1 ,i charge it with full pay4 ,and ,i 
strictly enjoin upon my trustees and    
executors1 but especially upon the man  

in the moon1 if his unsocial lip has    
left him one spark of gentlemanly       
feeling1 that he and they shall construe
 all claims liberally2 nay1 with that   
riotous liberality which is safe and    
becoming1 when applied to a fund so     
inexhaustible4 ,yes1 reader1 my fund    
will be inexhaustible1 because the      
period of its growth will be measured by
 the concurrent deposition of the       
,ceylon mustard-seed from the           
everlasting pillar4  ,yet why1 or on    
what principle8 ,it is because ,i see1  
or imagine that ,i see1 a twofold       
necessity for war--necessity in two     
different senses-- #ast1 a physical     
necessity arising out of man's nature   
when combined with man's situation2 a   
necessity under which war may be        
regarded1 if you please1 as a nuisance1 
but as a nuisance inalienable from      
circumstances essential to human        
frailty4 #b;dly1 a moral necessity      
connected with benefits of compensation1
 such as continually lurk in evils      

acknowledged to be such--a necessity    
under which it becomes lawful to say1   
that war ought to exist as a balance to 
opposite tendencies of a still more evil
 character4 ,war is the mother of wrong 
and spoliation3 war is a scourge of     
,god--granted2 but1 like other scourges 
in the divine economy1 war purifies and 
redeems itself in its character of a    
counterforce to greater evils that could
 not otherwise be intercepted or        
redressed4 ,in two different meanings we
 say that a thing is necessary2 either  
in that case where it is inexorably     
forced on by some sad overruling        
principle which it is vain to fight     
against1 though all good men mourn over 
its existence and view it as an         
unconditional evil2 or secondly1 in that
 case1 where an instrument of sorrowful 
consequences to man is nevertheless     
invoked and postulated by man's highest 
moral interests1 is nevertheless        
clamorously indicated as a blessing when
 looked at in relation to some          

antagonist cause of evil for which it   
offers the one only remedy or principle 
of palliation4 ,the very evil and woe of
 man's condition upon earth may be      
oftentimes detected in the necessity of 
looking to some other woe as the pledge 
of its purification2 so that what       
separately would have been hateful for  
itself1 passes mysteriously into an     
object of toleration1 of hope1 or even  
of prayer1 as a counter-venom to the    
taint of some more mortal poison4       
,poverty1 for instance1 is in both      
senses necessary for man4 ,it is        
necessary in the same sense as thirst is
 necessary 7i4 e4 inevitable7 in a      
fever--necessary as one corollary       
amongst many others1 from the eternal   
hollowness of all human efforts for     
organizing any perfect model of         
society--a corollary which1 how gladly  
would all of us unite to cancel1 but    
which our hearts suggest1 which         
,scripture solemnly proclaims1 to be    
ineradicable from the land4 ,in this    

sense1 poverty is a necessity over which
 we mourn1--as one of the dark phases   
that sadden the vision of human life4   
,but far differently1 and with a stern  
gratitude1 we recognize another mode of 
necessity for this gloomy distinction--a
 call for poverty1 when seen in relation
 to the manifold agencies by which it   
developes human energies1 in relation to
 the trials by which it searches the    
power of patience and religion1 in      
relation to the struggles by which it   
evokes the nobilities of fortitude2 or  
again1 amongst those who are not sharers
 in these trials and struggles1 but     
sympathizing spectators1 in relation to 
the stimulation by which it quickens    
wisdom that watches over the causes of  
this evil1 or by which it vivifies the  
spirit of love that labors for its      
mitigation4 ,war stands1 or seems to    
stand1 upon the same double basis of    
necessity2 a primary necessity that     
belongs to our human degradations1 a    
secondary one that towers by means of   

its moral relations into the region of  
our impassioned exaltations4 ,the two   
propositions on which ,i take my stand  
are these4 ,first1 that there are       
nowhere latent in society any powers by 
which it can effectually operate on war 
for its extermination4 ,the machinery is
 not there4 ,the game is not within the 
compass of the cards4 ,secondly1 that   
this defect of power is1 though         
sincerely ,i grieve in avowing such a   
sentiment1 and perhaps 7if an infirm    
reader had his eye upon me7 ,i might    
seem1 in sympathy with his weakness1 to 
blush --not a curse1 no not at all1 but 
on the whole a blessing from century to 
century1 if it is an inconvenience from 
year to year4 ,the ,abolition           
,committees1 it is to be feared1 will be
 very angry at both propositions4 ,yet1 
,gentlemen1 hear me--strike1 but hear   
me4 ,i believe that's a sort of         
plagiarism from ,themistocles4 ,but     
never mind4 ,i have as good a right to  
the words1 until translated back into   

,greek1 as that most classical of yellow
 admirals4 ',pereant qui ante nos nostra
 dixerunt6'  ,the first proposition is1 
that war cannot be abolished4 ,the      
second1 and more offensive--that war    
ought not to be abolished4 ,first1      
therefore1 concerning the first4 ,one at
 a time4 ,sufficient for the page is the
 evil thereof6 ,how came it into any    
man's heart1 first of all1 to conceive  
so audacious an idea as that of a       
conspiracy against war8 ,whence could he
 draw any vapor of hope to sustain his  
preliminary steps8 ,and in framing his  
plot1 which way did he set his face to  
look out for accomplices8 ,revolving    
this question in times past1 ,i came to 
the conclusion--that1 perhaps1 this     
colossal project of a war against war1  
had been first put in motion under a    
misconception 7natural enough1 and      
countenanced by innumerable books7 as to
 the true historical origin of wars in  
many notorious instances4 ,if these had 
arisen on trivial impulses1 a trivial   

resistance might have intercepted them4 
,if a man has once persuaded himself1   
that long1 costly1 and bloody wars had  
arisen upon a point of ceremony1 upon a 
personal pique1 upon a hasty word1 upon 
some explosion of momentary caprice2 it 
is a natural inference1 that strength of
 national will and public combinations  
for resistance1 supposing such forces to
 have been trained1 organized1 and1 from
 the circumstances of the particular    
nation1 to be permanently disposable for
 action1 might prove redundantly        
effective1 when pointed against a few   
personal authors of war1 so presumably  
weak1 and so flexible to any stern      
counter-volition as those must be       
supposed1 whose wars argued so much of  
vicious levity4 ,the inference is       
unexceptionable3 it is the premises that
 are unsound4 ,anecdotes of war as      
having emanated from a lady's tea-table 
or toilette1 would authorize such       
inference as to the facilities of       
controlling them4 ,but the anecdotes    

themselves are false1 or false          
substantially4 ,all anecdotes1 ,i fear1 
are false4 ,i am sorry to say so1 but my
 duty to the reader extorts from me the 
disagreeable confession1 as upon a      
matter specially investigated by myself1
 that all dealers in anecdotes are      
tainted with mendacity4 ,where is the   
,scotchman1 said ,dr4 ,johnson1 who does
 not prefer ,scotland to truth8 but1    
however this may be1 rarer than such a  
,scotchman1 rarer than the phoenix1 is  
that virtuous man1 a monster he is1 nay1
 he is an impossible man1 who will      
consent to lose a prosperous anecdote on
 the consideration that it happens to be
 a lie4 ,all history1 therefore1 being  
built partly1 and some of it altogether1
 upon anecdotage1 must be a tissue of   
lies4 ,such1 for the most part1 is the  
history of ,suetonius1 who may be       
esteemed the father of anecdotage2 and  
being such1 he 7and not ,herodotus7     
should have been honored with the title1
 ,father of ,lies4 ,such is the         

,augustan history1 which is all that    
remains of the ,roman empire2 such is   
the vast series of ,french memoirs1 now 
stretching through more than three      
entire centuries4 ,are these works1     
then1 to be held cheap1 because their   
truths to their falsehoods are in the   
ratio of one to five hundred8 ,on the   
contrary1 they are better1 and more to  
be esteemed on that account2 because1   
now they are admirable reading on a     
winter's night2 whereas1 written on the 
principle of sticking to the truth1 they
 would have been as dull as ditch water4
 ,generally1 therefore1 the dealers in  
anecdotage are to be viewed with        
admiration1 as patriotic citizens1      
willing to sacrifice their own          
characters1 lest their countrymen should
 find themselves short of amusement4 ,i 
esteem them as equal to ,codrus1        
,timoleon1 ,william ,tell1 or to        
,milton1 as regards the liberty of      
unlicensed printing4 ,and ,i object to  
them only in the exceptional case of    

their being cited as authorities for an 
inference1 or as vouchers for a fact4   
,universally1 it may be received as a   
rule of unlimited application1--that    
when an anecdote involves a stinging    
repartee1 or collision of ideas1        
fancifully and brilliantly related to   
each other by resemblance or contrast1  
then you may challenge it as false to a 
certainty4 ,one illustration of which   
is--that pretty nearly every memorable  
propos1 or pointed repartee1 or striking
 mot1 circulating at this moment in     
,paris or ,london1 as the undoubted     
property of ,talleyrand1 7that eminent  
knave17 was ascribed at ,vienna1 ninety 
years ago1 to the ,prince de ,ligne1 and
 thirty years previously1 to ,voltaire1 
and so on1 regressively1 to many other  
wits 7knaves or not72 until1 at length1 
if you persist in backing far enough1   
you find yourself amongst ,pagans1 with 
the very same repartee1 c41 doing duty  
in pretty good ,greek2 ,footnote3 ,this 
is literally true1 more frequently than 

would be supposed4 ,for instance1 a jest
 often ascribed to ,voltaire1 and of    
late pointedly reclaimed for him by     
,lord ,brougham1 as being one that he   
7,lord ,b47 could swear to for his1 so  
characteristic seemed the impression of 
,voltaire's mind upon the tournure of   
the sarcasm1 unhappily for this waste of
 sagacity1 may be found recorded by     
,fabricius in the ,bibliotheca ,grca1 as
 the jest of a ,greek who has been dead 
for about seventeen centuries4 ,the man 
certainly did utter the jest2 and #agej 
years ago4 ,but who it was that he stole
 it from is another question4 ,to all   
appearance1 and according to ,lord      
,brougham's opinion1 the party robbed   
must have been ,m4 de ,voltaire4 ,i     
notice the case1 however1 of the ,greek 
thefts and frauds committed upon so many
 of our excellent wits belonging to the 
#ahth and #aith centuries1 chiefly with 
a view to ,m4 de ,talleyrand--that      
rather middling bishop1 but very eminent
 knave4 ,he also has been extensively   

robbed by the ,greeks of the #b;d and   
#c;d centuries4 ,how else can you       
account for so many of his sayings being
 found amongst their pages8 ,a thing you
 may ascertain in a moment1 at any      
police office1 by having the ,greeks    
searched3 for surely you would never    
think of searching a bishop4 ,most of   
the ,talleyrand jewels will be found    
concealed amongst the goods of these    
unprincipled ,greeks4 ,but one1 and the 
most famous in the whole jewel-case1    
sorry am ,i to confess1 was nearly      
stolen from the ,bishop1 not by any     
,greek1 but by an ,english writer1 viz41
 ,goldsmith1 who must have been dying   
about the time that his ,excellency1 the
 diplomatist1 had the goodness to be    
born4 ,that famous mot about language1  
as a gift made to man for the purpose of
 concealing his thoughts1 is lurking in 
,goldsmith's ,essays4 ,think of that6   
,already1 in his innocent childhood1    
whilst the ,bishop was in petticoats1   
and almost before he had begun to curse 

and to swear plainly in ,french1 an     
,irish vagabond had attempted to swindle
 him out of that famous witticism which 
has since been as good as a life-annuity
 to the venerable knave's literary fame4
 sometimes1 for instance in ,hierocles1 
sometimes in ,diogenes ,lrtius1 in      
,plutarch1 or in ,athenus4 ,now the     
thing you know claimed by so many       
people1 could not belong to all of them3
 all of them could not be the inventors4
 ,logic and common sense unite in       
showing us that it must have belonged to
 the moderns1 who had clearly been      
hustled and robbed by the ancients1 so  
much more likely to commit a robbery    
than ,christians1 they being all        
,gentiles--,pagans--,heathen dogs4 ,what
 do ,i infer from this8 ,why1 that upon 
any solution of the case1 hardly one    
worthy saying can be mentioned1 hardly  
one jest1 pun1 or sarcasm1 which has not
 been the occasion and subject of many  
falsehoods--as having been au-7and      
men7-daciously transferred from         

generation to generation1 sworn to in   
every age as this man's property1 or    
that man's1 by people that must have    
known they were lying1 until you retire 
from the investigation with a           
conviction1 that under any system of    
chronology1 the science of lying is the 
only one that has never drooped4 ,date  
from ,anno ,domini1 or from the ,julian 
era1 patronize ,olympiads1 or patronize 
7as ,i do1 from misanthropy1 because    
nobody else will7 the era of            
,nabonassar1--no matter1 upon every     
road1 thicker than mile-stones1 you see 
records of human mendacity1 or 7which is
 much worse1 in my opinion17 of human   
sympathy with other people's mendacity4 
,this digression1 now1 on               
anecdotes1,footnote3 ,the word          
',anecdotes1' first1 ,i believe1 came   
into currency about the middle of the   
#fth century1 from the use made of it by
 ,procopius4 ,literally it indicated    
nothing that could interest either      
public malice or public favor2 it       

promised only unpublished notices of the
 ,emperor ,justinian1 his wife          
,theodora1 ,narses1 ,belisarius1 c4 ,but
 why had they been unpublished8 ,simply 
because scandalous and defamatory3 and  
hence1 from the interest which invested 
the case of an imperial court so        
remarkable1 this oblique1 secondary and 
purely accidental modification of the   
word came to influence its general      
acceptation4 ,simply to have been       
previously unpublished1 no longer raised
 any statement into an anecdote3 it now 
received a new integration it must be   
some fresh publication of personal      
memorabilia2 and these having reference 
to human creatures1 must always be      
presumed to involve more evil than      
good--much defamation true or           
false--much doubtful insinuation--much  
suggestion of things worse than could be
 openly affirmed4 ,so arose the word3   
but the thing arose with ,suetonius1    
that dear1 excellent and hard- working  
'father of lies4' is what the learned   

call an excursus1 and1 ,i am afraid1 too
 long by half2 not strictly in          
proportion4 ,but don't mind that4 ,i'll 
make it all right by being too short    
upon something else1 at the next        
opportunity2 and then nobody can        
complain4 ,meantime1 ,i argue1 that as  
all brilliant or epigrammatic anecdotes 
are probably false1 7a thing that       
hereafter ,i shall have much pleasure in
 making out to the angry reader's       
satisfaction17 but to a dead certainty  
those anecdotes1 in particular1 which   
bear marks in their construction that a 
rhetorical effect of art had been       
contemplated by the narrator1 --we may  
take for granted1 that the current      
stories ascribing modern wars 7,french  
and ,english7 to accidents the most     
inconsiderable1 are false even in a     
literal sense2 but at all events they   
are so when valued philosophically1 and 
brought out into their circumstantial   
relations4 ,for instance1 we have a     
,french anecdote1 from the latter part  

of the seventeenth century1 which       
ascribes one bloody war to the accident 
of a little 'miff1' arising between the 
king and his minister upon some such    
trifle as the situation of a palace     
window4 ,again1 from the early part of  
the eighteenth century1 we have an      
,english anecdote1 ascribing            
consequences no less bloody to a sudden 
feud between two ladies1 and that feud1 
7if ,i remember17 tracing itself up to a
 pair of gloves2 so that1 in effect1 the
 war and the gloves form the two poles  
of the transaction4 ,harlequin throws a 
pair of ,limerick gloves into a         
corn-mill2 and the spectator is         
astonished to see the gloves immediately
 issuing from the hopper1 well ground   
into seven armies of one hundred        
thousand men each1 and with parks of    
artillery to correspond4 ,in these two  
anecdotes1 we recognize at once the able
 and industrious artist arranging his   
materials with a pious regard to        
theatrical effect4 ,this man knows how  

to group his figures2 well he           
understands where to plant his masses of
 light and shade2 and what impertinence 
it would be in us spectators1 the reader
 suppose and myself1 to go behind the   
scenes for critical inquiry into        
daylight realities4 ,all reasonable men 
see that1 the less of such realities our
 artist had to work with1 the more was  
his merit4 ,i am one of those that      
detest all insidious attempts to rob men
 situated as this artist of their fair  
fame1 by going about and whispering that
 perhaps the thing is true4 ,far from   
it6 ,i sympathize with the poor         
trembling artist1 and agree most        
cordially that the whole story is a lie2
 and he may rely upon my support at all 
times to the extent of denying that any 
vestige of truth probably lay at the    
foundations of his ingenious apologue4  
,and what ,i say of the ,english fable1 
,i am willing to say of the ,french one4
 ,both1 ,i dare say1 were the rankest   
fictions4 ,but next1 what1 after all1 if

 they were not8 ,for1 in the rear of all
 discussion upon anecdotes1 considered  
simply as true or not true1 comes       
finally a valuation of those anecdotes  
in their moral relation1 and as to the  
inferences which they will sustain4 ,the
 story1 for example1 of the ,french     
minister ,louvois1 and the adroitness   
with which he fastened upon great       
foreign potentates1 in the shape of war1
 that irritability of temper in his     
royal master which threatened to consume
 himself2 the diplomatic address with   
which he transmuted suddenly a task so  
delicate as that of skirmishing daily in
 a ,council ,chamber with his own       
sovereign1 into that far jollier mode of
 disputation where one replies to all   
objections of the very keenest logician1
 either with round shot or with grape2  
here is an anecdote1 which 7for my own  
part7 ,i am inclined to view as pure    
gasconade4 ,but suppose the story true1 
still it may happen that a better       
valuation of it may disturb the whole   

edifice of logical inferences by which  
it seemed to favor the speculations of  
the war abolitionists4 ,let us see4     
,what was the logic through which such a
 tale as this could lend any countenance
 to the schemes of these abolitionists8 
,that logic travelled in the following  
channel4 ,such a tale1 or the ,english  
tale of the gloves1 being supposed true1
 it would seem to follow1 that war and  
the purposes of war were phenomena of   
chance growth1 not attached to any      
instinct so ancient1 and apparently so  
grooved into the dark necessities of our
 nature1 as we had all taken for        
granted4 ,usually1 we rank war with     
hunger1 with cold1 with sorrow1 with    
death1 afflictions of our human state   
that spring up as inevitably without    
separate culture and in defiance of all 
hostile culture1 as verdure1 as weeds1  
and as flowers that overspread in spring
 time a fertile soil without needing to 
be sown or watered--awful is the        
necessity1 as it seems1 of all such     

afflictions4 ,yet1 again1 if 7as these  
anecdote simply7 war could by           
possibility depend frequently on        
accidents of personal temperament1      
irritability in a sensual king1 wounded 
sensibilities of pride between two      
sensitive ladies1 there in a moment     
shone forth a light of hope upon the    
crusade against war4  ,if personal      
accidents could1 to any serious extent1 
be amongst the causes of war1 then it   
would become a hopeful duty to combine  
personal influences that should take an 
opposite direction4 ,if casual causes   
could be supposed chiefly to have       
promoted war1 how easy for a nation to  
arrange permanent and determinate causes
 against it6 ,the logic of these        
anecdotes seemed to argue that the whole
 fountains of war were left to the      
government of chance and the windiest of
 levities2 that war was not in reality  
roused into activity by the evil that   
resides in the human will1 but on the   
contrary1 by the simple defect of any   

will energetic enough or steady enough  
to merit that name4 ,multitudes of evils
 exist in our social system1 simply     
because no steadiness of attention1 nor 
action of combined will1 has been       
converged upon them4 ,war1 by the silent
 evidence of these anecdotes1 seemed to 
lie amongst that class of evils4 ,a new 
era might be expected to commence in new
 views upon war2 and the evil would be  
half conquered from the moment that it  
should be traced to a trivial or a      
personal origin4  ,all this was         
plausible1 but false4 ,the anecdotes1   
and all similar anecdotes1 might be     
true1 but were delusive4 ,the logical   
vice in them was--that they substituted 
an occasion for a cause4 ,the king's ill
 temper for instance1 acting through the
 levity and impatience of the minister1 
might be the causa occasionalis of the  
war1 but not its true causa efficiens4  
,what was8 ,where do the true permanent 
causes of war1 as distinguished from its
 proximate excitements1 find their      

lodgment and abiding ground8 ,they lie  
in the system of national competitions2 
in the common political system to which 
all individual nations are unavoidably  
parties2 in the system of public forces 
distributed amongst a number of adjacent
 nations1 with no internal principle for
 adjusting the equilibrium of these     
forces1 and no supreme ,areopagus1 or   
court of appeal1 for deciding disputes4 
,here lies the matrix of war1 because an
 eternal matrix of disputes lies in a   
system of interests that are continually
 the same1 and therefore the parents of 
rivalships too close1 that are          
continually different1 and so far the   
parents of alienation too wide4 ,all war
 is an instinctive nisus for redressing 
the errors of equilibrium in the        
relative position of nations amongst    
nations4 ,every nation's duty1 first1   
midst1 and last1 is to itself4 ,no      
nation can be safe from continual       
7because insensible7 losses of ground1  
but by continual jealousies1 watchings1 

and ambitious strivings to mend its own 
position4 ,civilities and high-bred     
courtesies pass and ought to pass       
between nations2 that is the graceful   
drapery which shrouds their natural1    
fierce1 and tiger-like relations to each
 other4 ,but the glaring eyes1 which    
express this deep and inalienable       
ferocity1 look out at intervals from    
below these gorgeous draperies2 and sad 
it is to think that at intervals the    
acts and the temper suitable to those   
glaring eyes must come forward4 ,mr4    
,carter was on terms of the most        
exquisite dissimulation with his lions  
and tigers2 but1 as often as he trusted 
his person amongst them1 if1 in the     
midst of infinite politeness exchanged  
on all sides1 he saw a certain          
portentous expression of mutiny kindling
 in the eyeball of any discontented     
tiger1 all was lost1 unless he came down
 instantly upon that tiger's skull with 
a blow from an iron bar1 that suggested 
something like apoplexy4 ,on such terms 

do nations meet in diplomacy2 high      
consideration for each other does not   
conceal the basis of enmity on which    
they rest2 not an enmity that belongs to
 their feelings1 but to the necessities 
of their position4 ,every nation in     
negotiating has its right hand upon the 
hilt of its sword1 and at intervals     
playfully unsheaths a little of its     
gleaming blade4 ,as things stand at     
present1 war and peace are bound        
together like the vicissitudes of day   
and night1 of ,castor and ,pollux4 ,it  
matters little which bucket of the two  
is going up at the moment1 which going  
down4 ,both are steadfastly tied by a   
system of alternations to a revolving   
wheel2 and a new war as certainly       
becomes due during the evolutions of a  
tedious peace1 as a new peace may be    
relied on during the throes of a bloody 
war1 to tranquillize its wounds4        
,consequently1 when the arrogant        
,louvois carried a war to the credit of 
his own little account on the national  

leger of ,france1 this coxcomb well knew
 that a war was at any rate due about   
that time4 ,really1 says he1 ,i must    
find out some little war to exhaust the 
surplus irritability of this person1 or 
he'll be the death of me4 ,but irritable
 or not irritable1 with a puppy for his 
minister or not1 the ,french king would 
naturally have been carried headlong    
into war by the mere system of ,europe1 
within a very few months4 ,so much had  
the causes of complaint reciprocally    
accumulated4 ,the account must be       
cleansed1 the court roll of grievances  
must be purged4 ,with respect to the two
 ,english ladies again1 it is still more
 evident that they could not have caused
 a war by pulling caps with each other1 
since the grounds of every war1 what had
 caused it1 and prolonged it1 was sure  
to be angrily reviewed by ,parliament at
 each annual exposition of the ,finance 
,minister's ,budget4 ,these ladies1 and 
the ,french coxcomb1 could at the utmost
 have claimed a distinction--such as    

that which belonged to a particular     
,turkish gunner1 the captain of a gun at
 ,navarino1 viz41 that he1 by firing the
 first shot without orders1 did 7as a   
matter of fact7 let loose and unmuzzle  
the whole of that dreadful iron         
hurricane from four nations which       
instantly followed1 but which 7be it    
known to the gunner7 could not have been
 delayed for fifty minutes longer1      
whether he had fired the unauthorized   
gun or not4  ,but now1 let me speak to  
the second proposition of my two-headed 
thesis1 viz41 that war ought not to be  
abolished1 if such an abolition were    
even possible4 ,prima facie1 it seems a 
dreadful doctrine to claim a place for  
war as amongst the evils that are       
salutary to man2 but conscientiously ,i 
hold it to be such4 ,i hold with        
,wordsworth1 but for reasons which may  
or may not be the same1 since he has not
 stated his--    ',that ,god's most     
dreaded instrument1   ,in working out a 
pure intent1   ,is man--array'd for     

mutual slaughter3   ,yea1 ,carnage is   
his daughter4'  ,i am obliged to hold1  
that supposing so romantic a condition  
realized as the cessation of war1 this  
change1 unless other evils were         
previously abolished1 or neutralized in 
a way still more romantic to suppose1   
would not be for the welfare of human   
nature1 but would tend to its rapid     
degradation4  ,one1 in fact1 of the     
earliest aspects under which this moral 
necessity for war forces itself upon our
 notice1 is its physical necessity4 ,i  
mean to say that one of the earliest    
reasons why war ought to exist1 is      
because under any mode of suppressing   
war1 virtually it will exist4 ,banish   
war as now administered1 and it will    
revolve upon us in a worse shape1 that  
is1 in a shape of predatory and ruffian 
war1 more and more licentious1 as it    
enjoys no privilege or sufferance1 by   
the supposition1 under the national     
laws4 ,will the causes of war die away  
because war is forbidden8 ,certainly    

not2 and the only result of the         
prohibition would be to throw back the  
exercise of war from national into      
private and mercenary hands2 and that is
 precisely the retrograde or inverse    
course of civilization2 for1 in the     
natural order of civilization1 war      
passes from the hands of knights1       
barons1 insulated cities1 into those of 
the universal community4 ,if1 again1 it 
is attempted to put down this lawless   
guerilla state by national forces1 then 
the result will be to have established  
an interminable warfare of a mixed      
character1 private and public1 civil and
 foreign1 infesting the frontiers of all
 states like a fever1 and in            
substitution for the occasional and     
intermitting wars of high national      
police1 administered with the dignified 
responsibility that belongs to supreme  
rank1 with the humanity that belongs to 
conscious power1 and with the           
diminishing havoc that belongs to       
increasing skill in the arts of         

destruction4 ,even as to this last      
feature in warfare1 which in the war of 
brigands and condottieri would for many 
reasons instantly decay1 no reader can  
fail to be aware of the marvels effected
 by the forces of inventive science that
 run along side by side with the        
advances of civilization2 look back even
 to the grandest period of the humane   
,roman warfare1 listen to the noblest   
and most merciful of all ,roman         
captains1 saying on the day of          
,pharsalia1 7and saying of necessity17  
',strike at their faces1 cavalry1'--yes1
 absolutely directing his own troopers  
to plough up with their sabres the      
blooming faces of the young ,roman      
nobility2 and then pass to a modern     
field of battle1 where all is finished  
by musquetry and artillery amidst clouds
 of smoke1 no soldier recognizing his   
own desolations1 or the ghastly ruin of 
his own right arm1 so that war1 by      
losing all its brutality1 is losing half
 of its demoralization4  ,war1 so far   

from ending1 because war was forbidden  
and nationally renounced1 on the        
contrary would transmigrate into a more 
fearful shape4 ,as things are at        
present1 7and1 observe1 they are always 
growing better17 what numbers of        
noble-minded men1 in the persons of our 
officers 7yes1 and often of             
non-commissioned officers17 do we       
,british1 for example1 disperse over    
battle-fields1 that could not dishonor  
their glorious uniform by any           
countenance to an act of cruelty6 ,they 
are eyes delegated from the charities of
 our domestic life1 to overlook and curb
 the license of war4 ,i remember1 in    
,xenophon1 some passage where he        
describes a class of ,persian gentlemen1
 who were called the ophthalmoi1 or eyes
 of the king2 but for a very different  
purpose4 ,these ,british officers may be
 called the opthalmoi1 or eyes of our   
,sovereign ,lady1 that into every corner
 of the battle carry their scrutiny1    
lest any cruelty should be committed on 

the helpless1 or any advantage taken of 
a dying enemy4 ,but mark1 such officers 
would be rare in the irregular troops   
succeeding to the official armies4 ,and 
through this channel1 amongst others1   
war1 when cried down by act of          
,parliament1 and precisely because it   
was cried down1 would become more       
perilously effective for the degradation
 of human nature4 ,being itself         
dishonored1 war would become the more   
effective as an instrument for the      
dishonoring of its agents4 ,however1 at 
length1 we will suppose the impossible  
problem solved--war1 we will assume1 is 
at last put down4  ,at length there is  
no more war4 ,though by the way1 let me 
whisper in your ear1 7supposing you to  
be a ,christian17 this would be a       
prelibation drawn prematurely from the  
cup of millennial happiness2 and1       
strictly speaking1 there is no great    
homage to religion1 even thus far--in   
figuring that to be the purchase of man 
for himself1 and through his own        

efforts1 which is viewed by ,scripture  
as a glory removed to the infinite and  
starry distance of a millennium1 and as 
the teleutaion epigeinaema1 the last    
crowning attainment of ,christian truth1
 no longer militant on earth4           
,christianity it is1 but ,christianity  
when triumphant1 and no longer in       
conflict with adverse1 or thwarting1 or 
limiting influences1 which only can be  
equal to a revolution so mighty4 ,but   
all this1 for the sake of pursuing the  
assumption1 let us agree to waive4 ,in  
reality1 there are two separate stations
 taken up by the war denouncers4 ,one   
class hold1 that an influence derived   
from political economy is quite equal to
 the flying leap by which man is to     
clear this unfathomable gulph of war1   
and to land his race for ever on the    
opposite shore of a self- sustaining    
peace4 ,simply1 the contemplation of    
national debts1 7as a burthen which     
never would have existed without war17  
and a computation of the waste1 havoc1  

unproductive labor1 c41 attached to any 
single campaign--these1 they imagine1   
might suffice1 per se1 for the          
extinction of war4 ,but the other class 
cannot go along with a speculation so   
infirm4 ,reasons there are1 in the      
opposite scale1 tempting man into       
war1--which are far mightier than any   
motives addressed to his self-interest4 
,even straining her energies to the     
utmost1 they regard all policy of the   
purse as adequate3 anything short of    
religion1 they are satisfied1 must be   
incommensurate to a result so vast4  ,i 
myself certainly agree with this last   
class2 but upon this arises a delusion1 
which ,i shall have some trouble in     
making the reader understand3 and of    
this ,i am confident-that a majority1   
perhaps1 in every given amount of       
readers1 will share in the delusion2    
will part from me in the persuasion that
 the error ,i attempt to expose is no   
error at all1 but that it is myself who 
am in the wrong4 ,the delusion which ,i 

challenge as such1 respects the very    
meaning and value of a sacrifice made to
 ,christianity4 ,what is it8 what do we 
properly mean1 by a concession or a     
sacrifice made to a spiritual power1    
such as ,christianity8 ,if a king and   
his people1 impressed by the unchristian
 character of war1 were to say1 in some 
solemn act--',we1 the parties           
undersigned1 for the reasons stated in  
the body of this document1 proclaim to  
all nations1 that from and after        
,midsummer eve of the year #ahej1 this  
being the eve of ,st4 ,john the         
,baptist1 7who was the herald of        
,christ17 we will no more prosecute any 
interest of ours1 unless the one sole   
interest of national defence1 by means  
of war1--and this sacrifice we make as a
 concession and act of homage to        
,christianity1-- would that vow1 ,i ask1
 sincerely offered1 and steadily        
observed1 really be a sacrifice made to 
,christianity8 ,not at all4 ,a          
sacrifice1 that was truly such1 to a    

spiritual religion1 must be a sacrifice 
not verbally 7though sincerely7         
dedicating itself to the religion1 but a
 sacrifice wrought and accomplished by  
that religion1 through and by its own   
spirit4 ,midsummer eve of #ahej could   
clearly make no spiritual change in the 
king or his people--such they would be  
on the morning after ,st4 ,john's day1  
as on the morning before it--i4 e41     
filled with all elements 7though        
possibly undeveloped7 of strife1 feud1  
pernicious ambition1  ,the delusion1    
therefore1 which ,i charge upon this    
religious class of war denouncers is1   
that whilst they see and recognize this 
infinite imperfection of any influence  
which ,christianity yet exercises upon  
the world1 they nevertheless rely upon  
that acknowledged shadow for the        
accomplishment of what would1 in such   
circumstances1 be a real miracle2 they  
rely upon that shadow1 as truly and     
entirely as if it were already that     
substance which1 in a vast revolution of

 ages1 it will finally become4 ,and they
 rely upon this mockery in two senses2  
first1 for the endurance of the frail   
human resolution that would thaw in an  
hour before a great outrage1 or         
provocation suited to the nobler        
infirmities of man4 ,secondly1 which is 
the point ,i mainly aim at1 assuming1   
for a moment1 that the resolution could 
endure1 amongst all mankind1 we are all 
equally convinced1 that an evil so vast 
is not likely to be checked or          
controlled1 except by some very         
extraordinary power4 ,well1 where is it8
 ,show me that power4 ,i know of none   
but ,christianity4 ,there1 undoubtedly1 
is hope4 ,but1 in order that the hope   
may become rational1 the power must     
become practical4 ,and practical it is  
not in the extent required1 until this  
,christianity1 from being dimly         
appreciated by a section ,footnote ,what
 section1 if you please8 ,i1 for my     
part1 do not agree with those that      
geographically degrade ,christianity as 

occupying but a trifle on the area of   
our earth4 ,mark this2 all ,eastern     
populations have dwindled upon better   
acquaintance4 ,persia that ought to     
have1 at least1 two hundred and fifty   
millions of people1 and would have them 
under ,english government1 and once was 
supposed to have at least one hundred   
millions1 how many millions has she8    
,eight6 ,this was ascertained by        
,napoleon's emissary in #ahjh1 ,general 
,gardanne4 ,afghanistan has very little 
more1 though some falsely count fourteen
 millions4 ,there go two vast chambers  
of ,mahometanism2 not twenty millions   
between them4 ,hindostan may really have
 one hundred and twenty millions claimed
 for her4 ,as to the ,burman ,empire1   
,i1 nor anybody else knows the truth4   
,but1 as to ,china1 ,i have never for a 
moment been moved by those ridiculous   
estimates of the flowery people1 which  
our simple countrymen copy4 ,instead of 
three hundred and fifty millions1 a     
third of the human race upon the most   

exaggerated estimate1 read eighty or one
 hundred millions at most4 ,africa1 as  
it regards religion1 counts for a       
cipher4 ,europe1 ,america1 and the half 
of ,asia1 as to space1 are ,christian4  
,consequently1 the total facit1 as      
regards ,christianity1 is not what many 
amiable infidels make it to be4 ,my     
dears1 your wish was father to that     
thought4 of this world1 shall have been 
the law that overrides the whole4 ,that 
consummation is not immeasurably        
distant4 ,even now1 from considerations 
connected with ,china1 with ,new        
,zealand1 ,borneo1 ,australia1 we may   
say1 that already the fields are white  
for harvest4 ,but alas6 the interval is 
brief between ,christianity small1 and  
,christianity great1 as regards space or
 terraqueous importance1 compared with  
that interval which separates           
,christianity formally professed1 from  
,christianity thankfully acknowledged by
 universal man in beauty and power4     
,here1 therefore1 is one spoke in the   

wheel for so vast a change as war       
dethroned1 viz41 that you see no cause1 
though you should travel round the whole
 horizon1 adequate to so prodigious an  
effect4 ,what could do it8 ,why1        
,christianity could do it4 ,aye1 true2  
but man disarms ,christianity4 ,and no  
mock ,christianity1 no lip homage to    
,christianity1 will answer4  ,but is    
war1 then1 to go on for ever8 ,are we   
never to improve8 ,are nations to       
conduct their intercourse eternally     
under the secret understanding that an  
unchristian solution of all             
irreconcileable feuds stands in the rear
 as the ultimate appeal8 ,i answer that 
war1 going on even for ever1 may still  
be for ever amending its modes and its  
results upon human happiness2 secondly1 
that we not only are under no fatal     
arrest in our process of improvement1   
but that1 as regards war1 history shows 
how steadily we have been improving2    
and1 thirdly1 that although war may be  
irreversible as the last resource1 this 

last resource may constantly be retiring
 further into the rear4 ,let us speak to
 this last point4 ,war is the last      
resource only1 because other and more   
intellectual resources for solving      
disputes are not available4 ,and why are
 they not8 ,simply1 because the         
knowledge1 and the logic1 which         
ultimately will govern the case1 and the
 very circumstances of the case itself  
in its details1 as the basis on which   
this knowledge and logic are to operate1
 happen not to have been sufficiently   
developed4 ,a code of law is not a      
spasmodic effort of gigantic talent in  
any one man or any one generation2 it is
 a slow growth of accidents and         
occasions expanding with civilization2  
dependent upon time as a multiform      
element in its development2 and         
presupposing often a concurrent growth  
of analogous cases towards the          
completion of its system4 ,for instance1
 the law which regulates the rights of  
shipping1 seafaring men1 and maritime   

commerce--how slow was its development6 
,before such works as the ,consolato del
 ,mare had been matured1 how wide must  
have been the experience1 and how slow  
its accumulation6 ,during that long     
period of infancy for law1 how many must
 have been the openings for ignorant and
 unintentional injustice6 ,how          
differently1 again1 will the several    
parties to any transaction construe the 
rights of the case6 ,discussion1 without
 rules for guiding it1 will but embitter
 the dispute4 ,and in the absence of all
 guidance from the intellect1 gradually 
weaving a common standard of            
international appeal1 it is clear that  
nations must fight1 and ought to fight4 
,not being convinced1 it is base to     
pretend that you are convinced2 and     
failing to be convinced by your         
neighbor's arguments1 you confess       
yourself a poltroon 7and moreover you   
invite injuries from every neighbor7 if 
you pocket your wrongs4 ,the only course
 in such a case is to thump your        

neighbor1 and to thump him soundly for  
the present4 ,this treatment is very    
serviceable to your neighbor's optics2  
he sees things in a new light after a   
sufficient course of so distressing a   
regimen4 ,but mark1 even in this case1  
war has no tendency to propagate war1   
but tends to the very opposite result4  
,to thump is as costly1 and in other    
ways as painful1 as to be thumped4 ,the 
evil to both sides arises in an         
undeveloped state of law4 ,if rights    
were defined by a well considered code  
growing out of long experience1 each    
party sees that this scourge of war     
would continually tend to limit itself4 
,consequently the very necessity of war 
becomes the strongest invitation to that
 system of judicial logic which forms   
its sole limitation4 ,but all war       
whatsoever stands in these              
circumstances4 ,it follows that all war 
whatever1 unless on the brutal principle
 of a ,spartan warfare1 that made war   
its own sufficient object and           

self-justification1 operates as a       
perpetual bounty offered to men upon the
 investigation and final adjudication of
 those disputed cases through which war 
prospers4 ,hence it is1 viz41 because   
the true boundaries of reciprocal rights
 are for ever ascertaining themselves   
more clearly1 that war is growing less  
frequent4 ,the fields open to injustice 
7which originally from pure ignorance   
are so vast7 continually 7through deeper
 and more expansive surveys by man's    
intellect--searching--reflecting--compar
ing7 are narrowing themselves2 narrowing
 themselves in this sense1 that all     
nations under a common centre of        
religious civilization1 as ,christendom 
suppose1 or ,islamism1 would not        
fight--no1 and would not 7by the        
national sense of wrong and right7 be   
permitted to fight--in a cause          
confessedly condemned by equity as now  
developed4 ,the causes of war that still
 remain1 are causes on which            
international law is silent--that large 

arrear of cases as yet unsettled2 or    
else they are cases in which though law 
speaks with an authentic voice1 it      
speaks in vain1 because the             
circumstances are doubtful2 so that1 if 
the law is fixed as a lamp nailed to a  
wall1 yet the incidence of the law on   
the particular circumstances1 becomes as
 doubtful as the light of the lamp upon 
objects that are capriciously moving4   
,we see all this illustrated in a class 
of cases that powerfully illustrate the 
good and the bad in war1 the why and the
 wherefore1 as likewise the why not1 and
 therefore ,i presume the wherefore not2
 and this class of cases belongs to the 
lex vicinitatis4 ,in the ,roman law this
 section makes a great figure4 ,and     
speaking accurately1 it makes a greater 
in our own4 ,but the reason why this law
 of neighborhood seems to fill so much  
smaller a section in ours1 is because in
 ,english law1 being positively a longer
 section1 negatively to the whole       
compass of our law1 it is less4 ,the    

,roman law would have paved a road to   
the moon4 ,and what is that expressed in
 time8 ,let us see3 a railway train1    
worked at the speed of the ,great       
,western ,express1 accomplishes easily a
 thousand miles in twenty-four hours2   
consequently in two hundred and forty   
days or eight months it would run into  
the moon with its buffers1 and break up 
the quarters of that ,robinson ,crusoe  
who 7and without any ,friday7 is the    
only policeman that parades that little 
pensive appendage or tender to our      
fuming engine of an earth4 ,but the     
,english law--oh frightful reader1 don't
 even think of such a question as its   
relation in space and time to the ,roman
 law4 ,that it would stretch to the     
fixed stars is plain1 but to which of   
them1--don't now1 dear persecuting      
reader1 unsettle our brains by asking4  
,enough it is that both in ,roman and   
,english law the rights of neighborhood 
are past measuring4 ,has a man a right  
to play the ,german flute1 where the    

partitions are slender1 all day long in 
the house adjoining to yours8 ,or1      
supposing a beneficent jury 7beneficent 
to him7 finds this to be no legal       
nuisance1 has he a right to play it ill8
 ,or1 because juries1 when tipsy1 will  
wink at anything1 does the privilege    
extend to the jew's-harp8 to the poker  
and tongs8 to the marrowbones and       
cleavers8 ,or1 without ranging through  
the whole of the ,spectator's culinary  
music1 will the bagpipes be found within
 benefit of jury law8 ,war to the knife 
,i say1 before we'll submit to that4    
,and if the law won't protect us against
 it1 then we'll turn rebels4  ,now this 
law of neighborhood1 this lex           
vicinitatis1 amongst the ,romans1       
righted itself and settled itself1 as   
amongst ourselves it continues to do1 by
 means of actions or legal suits4 ,if a 
man poisons us with smoke1 we compel him
 by an action to eat his own smoke1 or  
7if he chooses7 to make his chimneys eat
 it4 ,here you see is a transmuted war2 

in a barbarous state1 fire and sword    
would have avenged this invasion of     
smoke2 but amongst civilized men1 paper 
bullets in the form of ,qui tam and     
,scire facias1 beat off the enemy4 ,and 
on the same principle1 exactly as the   
law of international rights clears up   
its dark places1 war gradually narrows  
its grounds1 and the jus gentium defines
 itself through national attorneys1 i4  
e41 diplomatists4  ,for instance1 now ,i
 have myself seen a case where a man    
cultivating a flower-garden1 and        
distressed for some deliverance from his
 rubbish of dead leaves1 litter1 straw1 
stones1 took the desperate resolution of
 projecting the whole upon his          
neighbor's flower-garden4 ,i1 a chance  
spectator of the outrage1 knew too much 
of this world to lodge any protest      
against it1 on the principle of mere    
abstract justice2 so it would have      
passed unnoticed1 but for the accident  
that his injured neighbor unexpectedly  
raised up his head above the dividing   

wall1 and reproached the aggressor with 
his unprincipled conduct4 ,this         
aggressor1 adding evil to evil1         
suggested as the natural remedy for his 
own wrong1 that the sufferer should pass
 the nuisance onwards to the garden next
 beyond him2 from which it might be     
posted forward on the same principle4   
,the aggrieved man1 however1 preferred  
passing it back1 without any discount to
 the original proprietor4 ,here now1 is 
a ripe case1 a causa teterrima1 for war 
between the parties1 and for a national 
war had the parties been nations4 ,in   
fact1 the very same injury1 in a more   
aggravated shape1 is perpetrated from   
time to time by ,jersey upon ourselves1 
and would1 upon a larger scale1 right   
itself by war4 ,convicts are costly to  
maintain2 and ,jersey1 whose national   
revenue is limited1 being too well aware
 of this1 does us the favor to land upon
 the coasts of ,hampshire1 ,dorset1 c41 
all the criminals whom she cannot       
summarily send back to self-support1 at 

each jail-delivery4 ',what are we to do 
in ,england8' is the natural question   
propounded by the injured scoundrels1   
when taking leave of their ,jersey      
escort4 ',anything you please1' is the  
answer3 'rise if you can1 to be dukes3  
only never come back hither2 since1     
dukes or no dukes1 to the rest of       
,christendom1 to us of the ,channel     
,islands you will always be transported 
felons4' ,there is therefore a good     
right of action1 i4e41 a good ground of 
war1 against ,jersey1 on the part of    
,great ,britain1 since1 besides the     
atrocious injury inflicted1 this        
unprincipled little island has the      
audacity to regard our ,england1 7all   
,europe looking on17 as existing only   
for the purposes of a sewer or cess-pool
 to receive her impurities4 ,some time  
back ,i remember a ,scottish newspaper  
holding up the case as a newly          
discovered horror in the social system4 
,but1 in a quiet way ,jersey has always 
been engaged in this branch of          

exportation1 and rarely fails to 'run' a
 cargo of rogues upon our shore1 once or
 so in the season4 ,what amuses one     
besides1 in this ,scottish denunciation 
of the villany1 is1 that ,scotland      
,footnote3 ,to banish them 'forth of the
 kingdom1' was the euphuismus2 but the  
reality understood was--to carry the    
knaves1 like foxes in a bag1 to the     
,english soil1 and there unbag them for 
,english use4 of old1 pursued the very  
same mode of jail-delivery as to knaves 
that were not thought ripe enough for   
hanging3 she carted them to the ,english
 border1 unchained them1 and hurried    
them adrift into the wilderness1        
saying--,now1 boys1 shift for           
yourselves1 and henceforth plunder none 
but ,englishmen4  ,what ,i deduce from  
all this is1 that as the feuds arising  
between individuals under the relation  
of neighbors1 are so far from tending to
 a hostile result1 that1 on the         
contrary1 as coming under a rule of law 
already ascertained1 or furnishing the  

basis for a new rule1 they gradually    
tighten the cords which exclude all     
opening for quarrel2 not otherwise is   
the result1 and therefore the           
usefulness1 of war amongst nations4 ,all
 the causes of war1 the occasions upon  
which it is likely to arise1 the true   
and the ostensible motives1 are         
gradually evolved1 are examined1        
searched1 valued1 by publicists2 and by 
such means1 in the further progress of  
men1 a comprehensive law of nations will
 finally be accumulated1 not such as now
 passes for international law1 7a       
worthless code that has no weight in the
 practice of nations1 nor deserves any17
 but one which will exhaust the great   
body of cases under which wars have     
arisen under the ,christian era1 and    
gradually collect a public opinion of   
,christendom upon the nature of each    
particular case4 ,the causes that have  
existed for war are the causes that will
 exist2 or1 at least1 they are the same 
under modifications that will simply    

vary the rule1 as our law cases in the  
courts are every day circumstantiating  
the particular statute concerned4 ,at   
this stage of advance1 and when a true  
,european opinion has been created1 a   
'sensus communis1' or community of      
feeling on the main classifications of  
wars1 it will become possible to erect a
 real ,areopagus1 or central congress   
for all ,christendom1 not with any      
commission to suppress wars1--a policy  
which would neutralize itself by        
reacting as a fresh cause of war1 since 
high-spirited nations would arm for the 
purpose of resisting such decrees2 but  
with the purpose and the effect of      
oftentimes healing local or momentary   
animosities1 and also by publishing the 
opinion of ,europe1 assembled in        
council1 with the effect of taking away 
the shadow of dishonor from the act of  
retiring from war4 ,not to mention that 
the mere delay1 involved in the waiting 
for the solemn opinion of congress1     
would always be friendly to pacific     

councils4 ,but would the belligerents   
wait8 ,that concession might be secured 
by general exchange of treaties1 in the 
same way that the cooperation of so many
 nations has been secured to the        
suppression of the trade in slaves4 ,and
 one thing is clear1 that when all the  
causes of war1 involving manifest       
injustice1 are banished by the force of 
,european opinion1 focally converged    
upon the subject1 the range of war will 
be prodigiously circumscribed4 ,the     
costliness of war1 which1 for various   
reasons has been continually increasing 
since the feudal period1 will operate as
 another limitation upon its field1     
concurring powerfully with the public   
declaration from a council of collective
 ,christendom4  ,there is1 besides1 a   
distinct and separate cause of war1 more
 fatal to the possibilities of peace in 
,europe than open injustice2 and this   
cause being certainly in the hands of   
nations to deal with as they please1    
there is a tolerable certainty that a   

congress sincerely pacific would cut it 
up by the roots4 ,it is a cause noticed 
by ,kant in his ,essay on ,perpetual    
,peace1 and with great sagacity1 though 
otherwise that little work is not free  
from visionary self-delusions3 and this 
cause lies in the diplomacy of ,europe4 
,treaties of peace are so constructed1  
as almost always to sow the seeds of    
future wars4 ,this seems to the         
inexperienced reader a matter of        
carelessness or laxity in the choice of 
expression2 and sometimes it may have   
been so2 but more often it has been done
 under the secret dictation of powerful 
courts-- making peaces only as truces1  
anxious only for time to nurse their    
energies1 and to keep open some         
plausible call for war4 ,this is not    
only amongst the most extensive causes  
of war1 but the very worst3 because it  
gives a colorable air of justice1 and   
almost of necessity to a war1 which is1 
in fact1 the most outrageously unjust1  
as being derived from a pretext silently

 prepared in former years1 with mere    
subtlety of malice3 it is a war growing 
out of occasions1 forged beforehand1    
lest no occasions should spontaneously  
arise4 ,now1 this cause of war could and
 would be healed by a congress1 and     
through an easy reform in ,european     
diplomacy4,footnote3 ,one great nidus of
 this insidious preparation for war     
under the very masque of peace1 which   
,kant1 from brevity1 has failed to      
particularize1 lies in the neglecting to
 make any provision for cases that are  
likely enough to arise4 ,a1 ,b1 ,c1 ,d1 
are all equally possible1 but the treaty
 provides a specific course of action   
only for ,a1 suppose4 ,then upon ,b or  
,c arising1 the high contracting        
parties1 though desperately and equally 
pacific1 find themselves committed to   
war actually by a treaty of lasting     
peace4 ,their pacific majesties sigh1   
and say--,alas6 that it should be so1   
but really fight we must1 for what says 
the treaty8  ,it is the strongest       

confirmation of the power inherent in   
growing civilization1 to amend war1 and 
to narrow the field of war1 if we look  
back for the records of the changes in  
this direction which have already arisen
 in generations before our own4  ,the   
most careless reviewer of history can   
hardly fail to read a rude outline of   
progress made by men in the rights1 and 
consequently in the duties of war       
through the last twenty-five centuries4 
,it is a happy circumstance for         
man--that oftentimes he is led by pure  
selfishness into reforms1 the very same 
as high principle would have prompted2  
and in the next stage of his advance1   
when once habituated to an improved code
 of usages1 he begins to find a         
gratification to his sensibilities1     
7partly luxurious sensibilities1 but    
partly moral17 in what originally had   
been a mere movement of self-interest4  
,then comes a third stage1 in which     
having thoroughly reconciled himself to 
a better order of things1 and made it   

even necessary to his own comfort1 at   
length he begins in his reflecting      
moments to perceive a moral beauty and a
 fitness in arrangements that had       
emanated from accidents of convenience1 
so that finally he generates a sublime  
pleasure of conscientiousness out of    
that which originally commenced in the  
meanest forms of mercenary convenience4 
,a ,roman lady of rank1 out of mere     
voluptuous regard to her own comfort1   
revolted from the harsh clamors of      
eternal chastisements inflicted on her  
numerous slaves2 she forbade them2 the  
grateful slaves showed their love for   
her2 gradually and unintentionally she  
trained her feelings1 when thus         
liberated from a continual temptation to
 the sympathies with cruelty1 into a    
demand for gentler and purer excitement4
 ,her purpose had been one of luxury2   
but1 by the benignity of nature still   
watching for ennobling opportunities1   
the actual result was a development     
given to the higher capacities of her   

heart4 ,in the same way1 when the brutal
 right 7and in many circumstances the   
brutal duty7 of inflicting death upon   
prisoners taken in battle1 had exchanged
 itself for the profits of ransom or    
slavery1 this relaxation of ferocity    
7though commencing in selfishness7      
gradually exalted itself into a habit of
 mildness1 and some dim perception of a 
sanctity in human life4 ,the very vice  
of avarice ministered to the            
purification of barbarism2 and the very 
evil of slavery in its earliest form was
 applied to the mitigation of another   
evil--war conducted in the spirit of    
piratical outrage4 ,the commercial      
instincts of men having worked one set  
of changes in war1 a second set of      
changes was prompted by instincts       
derived from the arts of ornament and   
pomp4 ,splendor of arms1 of banners1 of 
equipages1 of ceremonies1 and the       
elaborate forms of intercourse with     
enemies through conferences1 armistices1
 treaties of peace1 c41 having tamed the

 savagery of war into connection with   
modes of intellectual grandeur1 and with
 the endless restraints of superstition 
or scrupulous religion1--a permanent    
light of civilization began to steal    
over the bloody shambles of buccaneering
 warfare4 ,other modes of harmonizing   
influences arose more directly from the 
bosom of war itself4 ,gradually the mere
 practice of war1 and the culture of war
 though merely viewed as a rude trade of
 bloodshed1 ripened into an intellectual
 art4 ,were it merely with a view to    
more effectual carnage1 this art        
7however simple and gross at first7     
opened at length into wide scientific   
arts1 into strategies1 into tactics1    
into castrametation1 into poliorcetics1 
and all the processes through which the 
first rude efforts of martial cunning   
finally connect themselves with the     
exquisite resources of science4 ,war1   
being a game in which each side forces  
the other into the instant adoption of  
all improvements through the mere       

necessities of self-preservation1 became
 continually more intellectual4  ,it is 
interesting to observe the steps by     
which1 were it only through impulses of 
self-conservation1 and when searching   
with a view to more effectual           
destructiveness1 war did and must refine
 itself from a horrid trade of butchery 
into a magnificent and enlightened      
science4 ,starting from no higher       
impulse or question than how to cut     
throats most rapidly1 most safely1 and  
on the largest scale1 it has issued even
 at our own stage of advance into a     
science1 magnificent1 oftentimes        
ennobling1 and cleansed from all horrors
 except those which 7not being within   
man's power utterly to divorce from it7 
no longer stand out as reproaches to his
 humanity4  ,meantime a more            
circumstantial review of war1 in        
relation to its motives and the causes  
assigned for its justification1 would   
expose a series of changes greater      
perhaps than the reader is aware of4    

,such a review1 which would too much    
lengthen a single paper1 may or may not 
form the subject of a second4 ,and ,i   
will content myself with saying1 as a   
closing remark1 that this review will   
detect a principle of steady advance in 
the purification and elevation of       
war--such as must offer hope to those   
who believe in the possibility of its   
absolute extermination1 and must offer  
consolation to those who 7like myself7  
deny it4     ,,the ,,last ,,days ,,of   
,,immanuel ,,kant4   ,i take it for     
granted that every person of education  
will acknowledge some interest in the   
personal history of ,immanuel ,kant4 ,a 
great man1 though in an unpopular path1 
must always be an object of liberal     
curiosity4 ,to suppose a reader         
thoroughly indifferent to ,kant1 is to  
suppose him thoroughly unintellectual2  
and1 therefore1 though in reality he    
should happen not to regard him with    
interest1 it is one of the fictions of  
courtesy to presume that he does4 ,on   

this principle ,i make no apology to the
 reader for detaining him upon a short  
sketch of ,kant's life and domestic     
habits1 drawn from the authentic records
 of his friends and pupils4 ,it is true1
 that1 without any illiberality on the  
part of the public in this country1 the 
works of ,kant are not regarded with the
 same interest which has gathered about 
his name2 and this may be attributed to 
three causes--first1 to the language in 
which they are written2 secondly1 to the
 supposed obscurity of the philosophy   
which they teach1 whether intrinsic or  
due to ,kant's particular mode of       
expounding it2 thirdly1 to the          
unpopularity of all speculative         
philosophy1 no matter how treated1 in a 
country where the structure and tendency
 of society impress upon the whole      
activities of the nation a direction    
exclusively practical4 ,but1 whatever   
may be the immediate fortunes of his    
writings1 no man of enlightened         
curiosity will regard the author himself

 without something of a profounder      
interest4 ,measured by one test of      
power1 viz41 by the number of books     
written directly for or against himself1
 to say nothing of those which he has   
indirectly modified1 there is no        
philosophic writer whatsoever1 if we    
except ,aristotle1 who can pretend to   
approach ,kant in the extent of the     
influence which he has exercised over   
the minds of men4 ,such being his claims
 upon our notice1 ,i repeat that it is  
no more than a reasonable act of respect
 to the reader--to presume in him so    
much interest about ,kant as will       
justify a sketch of his life4  ,immanuel
 ,kant1 ,footnote3 ,by the paternal     
side1 the family of ,kant was of ,scotch
 derivation2 and hence it is that the   
name was written by ,kant the           
father--,cant1 that being a ,scotch     
name1 and still to be found in          
,scotland4 ,but ,immanuel1 though he    
always cherished his ,scotch descent1   
substituted a ,k for a ,c1 in order to  

adapt it better to the analogies of the 
,german language4 the second of six     
children1 was born at ,knigsberg1 in    
,prussia1 a city at that time containing
 about fifty thousand inhabitants1 on   
the #bb;d of ,april1 #agbd4 ,his parents
 were people of humble rank1 and not    
rich even for their own station1 but    
able 7with some assistance from a near  
relative1 and a trifle in addition from 
a gentleman1 who esteemed them for their
 piety and domestic virtues17 to give   
their son ,immanuel a liberal education4
 ,he was sent when a child to a charity 
school2 and1 in the year #agcb1 removed 
to the ,royal 7or ,frederician7         
,academy4 ,here he studied the ,greek   
and ,latin classics1 and formed an      
intimacy with one of his schoolfellows1 
,david ,ruhnken1 7afterwards so well    
known to scholars under his ,latin name 
of ,ruhn-kenius17 which lasted until the
 death of the latter4 ,in #agcg1 ,kant  
lost his mother1 a woman of excellent   
character1 and of accomplishments and   

knowledge beyond her rank1 who          
contributed to the future eminence of   
her illustrious son by the direction    
which she gave to his youthful thoughts1
 and by the elevated morals to which she
 trained him4 ,kant never spoke of her  
to the end of his life without the      
utmost tenderness1 and acknowledgment of
 his great obligations to her maternal  
care4 ,in #agdj1 at ,michlmas1 he       
entered the ,university of ,knigsberg4  
,in #agdf1 when about twenty-two years  
old1 he printed his first work1 upon a  
question partly mathematical and partly 
philosophic1 viz41 the valuation of     
living forces4 ,the question had been   
first moved by ,leibnitz1 in opposition 
to the ,cartesians1 and was here finally
 settled1 after having occupied most of 
the great mathematicians of ,europe for 
more than half a century4 ,it was       
dedicated to the ,king of ,prussia1 but 
never reached him--having1 in fact1     
never been published4 ,footnote3 ,to    
this circumstance we must attribute its 

being so little known amongst the       
philosophers and mathematicians of      
foreign countries1 and also the fact    
that ,d',alembert1 whose philosophy was 
miserably below his mathematics1 many   
years afterwards still continued to     
represent the dispute as a verbal one4  
,from this time until #aggj1 he         
supported himself as a private tutor in 
different families1 or by giving private
 lectures in ,knigsberg1 especially to  
military men on the art of              
fortification4 ,in #aggj1 he was        
appointed to the ,chair of ,mathematics1
 which he exchanged soon after for that 
of ,logic and ,metaphysics4 ,on this    
occasion1 he delivered an inaugural     
disputation--,de ,mundi ,sensibilis     
atque ,intelligibilis ,forma et         
,principiis--which is remarkable for    
containing the first germs of the       
,transcendental ,philosophy4 ,in #agha1 
he published his great work1 the ,critik
 der ,reinen ,vernunft1 or              
,investigation of the ,pure ,reason4 ,on

 ,february #ab1 #ahjd1 he died4  ,these 
are the great epochs of ,kant's life4   
,but his was a life remarkable not so   
much for its incidents1 as for the      
purity and philosophic dignity of its   
daily tenor2 and of this the best       
impression will be obtained from        
,wasianski's account of his last years1 
checked and supported by the collateral 
testimonies of ,jachmann1 ,rink1        
,borowski1 and other biographers4 ,we   
see him here struggling with the misery 
of decaying faculties1 and with the     
pain1 depression1 and agitation of two  
different complaints1 one affecting his 
stomach1 and the other his head2 over   
all which the benignity and nobility of 
his mind are seen victoriously eminent  
to the last4 ,the principal defect of   
this and all other memoirs of ,kant is1 
that they report too little of his      
conversation and opinions4 ,and perhaps 
the reader will be disposed to complain1
 that some of the notices are too minute
 and circumstantial1 so as to be at one 

time undignified1 and at another        
unfeeling4 ,as to the first objection1  
it may be answered1 that biographical   
gossip of this sort1 and ungentlemanly  
scrutiny into a man's private life1     
though not what a man of honor would    
choose to write1 may be read without    
blame2 and1 where a great man is the    
subject1 sometimes with advantage4 ,with
 respect to the other objection1 ,i know
 not how to excuse ,mr4 ,wasianski for  
kneeling at the bed-side of his dying   
friend1 to record1 with the accuracy of 
a short-hand reporter1 the last flutter 
of his pulse and the struggles of       
expiring nature1 except by supposing    
that the idea of ,kant1 as a person     
belonging to all ages1 in his mind      
transcended and extinguished the        
ordinary restraints of human            
sensibility1 and that1 under this       
impression1 he gave that to his sense of
 a public duty which1 it may be hoped1  
he would willingly have declined on the 
impulse of his private affections4  ,the

 following paper on ,the ,last ,days of 
,kant1 is gathered from the ,german of  
,wasianski1 ,jachmann1 ,borowski1 and   
others4  ,my knowledge of ,professor    
,kant began long before the period to   
which this little memorial of him       
chiefly refers4 ,in the year #aggc1 or  
#aggd1 ,i cannot exactly remember which1
 ,i attended his lectures4 ,afterwards1 
,i acted as his amanuensis2 and in that 
office was naturally brought into a     
closer connection with him than any     
other of his pupils2 so that1 without   
any request on my part1 he granted me a 
general privilege of free admission to  
his class-room4 ,in #aghj ,i took       
orders1 and withdrew myself from all    
connection with the university4 ,i still
 continued1 however1 to reside in       
,knigsberg2 but wholly forgotten1 or    
wholly unnoticed at least1 by ,kant4    
,ten years afterwards1 7that is to say1 
in #agij17 ,i met him by accident at a  
party given on occasion of the marriage 
of one of the professors4 ,at table1    

,kant distributed his conversation and  
attentions pretty generally2 but after  
the entertainment1 when the company     
broke up into parties1 he came and      
seated himself very obligingly by my    
side4 ,i was at that time a florist--an 
amateur1 ,i mean1 from the passion ,i   
had for flowers2 upon learning which1 he
 talked of my favorite pursuit1 and with
 very extensive information4 ,in the    
course of our conversation1 ,i was      
surprised to find that he was perfectly 
acquainted with all the circumstances of
 my situation4 ,he reminded me of our   
previous connection2 expressed his      
satisfaction at finding that ,i was     
happy2 and was so good as to desire     
that1 if my engagements allowed me1 ,i  
would now and then come and dine with   
him4 ,soon after this1 he rose to take  
his leave2 and1 as our road lay the same
 way1 he proposed to me that ,i should  
accompany him home4 ,i did so1 and      
received an invitation for the next     
week1 with a general invitation for     

every week after1 and permission to name
 my own day4 ,at first ,i was unable to 
explain the distinction with which ,kant
 had treated me2 and ,i conjectured that
 some obliging friend had spoken of me  
in his hearing1 somewhat more           
advantageously than ,i could pretend to 
deserve2 but more intimate experience   
has convinced me that he was in the     
habit of making continual inquiries     
after the welfare of his former pupils1 
and was heartily rejoiced to hear of    
their prosperity4 ,so that it appeared  
,i was wrong in thinking he had         
forgotten me4  ,this revival of my      
intimacy with ,professor ,kant1         
coincided pretty nearly1 in point of    
time1 with a complete change in his     
domestic arrangements4 ,up to this      
period it had been his custom to eat at 
a table d'hte4 ,but he now began to keep
 house himself1 and every day invited   
two friends to dine with him1 and upon  
any little festival from five to eight2 
for he was a punctual observer of ,lord 

,chesterfield's rule--that his dinner   
party1 himself included1 should not fall
 below the number of the ,graces--nor   
exceed that of the ,muses4 ,in the whole
 economy of his household arrangements1 
and especially of his dinner parties1   
there was something peculiar and        
amusingly opposed to the usual          
conventional restraints of society2 not1
 however1 that there was any neglect of 
decorum1 such as sometimes occurs in    
houses where there are no ladies to     
impress a better tone upon the manners4 
,the invariable routine was this3 ,the  
moment that dinner was ready1 ,lampe1   
the professor's old footman1 stepped    
into the study with a certain measured  
air1 and announced it4 ,this summons was
 obeyed at the pace of double quick     
time--,kant talking all the way to the  
eating-room about the state of the      
weather ,footnote3 ,his reason for which
 was1 that he considered the weather one
 of the principal forces which act upon 
the health2 and his own frame was       

exquisitely sensible to all atmospheric 
influences4--a subject which he usually 
pursued during the earlier part of the  
dinner4 ,graver themes1 such as the     
political events of the day1 were never 
introduced before dinner1 or at all in  
his study4 ,the moment that ,kant had   
taken his seat1 and unfolded his napkin1
 he opened the business of dinner with a
 particular formula-- ',now1 then1      
gentlemen6' and the tone and air with   
which he uttered these words1           
proclaimed1 in a way which nobody could 
mistake1 relaxation from the toils of   
the morning1 and determinate abandonment
 of himself to social enjoyment4 ,the   
table was hospitably spread2 three      
dishes1 wine1 c41 with a small second   
course1 composed the dinner4 ,every     
person helped himself2 and all delays of
 ceremony were so disagreeable to ,kant1
 that he seldom failed to express his   
displeasure with anything of that sort1 
though not angrily4 ,he was displeased  
also if people ate little2 and treated  

it as affectation4 ,the first man to    
help himself was in his eyes the        
politest guest2 for so much the sooner  
came his own turn4 ,for this hatred of  
delay1 ,kant had a special excuse1      
having always worked hard from an early 
hour in the morning1 and eaten nothing  
until dinner4 ,hence it was1 that in the
 latter period of his life1 though less 
perhaps from actual hunger than from    
some uneasy sensation of habit or       
periodical irritation of stomach1 he    
could hardly wait with patience for the 
arrival of the last person invited4     
,there was no friend of ,kant's but     
considered the day on which he was to   
dine with him as a day of pleasure4     
,without giving himself the air of an   
instructor1 ,kant really was so in the  
very highest degree4 ,the whole         
entertainment was seasoned with the     
overflow of his enlightened mind1 poured
 out naturally and unaffectedly upon    
every topic1 as the chances of          
conversation suggested it2 and the time 

flew rapidly away1 from one o'clock to  
four1 five1 or even later1 profitably   
and delightfully4 ,kant tolerated no    
calms1 which was the name he gave to the
 momentary pauses in conversation1 or   
periods when its animation languished4  
,some means or other he always devised  
for restoring its tone of interest1 in  
which he was much assisted by the tact  
with which he drew from every guest his 
peculiar tastes1 or the particular      
direction of his pursuits2 and on these1
 be they what they might1 he was never  
unprepared to speak with knowledge1 and 
the interest of an original observer4   
,the local affairs of ,knigsberg must   
have been interesting indeed1 before    
they could be allowed to occupy the     
attention at his table4 ,and1 what may  
seem still more singular1 it was rarely 
or never that he directed the           
conversation to any branch of the       
philosophy founded by himself4 ,indeed  
he was perfectly free from the fault    
which besets so many savans and         

literati1 of intolerance towards those  
whose pursuits had disqualified them for
 any particular sympathy with his own4  
,his style of conversation was popular  
in the highest degree1 and unscholastic2
 so much so1 that any stranger who      
should have studied his works1 and been 
unacquainted with his person1 would have
 found it difficult to believe1 that in 
this delightful companion he saw the    
profound author of the ,transcendental  
,philosophy4  ,the subjects of          
conversation at ,kant's table were drawn
 chiefly from natural philosophy1       
chemistry1 meteorology1 natural history1
 and above all1 from politics4 ,the news
 of the day1 as reported in the public  
journals1 was discussed with a peculiar 
vigilance of examination4 ,with regard  
to any narrative that wanted dates of   
time and place1 however otherwise       
plausible1 he was uniformly an          
inexorable sceptic1 and held it unworthy
 of repetition4 ,so keen was his        
penetration into the interior of        

political events1 and the secret policy 
under which they moved1 that he talked  
rather with the authority of a          
diplomatic person who had access to     
cabinet intelligence1 than as a simple  
spectator of the great scenes which were
 unfolding in ,europe4 ,at the time of  
the ,french ,revolution1 he threw out   
many conjectures1 and what were then    
accounted paradoxical anticipations1    
especially in regard to military        
operations1 which were as punctually    
fulfilled as his own memorable          
conjecture in regard to the hiatus in   
the planetary system between ,mars and  
,jupiter1,footnote3 ,to which the author
 should have added--and in regard to the
 hiatus between the planetary and       
cometary systems1 which was pointed out 
by ,kant several years before his       
conjecture was established by the good  
telescope of ,dr4 ,herschel4 ,vesta and 
,juno1 further confirmations of ,kant's 
conjecture1 were discovered in ,june    
#ahjd1 when ,wasianski wrote4 the entire

 confirmation of which he lived to      
witness on the discovery of ,ceres by   
,piazzi1 in ,palermo1 and of ,pallas1 by
 ,dr4 ,olbers1 at ,bremen4 ,these two   
discoveries1 by the way1 impressed him  
much2 and they furnished a topic on     
which he always talked with pleasure2   
though1 according to his usual modesty1 
he never said a word of his own sagacity
 in having upon  priori grounds shown   
the probability of such discoveries many
 years before4  ,it was not only in the 
character of a companion that ,kant     
shone1 but also as a most courteous and 
liberal host1 who had no greater        
pleasure than in seeing his guests happy
 and jovial1 and rising with exhilarated
 spirits from the mixed                 
pleasures--intellectual and liberally   
sensual-- of his ,platonic banquets4    
,chiefly1 perhaps1 with a view to the   
sustaining of this tone of genial       
hilarity1 he showed himself somewhat of 
an artist in the composition of his     
dinner parties4 ,two rules there were   

which he obviously observed1 and ,i may 
say invariably3 the first was1 that the 
company should be miscellaneous2 this   
for the sake of securing sufficient     
variety to the conversation3 and        
accordingly his parties presented as    
much variety as the world of ,knigsberg 
afforded1 being drawn from all the modes
 of life1 men in office1 professors1    
physicians1 clergymen1 and enlightened  
merchants4 ,his second rule was1 to have
 a due balance of young men1 frequently 
of very young men1 selected from the    
students of the university1 in order to 
impress a movement of gaiety and        
juvenile playfulness on the             
conversation2 an additional motive for  
which1 as ,i have reason to believe1    
was1 that in this way he withdrew his   
mind from the sadness which sometimes   
overshadowed it1 for the early deaths of
 some young friends whom he loved4  ,and
 this leads me to mention a singular    
feature in ,kant's way of expressing his
 sympathy with his friends in sickness4 

,so long as the danger was imminent1 he 
testified a restless anxiety1 made      
perpetual inquiries1 waited with        
patience for the crisis1 and sometimes  
could not pursue his customary labors   
from agitation of mind4 ,but no sooner  
was the patient's death announced1 than 
he recovered his composure1 and assumed 
an air of stern tranquillity--almost of 
indifference4 ,the reason was1 that he  
viewed life in general1 and therefore1  
that particular affection of life which 
we call sickness1 as a state of         
oscillation and perpetual change1       
between which and the fluctuating       
sympathies of hope and fear1 there was a
 natural proportion that justified them 
to the reason2 whereas death1 as a      
permanent state that admitted of no more
 or less1 that terminated all anxiety1  
and for ever extinguished the agitation 
of suspense1 he would not allow to be   
fitted to any state of feeling1 but one 
of the same enduring and unchanging     
character4 ,however1 all this           

philosophic heroism gave way on one     
occasion2 for many persons will remember
 the tumultuous grief which he          
manifested upon the death of ,mr4       
,ehrenboth1 a young man of very fine    
understanding and extensive attainments1
 for whom he had the greatest affection4
 ,and naturally it happened1 in so long 
a life as his1 in spite of his provident
 rule for selecting his social          
companions as much as possible amongst  
the young1 that he had to mourn for many
 a heavy loss that could never be       
supplied to him4  ,to return1 however1  
to the course of his day1 immediately   
after the termination of his dinner     
party1 ,kant walked out for exercise2   
but on this occasion he never took any  
companion1 partly1 perhaps1 because he  
thought it right1 after so much         
convivial and colloquial relaxation1 to 
pursue his meditations1,footnote3 ,mr4  
,wasianski is wrong4 ,to pursue his     
meditations under these circumstances1  
might perhaps be an inclination of      

,kant's to which he yielded1 but not one
 which he would justify or erect into a 
maxim4 ,he disapproved of eating alone1 
or solipsismus convictorii1 as he calls 
it1 on the principle1 that a man would  
be apt1 if not called off by the        
business and pleasure of a social party1
 to think too much or too closely1 an   
exercise which he considered very       
injurious to the stomach during the     
first process of digestion4 ,on the same
 principle he disapproved of walking or 
riding alone2 the double exercise of    
thinking and bodily agitation1 carried  
on at the same time1 being likely1 as he
 conceived1 to press too hard upon the  
stomach4 and partly 7as ,i happen to    
know7 for a very peculiar reason1 viz41 
that he wished to breathe exclusively   
through his nostrils1 which he could not
 do if he were obliged continually to   
open his mouth in conversation4 ,his    
reason for this was1 that the           
atmospheric air1 being thus carried     
round by a longer circuit1 and reaching 

the lungs1 therefore1 in a state of less
 rawness1 and at a temperature somewhat 
higher1 would be less apt to irritate   
them4 ,by a steady perseverance in this 
practice1 which he constantly           
recommended to his friends1 he flattered
 himself with a long immunity from      
coughs1 colds1 hoarseness1 and every    
mode of defluxion2 and the fact really  
was1 that these troublesome affections  
attacked him very rarely4 ,indeed ,i    
myself1 by only occasionally adopting   
his rule1 have found my chest not so    
liable as formerly to such attacks4  ,at
 six o'clock he sat down to his library 
table1 which was a plain ordinary piece 
of furniture1 and read till dusk4       
,during this period of dubious light1 so
 friendly to thought1 he rested in      
tranquil meditation on what he had been 
reading1 provided the book were worth   
it2 if not1 he sketched his lecture for 
the next day1 or some part of any book  
he might then be composing4 ,during this
 state of repose he took his station    

winter and summer by the stove1 looking 
through the window at the old tower of  
,lobenicht2 not that he could be said   
properly to see it1 but the tower rested
 upon his eye1--obscurely1 or but half  
revealed to his consciousness4 ,no words
 seemed forcible enough to express his  
sense of the gratification which he     
derived from this old tower1 when seen  
under these circumstances of twilight   
and quiet reverie4 ,the sequel1 indeed1 
showed how important it was to his      
comfort2 for at length some poplars in a
 neighboring garden shot up to such a   
height as to obscure the tower1 upon    
which ,kant became very uneasy and      
restless1 and at length found himself   
positively unable to pursue his evening 
meditations4 ,fortunately1 the          
proprietor of the garden was a very     
considerate and obliging person1 who    
had1 besides1 a high regard for ,kant2  
and1 accordingly1 upon a representation 
of the case being made to him1 he gave  
orders that the poplars should be       

cropped4 ,this was done1 the old tower  
of ,lobenicht was again unveiled1 and   
,kant recovered his equanimity1 and     
pursued his twilight meditations as     
before4  ,after the candles were        
brought1 ,kant prosecuted his studies   
till nearly ten o'clock4 ,a quarter of  
an hour before retiring for the night1  
he withdrew his mind as much as possible
 from every class of thoughts which     
demanded any exertion or energy of      
attention1 on the principle1 that by    
stimulating and exciting him too much1  
such thoughts would be apt to cause     
wakefulness2 and the slightest          
interference with his customary hour of 
falling asleep1 was in the highest      
degree unpleasant to him4 ,happily1 this
 was with him a very rare occurrence4   
,he undressed himself without his       
servant's assistance1 but in such an    
order1 and with such a ,roman regard to 
decorum and the to prepon1 that he was  
always ready at a moment's warning to   
make his appearance without             

embarrassment to himself or to others4  
,this done1 he lay down on a mattress1  
and wrapped himself up in a quilt1 which
 in summer was always of cotton1--in    
autumn1 of wool2 at the setting-in of   
winter he used both--and against very   
severe cold1 he protected himself by one
 of eider-down1 of which the part which 
covered his shoulders was not stuffed   
with feathers1 but padded1 or rather    
wadded closely with layers of wool4     
,long practice had taught him a very    
dexterous mode of nesting himself1 as it
 were1 in the bed-clothes4 ,first of    
all1 he sat down on the bedside2 then   
with an agile motion he vaulted         
obliquely into his lair2 next he drew   
one corner of the bedclothes under his  
left shoulder1 and passing it below his 
back1 brought it round so as to rest    
under his right shoulder2 fourthly1 by a
 particular tour d'adresse1 he treated  
the other corner in the same way1 and   
finally contrived to roll it round his  
whole person4 ,thus swathed like a      

mummy1 or 7as ,i used to tell him7      
self-involved like the silk-worm in its 
cocoon1 he awaited the approach of      
sleep1 which generally came on          
immediately4 ,for ,kant's health was    
exquisite2 not mere negative health1 or 
the absence of pain1 but a state of     
positive pleasurable sensation1 and a   
genial sense of the entire possession of
 all his activities4 ,accordingly1 when 
packed up for the night in the way ,i   
have described1 he would often ejaculate
 to himself 7as he used to tell us at   
dinner7-- ',is it possible to conceive a
 human being with more perfect health   
than myself8' ,in fact1 such was the    
innocence of his life1 and such the     
happy condition of his situation1 that  
no uneasy passion ever arose to excite  
him--nor care to harass--nor pain to    
awake him4 ,even in the severest winter 
his sleeping-room was without a fire2   
only in his latter years he yielded so  
far to the entreaties of his friends as 
to allow of a very small one4 ,all      

nursing or self-indulgence found no     
quarter with ,kant4 ,in fact1 five      
minutes1 in the coldest weather1        
sufficed to supersede the first chill of
 the bed1 by the diffusion of a general 
glow over his person4 ,if he had any    
occasion to leave his room in the       
night-time1 7for it was always kept dark
 day and night1 summer and winter17 he  
guided himself by a rope1 which was duly
 attached to his bed-post every night1  
and carried into the adjoining          
apartment4  ,kant never perspired1      
,footnote3 ,this appears less           
extraordinary1 considering the          
description of ,kant's person1 given    
originally by ,reichardt1 about eight   
years after his death4 ',kant1' says    
this writer1 'was drier than dust both  
in body and mind4 ,his person was small2
 and possibly a more meagre1 arid1      
parched anatomy of a man1 has not       
appeared upon this earth4 ,the upper    
part of his face was grand2 forehead    
lofty and serene1 nose elegantly turned1

 eyes brilliant and penetrating2 but    
below it expressed powerfully the       
coarsest sensuality1 which in him       
displayed itself by immoderate addiction
 to eating and drinking4' ,this last    
feature of his temperament is here      
expressed much too harshly4 night or    
day4 ,yet it was astonishing how much   
heat he supported habitually in his     
study1 and in fact was not easy if it   
wanted but one degree of this heat4     
,seventy-five degrees of ,fahrenheit was
 the invariable temperature of this room
 in which he chiefly lived2 and if it   
fell below that point1 no matter at what
 season of the year1 he had it raised   
artificially to the usual standard4 ,in 
the heats of summer he went thinly      
dressed1 and invariably in silk         
stockings2 yet1 as even this dress could
 not always secure him against          
perspiring when engaged in active       
exercise1 he had a singular remedy in   
reserve4 ,retiring to some shady place1 
he stood still and motionless--with the 

air and attitude of a person listening1 
or in suspense--until his usual aridity 
was restored4 ,even in the most sultry  
summer night1 if the slightest trace of 
perspiration had sullied his            
night-dress1 he spoke of it with        
emphasis1 as of an accident that        
perfectly shocked him4  ,on this        
occasion1 whilst illustrating ,kant's   
notions of the animal economy1 it may be
 as well to add one other particular1   
which is1 that for fear of obstructing  
the circulation of the blood1 he never  
would wear garters2 yet1 as he found it 
difficult to keep up his stockings      
without them1 he had invented for       
himself a most elaborate substitute1    
which ,i shall describe4 ,in a little   
pocket1 somewhat smaller than a         
watch-pocket1 but occupying pretty      
nearly the same situation as a          
watch-pocket on each thigh1 there was   
placed a small box1 something like a    
watch-case1 but smaller2 into this box  
was introduced a watch- spring in a     

wheel1 round about which wheel was wound
 an elastic cord1 for regulating the    
force of which there was a separate     
contrivance4 ,to the two ends of this   
cord were attached hooks1 which hooks   
were carried through a small aperture in
 the pockets1 and so passing down the   
inner and the outer side of the thigh1  
caught hold of two loops which were     
fixed on the off side and the near side 
of each stocking4 ,as might be expected1
 so complex an apparatus was liable1    
like the ,ptolemaic system of the       
heavens1 to occasional derangements2    
however1 by good luck1 ,i was able to   
apply an easy remedy to these disorders 
which sometimes threatened to disturb   
the comfort1 and even the serenity1 of  
the great man4  ,precisely at five      
minutes before five o'clock1 winter or  
summer1 ,lampe1 ,kant's servant1 who had
 formerly served in the army1 marched   
into his master's room with the air of a
 sentinel on duty1 and cried aloud in a 
military tone1--',mr4 ,professor1 the   

time is come4' ,this summons ,kant      
invariably obeyed without one moment's  
delay1 as a soldier does the word of    
command--never1 under any circumstances1
 allowing himself a respite1 not even   
under the rare accident of having passed
 a sleepless night4 ,as the clock struck
 five1 ,kant was seated at the          
breakfast- table1 where he drank what he
 called one cup of tea2 and no doubt he 
thought it such2 but the fact was1 that 
in part from his habit of reverie1 and  
in part also for the purpose of         
refreshing its warmth1 he filled up his 
cup so often1 that in general he is     
supposed to have drunk two1 three1 or   
some unknown number4 ,immediately after 
he smoked a pipe of tobacco1 7the only  
one which he allowed himself through the
 entire day17 but so rapidly1 that a    
pile of glowing embers remained         
unsmoked4 ,during this operation he     
thought over his arrangements for the   
day1 as he had done the evening before  
during the twilight4 ,about seven he    

usually went to his lecture-room1 and   
from that he returned to his            
writing-table4 ,precisely at three      
quarters before one he rose from his    
chair1 and called aloud to the          
cook1--',it has struck three quarters4' 
,the meaning of which summons was       
this3--,immediately after taking soup1  
it was his constant practice to swallow 
what he called a dram1 which consisted  
either of ,hungarian wine1 of ,rhenish1 
of a cordial1 or 7in default of these7  
of ,bishop4 ,a flask of this was brought
 up by the cook on the proclamation of  
the three quarters4 ,kant hurried with  
it to the eating-room1 poured out his   
quantum1 left it standing in readiness1 
covered1 however1 with paper1 to prevent
 its becoming vapid1 and then went back 
to his study1 and awaited the arrival of
 his guests1 whom to the latest period  
of his life he never received but in    
full dress4  ,thus we come round again  
to dinner1 and the reader has now an    
accurate picture of the course of       

,kant's day2 the rigid monotony of which
 was not burthensome to him2 and        
probably contributed1 with the          
uniformity of his diet1 and other habits
 of the same regularity1 to lengthen his
 life4 ,on this consideration1 indeed1  
he had come to regard his health and his
 old age as in a great measure the      
product of his own exertions4 ,he spoke 
of himself often under the figure of a  
gymnastic artist1 who had continued for 
nearly fourscore years to support his   
balance upon the slack-rope of life1    
without once swerving to the right or to
 the left4 ,in spite of every illness to
 which his constitutional tendencies had
 exposed him1 he still kept his position
 in life triumphantly4 ,however1 he     
would sometimes observe sportively1 that
 it was really absurd1 and a sort of    
insult to the next generation for a man 
to live so long1 because he thus        
interfered with the prospects of younger
 people4  ,this anxious attention to his
 health accounts for the great interest 

which he attached to all new discoveries
 in medicine1 or to new ways of         
theorizing on the old ones4 ,as a work  
of great pretension in both classes1 he 
set the highest value upon the theory of
 the ,scotch physician ,brown1 or 7as it
 is usually called1 from the ,latin name
 of its author17 the ,brunonian ,theory4
 ,no sooner had ,weikard adopted        
,footnote3 ,this theory was afterwards  
greatly modified in ,germany2 and1      
judging from the random glances which ,i
 throw on these subjects1 ,i believe    
that in this recast it still keeps its  
ground in that country4 and made it     
known in ,germany1 than ,kant became    
familiar with it4 ,he considered it not 
only as a great step taken for medicine1
 but even for the general interests of  
man1 and fancied that in this he saw    
something analogous to the course which 
human nature has held in still more     
important inquiries1 viz43 first of all1
 a continual ascent towards the more and
 more elaborately complex1 and then a   

treading back1 on its own steps1 towards
 the simple and elementary4 ,dr4        
,beddoes's ,essays1 also1 for producing 
by art and curing pulmonary consumption1
 and the method of ,reich for curing    
fevers1 made a powerful impression upon 
him2 which1 however1 declined as those  
novelties 7especially the last7 began to
 sink in credit4 ,as to ,dr4 ,jenner's  
discovery of vaccination1 he was less   
favorably disposed to it2 he apprehended
 dangerous consequences from the        
absorption of a brutal miasma into the  
human blood1 or at least into the lymph2
 and at any rate he thought1 that1 as a 
guarantee against the variolous         
infection1 it required a much longer    
probation4 ,groundless as all these     
views were1 it was exceedingly          
entertaining to hear the fertility of   
argument and analogy which he brought   
forward to support them4 ,one of the    
subjects which occupied him at the      
latter end of his life1 was the theory  
and phenomena of galvanism1 which1      

however1 he never satisfactorily        
mastered4 ,augustin's book upon this    
subject was about the last that he read1
 and his copy still retains on the      
margin his1 pencil-marks of doubts1     
queries and suggestions4  ,the          
infirmities of age now began to steal   
upon ,kant1 and betrayed themselves in  
more shapes than one4 ,connected with   
,kant's prodigious memory for all things
 that had any intellectual bearings1 he 
had from youth labored under an unusual 
weakness of this faculty in relation to 
the common affairs of daily life4 ,some 
remarkable instances of this are on     
record1 from the period of his childish 
days2 and now1 when his second childhood
 was commencing1 this infirmity         
increased upon him very sensibly4 ,one  
of the first signs was1 that he began to
 repeat the same stories more than once 
on the same day4 ,indeed1 the decay of  
his memory was too palpable to escape   
his own notice2 and1 to provide against 
it1 and secure himself from all         

apprehension of inflicting tedium upon  
his guests1 he began to write a         
syllabus1 or list of themes1 for each   
day's conversation1 on cards1 or the    
covers of letters1 or any chance scrap  
of paper4 ,but these memoranda          
accumulated so fast upon him1 and were  
so easily lost1 or not forthcoming at   
the proper moment1 that ,i prevailed on 
him to substitute a blank-paper book1   
which ,i had directed to be made1 and   
which still remains1 with some affecting
 memorials of his own conscious         
weakness4 ,as often happens1 however1 in
 such cases1 he had a perfect memory for
 the remote events of his life1 and     
could repeat with great readiness1 and  
without once stumbling1 very long       
passages from ,german or ,latin poems1  
especially from the ,a,eneid1 whilst the
 very words that had been uttered but a 
moment before dropped away from his     
remembrance4 ,the past came forward with
 the distinctness and liveliness of an  
immediate existence1 whilst the present 

faded away into the obscurity of        
infinite distance4  ,another sign of his
 mental decay was the weakness with     
which he now began to theorize4 ,he     
accounted for everything by electricity4
 ,a singular mortality at this time     
prevailed amongst the cats of ,vienna1  
,basle1 ,copenhagen1 and other places4  
,cats being so eminently an electric    
animal1 of course he attributed this    
epizootic to electricity4 ,during the   
same period1 he persuaded himself that a
 peculiar configuration of clouds       
prevailed2 this he took as a collateral 
proof of his electrical hypothesis4 ,his
 own headaches1 too1 which in all       
probability were a mere remote effect of
 old age1 and a direct one of an        
inability ,footnote3 ,mr4 ,wasianski is 
quite in the wrong here4 ,if the        
hindrances which nature presented to the
 act of thinking were now on the        
increase1 on the other hand1 the        
disposition to think1 by his own        
acknowledgment1 was on the wane4 ,the   

power and the habit altering in         
proportion1 there is no case made out of
 that disturbed equilibrium to which    
apparently he would attribute the       
headaches4 ,but the fact is1 that1 if he
 had been as well acquainted with       
,kant's writings as with ,kant          
personally1 he would have known1 that   
some affection of the head of a         
spasmodic kind was complained of by     
,kant at a time when nobody could       
suspect him of being in a decaying      
state4 to think as easily and as        
severely as formerly1 he explained upon 
the same principle4 ,and this was a     
notion of which his friends were not    
anxious to disabuse him1 because1 as    
something of the same character of      
weather 7and therefore probably the same
 general tendency of the electric power7
 is found to prevail for whole cycles of
 years1 entrance upon another cycle held
 out to him some prospect of relief4 ,a 
delusion which secured the comforts of  
hope was the next best thing to an      

actual remedy2 and a man who1 in such   
circumstances1 is cured of his delusion1
 'cui demptus per vim mentis gratissimus
 error1' might reasonably have          
exclaimed1 ',pol1 me occidistis1 amici4'
  ,possibly the reader may suppose1     
that1 in this particular instance of    
charging his own decays upon the state  
of the atmosphere1 ,kant was actuated by
 the weakness of vanity1 or some        
unwillingness to face the real fact that
 his powers were decaying4 ,but this was
 not the case4 ,he was perfectly aware  
of his own condition1 and1 as early as  
#agii1 he said1 in my presence1 to a    
party of his friends--',gentlemen1 ,i am
 old1 and weak1 and childish1 and you   
must treat me as a child4' ,or perhaps  
it may be thought that he shrank from   
the contemplation of death1 which1 as   
apoplexy seemed to be threatened by the 
pains in his head1 might have happened  
any day4 ,but neither was this the case4
 ,he now lived in a continual state of  
resignation1 and prepared to meet any   

dispensation of ,providence4            
',gentlemen1' said he one day to his    
guests1 ',i do not fear to die4 ,i      
assure you1 as in the presence of ,god1 
that if ,i were this night to be made   
suddenly aware that ,i was on the point 
of being summoned1 ,i would raise my    
hands to heaven1 fold them1 and say1    
,blessed be ,god6 ,if indeed it were    
possible that a whisper such as this    
could reach my ear--,fourscore years    
thou hast lived1 in which time thou hast
 inflicted much evil upon thy           
fellow-men1 the case would be           
otherwise4' ,whosoever has heard ,kant  
speak of his own death1 will bear       
witness to the tone of earnest sincerity
 which1 on such occasions1 marked his   
manner and utterance4  ,a third sign of 
his decaying faculties was1 that he now 
lost all accurate measure of time4 ,one 
minute1 nay1 without exaggeration1 a    
much less space of time1 stretched out  
in his apprehension of things to a      
wearisome duration4 ,of this ,i can give

 one rather amusing instance1 which was 
of constant recurrence4 ,at the         
beginning of the last year of his life1 
he fell into a custom of taking         
immediately after dinner a cup of       
coffee1 especially on those days when it
 happened that ,i was of his party4 ,and
 such was the importance he attached to 
this little pleasure1 that he would even
 make a memorandum beforehand1 in the   
blank-paper book ,i had given him1 that 
on the next day ,i was to dine with him1
 and consequently that there was to be  
coffee4 ,sometimes it would happen1 that
 the interest of conversation carried   
him past the time at which he felt the  
craving for it2 and this ,i was not     
sorry to observe1 as ,i feared that     
coffee1 which he had never been         
accustomed to1 ,footnote3 ,how this     
happened to be the case in ,germany1    
,mr4 ,wasianski has not explained4      
,perhaps the ,english merchants at      
,knigsberg1 being amongst ,kant's oldest
 and most intimate friends1 had early   

familiarized him to the practice of     
drinking tea1 and to other ,english     
tastes4 ,however1 ,jachmann tells us1   
7p4 #afd17 that ,kant was extravagantly 
fond of coffee1 but forced himself to   
abstain from it under a notion that it  
was very unwholesome4 might disturb his 
rest at night4 ,but1 if this did not    
happen1 then commenced a scene of some  
interest4 ,coffee must be brought 'upon 
the spot1' 7a word he had constantly in 
his mouth during his latter days17 'in a
 moment4' ,and the expressions of his   
impatience1 though from old habit still 
gentle1 were so lively1 and had so much 
of infantine navet about them1 that none
 of us could forbear smiling4 ,knowing  
what would happen1 ,i had taken care    
that all the preparations should be made
 beforehand2 the coffee was ground2 the 
water was boiling2 and the very moment  
the word was given1 his servant shot in 
like an arrow1 and plunged the coffee   
into the water4 ,all that remained1     
therefore1 was to give it time to boil  

up4 ,but this trifling delay seemed     
unendurable to ,kant4 ,all consolations 
were thrown away upon him3 vary the     
formula as we might1 he was never at a  
loss for a reply4 ,if it was            
said--',dear ,professor1 the coffee will
 be brought up in a moment4'--',will    
be6' he would say1 'but there's the rub1
 that it only will be3    ,man never is1
 but always to be blest4'  ,if another  
cried out--',the coffee is coming       
immediately4'--',yes1' he would retort1 
'and so is the next hour3 and1 by the   
way1 it's about that length of time that
 ,i have waited for it4' ,then he would 
collect himself with a stoical air1 and 
say--',well1 one can die after all3 it  
is but dying2 and in the next world1    
thank ,god6 there is no drinking of     
coffee1 and consequently no--waiting for
 it4' ,sometimes he would rise from his 
chair1 open the door1 and cry out with a
 feeble querulousness --',coffee6       
coffee6' ,and when at length he heard   
the servant's step upon the stairs1 he  

would turn round to us1 and1 as joyfully
 as ever sailor from the mast-head1 he  
would call out--',land1 land6 my dear   
friends1 ,i see land4'  ,this general   
decline in ,kant's powers1 active and   
passive1 gradually brought about a      
revolution in his habits of life4       
,heretofore1 as ,i have already         
mentioned1 he went to bed at ten1 and   
rose a little before five4 ,the latter  
practice he still observed1 but not the 
other4 ,in #ahjb he retired as early as 
nine1 and afterwards still earlier4 ,he 
found himself so much refreshed by this 
addition to his rest1 that at first he  
was disposed to utter a ,euraeka1 as    
over some great discovery in the art of 
restoring exhausted nature3 but         
afterwards1 on pushing it still farther1
 he did not find the success answer his 
expectations4 ,his walks he now limited 
to a few turns in the ,king's gardens1  
which were at no great distance from his
 own house4 ,in order to walk more      
firmly1 he adopted a peculiar method of 

stepping2 he carried his foot to the    
ground1 not forward1 and obliquely1 but 
perpendicularly1 and with a kind of     
stamp1 so as to secure a larger basis1  
by setting down the entire sole at once4
 ,notwithstanding this precaution1 upon 
one occasion he fell in the street4 ,he 
was quite unable to raise himself2 and  
two young ladies1 who saw the accident1 
ran to his assistance4 ,with his usual  
graciousness of manner he thanked them  
fervently for their assistance1 and     
presented one of them with a rose which 
he happened to have in his hand4 ,this  
lady was not personally known to ,kant2 
but she was greatly delighted with his  
little present1 and still keeps the rose
 as a frail memorial of her transitory  
interview with the great philosopher4   
,this accident1 as ,i have reason to    
think1 was the cause of his henceforth  
renouncing exercise altogether4 ,all    
labors1 even that of reading1 were now  
performed slowly1 and with manifest     
effort2 and those which cost him any    

bodily exertion became very exhausting  
to him4 ,his feet refused to do their   
office more and more2 he fell           
continually1 both when moving across the
 room1 and even when standing still3 yet
 he seldom suffered from these falls2   
and he constantly laughed at them1      
maintaining that it was impossible he   
could hurt himself1 from the extreme    
lightness of his person1 which was      
indeed by this time the merest skeleton4
 ,very often1 especially in the morning1
 he dropped asleep in his chair from    
pure weariness3 on these occasions he   
fell forward upon the floor1 and lay    
there unable to raise himself up1 until 
accident brought one of his servants or 
his friends into the room4 ,afterwards  
these falls were prevented1 by          
substituting a chair with circular      
supports1 that met and clasped in front4
  ,these unseasonable dozings exposed   
him to another danger4 ,he fell         
repeatedly1 whilst reading1 with his    
head into the candles2 a cotton         

night-cap which he wore was instantly in
 a blaze1 and flaming about his head4   
,whenever this happened1 ,kant behaved  
with great presence of mind4            
,disregarding the pain1 he seized the   
blazing cap1 drew it from his head1 laid
 it quietly on the floor1 and trod out  
the flames with his feet4 ,yet1 as this 
last act brought his dressing-gown into 
a dangerous neighborhood to the flames1 
,i changed the form of his cap1         
persuaded him to arrange the candles    
differently1 and had a decanter of water
 placed constantly by his side2 and in  
this way ,i applied a remedy to a       
danger1 which would else probably have  
been fatal to him4  ,from the sallies of
 impatience1 which ,i have described in 
the case of the coffee1 there was reason
 to fear that1 with the increasing      
infirmities of ,kant1 would grow up a   
general waywardness and obstinacy of    
temper4 ,for my own sake1 therefore1 and
 not less for his1 ,i now laid down one 
rule for my future conduct in his house2

 which was1 that ,i would1 on no        
occasion1 allow my reverence for him to 
interfere with the firmest expression of
 my opinion on subjects relating to his 
own health2 and in cases of great       
importance1 that ,i would make no       
compromise with his particular humors1  
but insist1 not only on my view of the  
case1 but also on the practical adoption
 of my views2 or1 if this were refused  
me1 that ,i would take my departure at  
once1 and not be made responsible for   
the comfort of a person whom ,i had no  
power to influence4 ,and this behavior  
on my part it was that won ,kant's      
confidence2 for there was nothing which 
disgusted him so much as any approach to
 fawning or sycophancy4 ,as his         
imbecility increased1 he became daily   
more liable to mental delusions2 and1 in
 particular1 he fell into many fantastic
 notions about the conduct of his       
servants1 and1 in consequence1 into a   
peevish mode of treating them4 ,upon    
these occasions ,i generally observed a 

deep silence4 ,but sometimes he would   
ask me for my opinion2 and when this    
happened1 ,i did not scruple to say1    
',ingenuously1 then1 ,mr4 ,professor1 ,i
 think that you are in the              
wrong4'--',you think so8' he would reply
 calmly1 at the same time asking for my 
reasons1 which he would listen to with  
great patience1 and openness to         
conviction4 ,indeed1 it was evident that
 the firmest opposition1 so long as it  
rested upon assignable grounds and      
principles1 won upon his regard2 whilst 
his own nobleness of character still    
moved him to habitual contempt for      
timorous and partial acquiescence in his
 opinions1 even when his infirmities    
made him most anxious for such          
acquiescence4  ,earlier in life ,kant   
had been little used to contradiction4  
,his superb understanding1 his          
brilliancy in conversation1 founded in  
part upon his ready and sometimes rather
 caustic wit1 and in part upon his      
prodigious command of knowledge--the air

 of noble self-confidence which the     
consciousness of these advantages       
impressed upon his manners--and the     
general knowledge of the severe         
innocence of his life--all combined to  
give him a station of superiority to    
others1 which generally secured him from
 open contradiction4 ,and if it         
sometimes happened that he met a noisy  
and intemperate opposition1 supported by
 any pretences to wit1 he usually       
withdrew himself from that sort of      
unprofitable altercation with dignity1  
by contriving to give such a turn to the
 conversation as won the general favor  
of the company to himself1 and          
impressed1 silence1 or modesty at least1
 upon the boldest disputant4 ,from a    
person so little familiar with          
opposition1 it could scarcely have been 
anticipated that he should daily        
surrender his wishes to mine--if not    
without discussion1 yet always without  
displeasure4 ,so1 however1 it was4 ,no  
habit1 of whatever long standing1 could 

be objected to as injurious to his      
health1 but he would generally renounce 
it4 ,and he had this excellent custom in
 such cases1 that either he would       
resolutely and at once decide for his   
own opinion1 or1 if he professed to     
follow his friend's1 he would follow it 
sincerely1 and not try it unfairly by   
trying it imperfectly4 ,any plan1       
however trifling1 which he had once     
consented to adopt on the suggestion of 
another1 was never afterwards defeated  
or embarrassed by unseasonable          
interposition from his own humors4 ,and 
thus1 the very period of his decay drew 
forth so many fresh expressions of his  
character1 in its amiable or noble      
features1 as daily increased my         
affection and reverence for his person4 
,having mentioned his servants1 ,i shall
 here take occasion to give some account
 of his man-servant ,lampe4 ,it was a   
great misfortune for ,kant1 in his old  
age and infirmities1 that this man also 
became old1 and subject to a different  

sort of infirmities4 ,this ,lampe had   
originally served in the ,prussian army2
 on quitting which he entered the       
service of ,kant4 ,in this situation he 
had lived about forty years2 and1 though
 always dull and stupid1 had1 in the    
early part of this period1 discharged   
his duties with tolerable fidelity4 ,but
 latterly1 presuming upon his own       
indispensableness1 from his perfect     
knowledge of all the domestic           
arrangements1 and upon his master's     
weakness1 he had fallen into great      
irregularities and neglect of his       
duties4 ,kant had been obliged1         
therefore1 of late1 to threaten         
repeatedly that he would discharge him4 
,i1 who knew that ,kant1 though one of  
the kindest-hearted men1 was also one of
 the firmest1 foresaw that this         
discharge1 once given1 would be         
irrevocable3 for the word of ,kant was  
as sacred as other men's oaths4         
,consequently1 upon every opportunity1  
,i remonstrated with ,lampe on the folly

 of his conduct1 and his wife joined me 
on these occasions4 ,indeed1 it was high
 time that a change should be made in   
some quarter2 for it now became         
dangerous to leave ,kant1 who was       
constantly falling from weakness1 to the
 care of an old ruffian1 who was himself
 apt to fall from intoxication4 ,the    
fact was1 that from the moment ,i       
undertook the management of ,kant's     
affairs1 ,lampe saw there was an end to 
his old system of abusing his master's  
confidence in pecuniary affairs1 and the
 other advantages which he took of his  
helpless situation4 ,this made him      
desperate1 and he behaved worse and     
worse2 until one morning1 in ,january1  
#ahjb1 ,kant told me1 that1 humiliating 
as he felt such a confession1 the fact  
was1 that ,lampe had just treated him in
 a way which he was ashamed to repeat4  
,i was too much shocked to distress him 
by inquiring into the particulars4 ,but 
the result was1 that ,kant now insisted1
 temperately but firmly1 on ,lampe's    

dismissal4 ,accordingly1 a new servant1 
of the name of ,kaufmann1 was           
immediately engaged2 and on the next day
 ,lampe was discharged with a handsome  
pension for life4  ,here ,i must mention
 a little circumstance which does honor 
to ,kant's benevolence4 ,in his last    
will1 on the assumption that ,lampe     
would continue with him to his death1 he
 had made a very liberal provision for  
him2 but upon this new arrangement of   
the pension1 which was to take effect   
immediately1 it became necessary to     
revoke that part of his will1 which he  
did in a separate codicil1 that began   
thus3--',in consequence of the ill      
behavior of my servant ,lampe1 ,i think 
fit1' c4 ,but soon after1 considering   
that such a record of ,lampe's          
misconduct might be seriously injurious 
to his interests1 he cancelled the      
passage1 and expressed it in such a way1
 that no trace remained behind of his   
just displeasure4 ,and his benign nature
 was gratified with knowing1 that1 this 

one sentence blotted out1 there remained
 no other in all his numerous writings1 
published or confidential1 which spoke  
the language of anger1 or could leave   
any ground for doubting that he died in 
charity with all the world4 ,upon       
,lampe's calling to demand a written    
character1 he was1 however1 a good deal 
embarrassed2 his stern reverence for    
truth being1 in this instance1 armed    
against the first impulses of his       
kindness4 ,long and anxiously he sat1   
with the certificate lying before him1  
debating how he should fill up the      
blanks4 ,i was present1 but in such a   
matter ,i did not take the liberty of   
suggesting any advice4 ,at last1 he took
 his pen1 and filled up the blank as    
follows3--'--has served me long and     
faithfully1'--7for ,kant was not aware  
that he had robbed him17--'but did not  
display those particular qualifications 
which fitted him for waiting on an old  
and infirm man like myself4'  ,this     
scene of disturbance over1 which to     

,kant1 a lover of peace and             
tranquillity1 caused a shock that he    
would gladly have been spared2 it was   
fortunate that no other of that nature  
occurred during the rest of his life4   
,kaufmann1 the successor of ,lampe1     
turned out to be a respectable and      
upright man1 and soon conceived a great 
attachment to his master's person4      
,things now put on a new face in ,kant's
 family3 by the removal of one of the   
belligerents1 peace was once more       
restored amongst his servants2 for      
hitherto there had been eternal wars    
between ,lampe and the cook4 ,sometimes 
it was ,lampe that carried a war of     
aggression into the cook's territory of 
the kitchen2 sometimes it was the cook  
that revenged these insults1 by sallying
 out upon ,lampe in the neutral ground  
of the hall1 or invaded him even in his 
own sanctuary of the butler's pantry4   
,the uproars were everlasting2 and thus 
far it was fortunate for the peace of   
the philosopher1 that his hearing had   

begun to fail2 by which means he was    
spared many an exhibition of hateful    
passions and ruffian violence1 which    
annoyed his guests and friends4 ,but now
 all things had changed3 deep silence   
reigned in the pantry2 the kitchen rang 
no more with martial alarums2 and the   
hall was unvexed with skirmish or       
pursuit4 ,yet it may be readily supposed
 that to ,kant1 at the age of           
seventy-eight1 changes1 even for the    
better1 were not welcome3 so intense had
 been the uniformity of his life and    
habits1 that the least innovation in the
 arrangement of articles as trifling as 
a penknife1 or a pair of scissors1      
disturbed him2 and not merely if they   
were pushed two or three inches out of  
their customary position1 but even if   
they were laid a little awry2 and as to 
larger objects1 such as chairs1 c41 any 
dislocation of their usual arrangement1 
any trans position1 or addition to their
 number1 perfectly confounded him2 and  
his eye appeared restlessly to haunt the

 seat of the mal- arrangement1 until the
 ancient order was restored4 ,with such 
habits the reader may conceive how      
distressing it must have been to him1 at
 this period of decaying powers1 to     
adapt himself to a new servant1 a new   
voice1 a new step1 c4  ,aware of this1  
,i had on the day before he entered upon
 his duties1 written down for the new   
servant upon a sheet of paper the entire
 routine of ,kant's daily life1 down to 
the minutest and most trivial           
circumstances2 all which he mastered    
with the greatest rapidity4 ,to make    
sure1 however1 we went through a        
rehearsal of the whole ritual2 he       
performing the manoeuvres1 ,i looking on
 and giving the word4 ,still ,i felt    
uneasy at the idea of his being left    
entirely to his own discretion on his   
first debut in good earnest1 and        
therefore ,i made a point of attending  
on this important day2 and in the few   
instances where the new recruit missed  
the accurate manoeuvre1 a glance or a   

nod from me easily made him comprehend  
his failure4  ,one part only there was  
of the daily ceremonial1 where all of us
 were at a loss1 as it was a part which 
no mortal eyes had ever witnessed but   
those of ,lampe3 this was breakfast4    
,however1 that we might do all in our   
power1 ,i myself attended at four       
o'clock in the morning4 ,the day        
happened1 as ,i remember1 to be the #ast
 of ,february1 #ahjb4 ,precisely at     
five1 ,kant made his appearance2 and    
nothing could equal his astonishment on 
finding me in the room4 ,fresh from the 
confusion of dreaming1 and bewildered   
alike by the sight of his new servant1  
by ,lampe's absence1 and by my presence1
 he could with difficulty be made to    
comprehend the purpose of my visit4 ,a  
friend in need is a friend indeed2 and  
we would now have given any money to    
that learned person who could have      
instructed us in the arrangement of the 
breakfast table4 ,but this was a mystery
 revealed to none but ,lampe4 ,at length

 ,kant took this task upon himself2 and 
apparently all was now settled to his   
satisfaction4 ,yet still it struck me   
that he was under some embarrassment or 
constraint4 ,upon this ,i said--that1   
with his permission1 ,i would take a cup
 of tea1 and afterwards smoke a pipe    
with him4 ,he accepted my offer with his
 usual courteous demeanor2 but seemed   
unable to familiarize himself with the  
novelty of his situation4 ,i was at this
 time sitting directly opposite to him2 
and at last he frankly told me1 but with
 the kindest and most apologetic air1   
that he was really under the necessity  
of begging that ,i would sit out of his 
sight2 for that1 having sat alone at the
 breakfast table for considerably more  
than half a century1 he could not       
abruptly adapt his mind to a change in  
this respect2 and he found his thoughts 
very sensibly disturbed4 ,i did as he   
desired2 the servant retired into an    
antiroom1 where he waited within call2  
and ,kant recovered his wonted          

composure4 ,just the same scene passed  
over again1 when ,i called at the same  
hour on a fine summer morning some      
months after4  ,henceforth all went     
right3 or1 if occasionally some little  
mistake occurred1 ,kant showed himself  
very considerate and indulgent1 and     
would remark of his own accord1 that a  
new servant could not be expected to    
know all his peculiar ways and humors4  
,in one respect1 indeed1 this man       
adapted himself to ,kant's scholarlike  
taste1 in a way which ,lampe was        
incapable of doing4 ,kant was somewhat  
fastidious in matters of pronunciation2 
and this man had a great facility in    
catching the true sound of ,latin words1
 the titles of books1 and the names or  
designations of ,kant's friends3 not one
 of which accomplishments could ,lampe1 
the most insufferable of blockheads1    
ever attain to4 ,in particular1 ,i have 
been told by ,kant's old friends1 that  
for the space of more than thirty years1
 during which he had been in the habit  

of reading the newspaper published by   
,hartung1 ,lampe delivered it with the  
same identical blunder on every day of  
publication4--',mr4 ,professor1 here is 
,hartmann's journal4' ,upon which ,kant 
would reply--',eh6 what8--,what's that  
you say8 ,hartmann's journal8 ,i tell   
you1 it is not ,hartmann1 but ,hartung3 
now1 repeat it after me--not ,hartmann1 
but ,hartung4' ,then ,lampe1 looking    
sulky1 and drawing himself up with the  
stiff air of a soldier on guard1 and in 
the very same monotonous tone with which
 he had been used to sing out his       
challenge of--,who goes there8 would    
roar--'not ,hartmann1 but ,hartung4'    
',now again6' ,kant would say3 on which 
again ,lampe roared--'not ,hartmann1 but
 ,hartung4' ',now a third time1' cried  
,kant3 on which for a third time the    
unhappy ,lampe would howl out--'not     
,hartmann1 but ,hartung4' ,and this     
whimsical scene of parade duty was      
continually repeated3 duly as the day of
 publication came1 the irreclaimable old

 dunce was put through the same         
manoeuvres1 which were as invariably    
followed by the same blunder on the     
next4 ,in spite1 however1 of this       
advantage1 in the new servant1 and his  
general superiority to his predecessor1 
,kant's nature was too kind and good1   
and too indulgent to all people's       
infirmities but his own1 not to miss the
 voice and the 'old familiar face' that 
he had been accustomed to for forty     
years4 ,and ,i met with what struck me  
as an affecting instance of ,kant's     
yearning after his old good-for-nothing 
servant in his memorandum-book3 other   
people record what they wish to         
remember2 but ,kant had here recorded   
what he was to forget4 ',mem43          
,february1 #ahjb1 the name of ,lampe    
must now be remembered no more4'  ,in   
the spring of this year1 #ahjb1 ,i      
advised ,kant to take the air4 ,it was  
very long since he had been out of      
doors1 ,footnote3 ,wasianski here       
returns thanks to some unknown person1  

who1 having observed that ,kant in his  
latter walks took pleasure in leaning   
against a particular wall to view the   
prospect1 had caused a seat to be fixed 
at that point for his use4 and walking  
was now out of the question4 ,but ,i    
thought the motion of a carriage and the
 air would be likely to revive him4 ,on 
the power of vernal sights and sounds ,i
 did not much rely2 for these had long  
ceased to affect him4 ,of all the       
changes that spring brings with it1     
there was one only that now interested  
,kant2 and he longed for it with an     
eagerness and intensity of expectation1 
that it was almost painful to witness3  
this was the return of a hedge sparrow  
that sang in his garden1 and before his 
window4 ,this bird1 either the same1 or 
one of the next generation1 had sung for
 years in the same situation2 and ,kant 
grew uneasy when the cold weather1      
lasting longer than usual1 retarded its 
return4 ,like ,lord ,bacon1 indeed1 he  
had a childlike love for birds in       

general1 and in particular1 took pains  
to encourage the sparrows to build above
 the windows of his study2 and when this
 happened1 7as it often did1 from the   
silence which prevailed in his study17  
he watched their proceedings with the   
delight and the tenderness which others 
give to a human interest4 ,to return to 
the point ,i was speaking of1 ,kant was 
at first very unwilling to accede to my 
proposal of going abroad4 ',i shall sink
 down in the carriage1' said he1 'and   
fall together like a heap of old rags4' 
,but ,i persisted with a gentle         
importunity in urging him to the        
attempt1 assuring him that we would     
return immediately if he found the      
effort too much for him4 ,accordingly1  
upon a tolerably warm day of early      
,footnote3 ,mr4 ,wasianski says--late in
 summer3 but1 as he elsewhere describes 
by the same expression of 'late in      
summer1' a day which was confessedly    
before the longest day1 and as the      
multitude of birds which continued to   

sing will not allow us to suppose that  
the summer could be very far advanced1  
,i have translated accordingly4 summer1 
,i1 and an old friend of ,kant's1       
accompanied him to a little place which 
,i rented in the country4 ,as we drove  
through the streets1 ,kant was delighted
 to find that he could sit upright1 and 
bear the motion of the carriage1 and    
seemed to draw youthful pleasure from   
the sight of the towers and other public
 buildings1 which he had not seen for   
years4 ,we reached the place of our     
destination in high spirits4 ,kant drank
 a cup of coffee1 and attempted to smoke
 a little4 ,after this1 he sat and      
sunned himself1 listening with delight  
to the warbling of birds1 which         
congregated in great numbers about this 
spot4 ,he distinguished every bird by   
its song1 and called it by its right    
name4 ,after staying about half an hour1
 we set off on our homeward journey1    
,kant still cheerful1 but apparently    
satiated with his day's enjoyment4  ,i  

had on this occasion purposely avoided  
taking him to any public gardens1 that  
,i might not disturb his pleasure by    
exposing him to the distressing gaze of 
public curiosity4 ,however1 it was known
 in ,knigsberg that ,kant had gone out2 
and accordingly1 as the carriage moved  
through the streets which led to his    
residence1 there was a general rush from
 all quarters in that direction1 and1   
when we turned into the street where the
 house stood1 we found it already choked
 up with people4 ,as we slowly drew up  
to the door1 a lane was formed in the   
crowd1 through which ,kant was led1 ,i  
and my friend supporting him on our     
arms4 ,looking at the crowd1 ,i observed
 the faces of many persons of rank1 and 
distinguished strangers1 some of whom   
now saw ,kant for the first time1 and   
many of them for the last4  ,as the     
winter of #ahjb-c approached1 he        
complained more than ever of an         
affection of the stomach1 which no      
medical man had been able to mitigate1  

or even to explain4 ,the winter passed  
over in a complaining way2 he was weary 
of life1 and longed for the hour of     
dismission4 ',i can be of service to the
 world no more1' said he1 'and am a     
burden to myself4' ,often ,i endeavored 
to cheer him by the anticipation of     
excursions that we would make together  
when summer came again4 ,on these he    
calculated with so much earnestness1    
that he had made a regular scale or     
classification of them--l4 ,airings2 #b4
 ,journeys2 #c4 ,travels4 ,and nothing  
could equal the yearning impatience     
expressed for the coming of spring and  
summer1 not so much for their own       
peculiar attractions1 as because they   
were the seasons for travelling4 ,in his
 memorandum-book1 he made this          
note3--',the three summer months are    
,june1 ,july1 and ,august'--meaning that
 they were the three months for         
travelling4 ,and in conversation he     
expressed the feverish strength of his  
wishes so plaintively and affectingly1  

that everybody was drawn into powerful  
sympathy with him1 and wished for some  
magical means of ante-dating the course 
of the seasons4  ,in this winter his    
bed-room was often warmed4 ,this was the
 room in which he kept his little       
collection of books1 of about four      
hundred and fifty volumes1 chiefly      
presentation-copies from the authors4   
,it may seem singular that ,kant1 who   
read so extensively1 should have no     
larger library2 but he had less need of 
one than most scholars1 having in his   
earlier years been librarian at the     
,royal ,library of the ,castle2 and     
since then having enjoyed from the      
liberality of ,hartknoch1 his publisher1
 7who1 in his turn1 had profited by the 
liberal terms on which ,kant had made   
over to him the copyright of his own    
works17 the first sight of every new    
book that appeared4  ,at the close of   
this winter1 that is in #ahjc1 ,kant    
first began to complain of unpleasant   
dreams1 sometimes of very terrific ones1

 which awakened him in great agitation4 
,oftentimes melodies1 which he had heard
 in earliest youth sung in the streets  
of ,knigsberg1 resounded painfully in   
his ears1 and dwelt upon them in a way  
from which no efforts of abstraction    
could release him4 ,these kept him awake
 to unseasonable hours2 and often when1 
after long watching1 he had fallen      
asleep1 however deep his sleep might be1
 it was suddenly broken up by terrific  
dreams1 which alarmed him beyond        
description4 ,almost every night1 the   
bell-rope1 which communicated with a    
bell in the room above his own1 where   
his servant slept1 was pulled violently1
 and with the utmost agitation4 ,no     
matter how fast the servant might hurry 
down1 he was almost always too late1 and
 was pretty sure to find his master out 
of bed1 and often making his way in     
terror to some other part of the house4 
,the weakness of his feet exposed him to
 such dreadful falls on these occasions1
 that at length 7but with much          

difficulty7 ,i persuaded him to let his 
servant sleep in the same room with     
himself4  ,the morbid affection of the  
stomach began now to be more and more   
distressing2 and he tried various       
applications1 which he had formerly been
 loud in condemning1 such as a few drops
 of rum upon a piece of sugar1 naphtha1 
,footnote3 ,for ,kant's particular      
complaint1 as described by other        
biographers1 a quarter of a grain of    
opium1 every twelve hours1 would have   
been the best remedy1 perhaps a perfect 
remedy4 c4 ,but all these were only     
palliatives2 for his advanced age       
precluded the hope of a radical cure4   
,his dreadful dreams became continually 
more appalling3 single scenes1 or       
passages in these dreams1 were          
sufficient to compose the whole course  
of mighty tragedies1 the impression from
 which was so profound as to stretch far
 into his waking hours4 ,amongst other  
phantasmata more shocking and           
indescribable1 his dreams constantly    

represented to him the forms of         
murderers advancing to his bedside2 and 
so agitated was he by the awful trains  
of phantoms that swept past him nightly1
 that in the first confusion of awaking 
he generally mistook his servant1 who   
was hastening to his assistance1 for a  
murderer4 ,in the day-time we often     
conversed upon these shadowy illusions2 
and ,kant1 with his usual spirit of     
stoical contempt for nervous weakness of
 every sort1 laughed at them2 and1 to   
fortify his own resolution to contend   
against them1 he wrote down in his      
memorandum-book1 ',there must be no     
yielding to panics of darkness4' ,at my 
suggestion1 however1 he now burned a    
light in his chamber1 so placed as that 
the rays might be shaded from his face4 
,at first he was very averse to this1   
though gradually he became reconciled to
 it4 ,but that he could bear it at all1 
was to me an expression of the great    
revolution accomplished by the terrific 
agency of his dreams4 ,heretofore1      

darkness and utter silence were the two 
pillars on which his sleep rested3 no   
step must approach his room2 and as to  
light1 if he saw but a moonbeam         
penetrating a crevice of the shutters1  
it made him unhappy2 and1 in fact1 the  
windows of his bed-chamber were         
barricadoed night and day4 ,but now     
darkness was a terror to him1 and       
silence an oppression4 ,in addition to  
his lamp1 therefore1 he had now a       
repeater in his room2 the sound was at  
first too loud1 but1 after muffling the 
hammer with cloth1 both the ticking and 
the striking became companionable sounds
 to him4  ,at this time 7spring of      
#ahjc7 his appetite began to fail1 which
 ,i thought no good sign4 ,many persons 
insist that ,kant was in the habit of   
eating too much for health4 ,footnote3  
,who these worthy people were that      
criticised ,kant's eating1 is not       
mentioned4 ,they could have had no      
opportunity of exercising their         
abilities on this question1 except as   

hosts1 guests1 or fellow-guests2 and in 
any of those characters1 a gentleman1   
one would suppose1 must feel himself    
degraded by directing his attention to a
 point of that nature4 ,however1 the    
merits of the case stand thus between   
the parlies3 ,kant1 it is agreed by all 
his biographers1 ate only once a day2   
for as to his breakfast1 it was nothing 
more than a very weak infusion of tea1  
7vide ,jachmann's ,letters1 p4 #afc17   
with no bread1 or eatable of any kind4  
,now1 his critics1 by general           
confession1 ate their way1 from 'morn to
 dewy eve1' through the following course
 of meals3 #a4 ,breakfast early in the  
morning2 #b4 ,breakfast  la fourchette  
about ten1 ,a4,m42 #c4 ,dinner at one or
 two2 #d4 ,vesper ,brod2 #e4 ,abend     
,brod2 all which does really seem a very
 fair allowance for a man who means to  
lecture upon abstinence at night4 ,but  
,i shall cut this matter short by       
stating one plain fact2 there were two  
things1 and no more1 for which ,kant had

 an inordinate craving during his whole 
life2 these were tobacco and coffee2 and
 from both these he abstained almost    
altogether1 merely under a sense of     
duty1 resting probably upon erroneous   
grounds4 ,of the first he allowed       
himself a very small quantity1 7and     
everybody knows that temperance is a    
more difficult virtue than abstinence27 
of the other none at all1 until the     
labors of his life were accomplished4   
,i1 however1 cannot assent to this      
opinion2 for he ate but once a day1 and 
drank no beer4 ,of this liquor1 7,i mean
 the strong black beer17 he was1 indeed1
 the most determined enemy4 ,if ever a  
man died prematurely1 ,kant would       
say--',he has been drinking beer1 ,i    
presume4' ,or1 if another were          
indisposed1 you might be sure he would  
ask1 ',but does he drink beer8' ,and1   
according to the answer on this point1  
he regulated his anticipations for the  
patient4 ,strong beer1 in short1 he     
uniformly maintained to be a slow       

poison4 ,voltaire1 by the way1 had said 
to a young physician who denounced      
coffee under the same bad name of a     
'slow poison1' ',you're right there1 my 
friend1 however2 slow it is1 and        
horribly slow2 for ,i have been drinking
 it these seventy years1 and it has not 
killed me yet2' but this was an answer  
which1 in the case of beer1 ,kant would 
not allow of4  ,on the #bb;d of ,april1 
#ahjc1 his birth-day1 the last which he 
lived to see1 was celebrated in a full  
assembly of his friends4 ,this festival 
he had long looked forward to with great
 expectation1 and delighted even to hear
 the progress made in the preparations  
for it4 ,but when the day came1 the     
over-excitement and tension of          
expectation seemed to have defeated     
itself4 ,he tried to appear happy2 but  
the bustle of a numerous company        
confounded and distressed him2 and his  
spirits were manifestly forced4 ,he     
seemed first to revive to any real sense
 of pleasure at night1 when the company 

had departed1 and he was undressing in  
his study4 ,he then talked with much    
pleasure about the presents which1 as   
usual1 would be made to his servants on 
this occasion2 for ,kant was never happy
 himself1 unless he saw all around him  
happy4 ,he was a great maker of         
presents2 but at the same time he had no
 toleration for the studied theatrical  
effect1 the accompaniment of formal     
congratulations1 and the sentimental    
pathos with which birth-day presents are
 made in ,germany4 ,footnote3 ,in this1 
as in many other things1 the taste of   
,kant was entirely ,english and ,roman2 
as1 on the other hand1 some eminent     
,englishmen1 ,i am sorry to say1 have1  
on this very point1 shown the effeminacy
 and falsetto taste of the ,germans4 ,in
 particular1 ,mr4 ,coleridge1           
describing1 in ,the ,friend1 the custom 
amongst ,german children of making      
presents to their parents on ,christmas 
,eve1 7a custom which he unaccountably  
supposes to be peculiar to ,ratzeburg17 

represents the mother as 'weeping aloud 
for joy'--the old idiot of a father with
 'tears running down his face1' c4 c41  
and all for what8 ,for a snuff-box1 a   
pencil-case1 or some article of         
jewellery4 ,now1 we ,english agree with 
,kant on such maudlin display of stage  
sentimentality1 and are prone to suspect
 that papa's tears are the product of   
rum-punch4 ,tenderness let us have by   
all means1 and the deepest you can      
imagine1 but upon proportionate         
occasions1 and with causes fitted to    
justify it and sustain its dignity4 ,in 
all this1 his masculine taste gave him a
 sense of something fade and ludicrous4 
,the summer of #ahjc was now come1 and1 
visiting ,kant one day1 ,i was          
thunderstruck to hear him direct me1 in 
the most serious tone1 to provide the   
funds necessary for an extensive foreign
 tour4 ,i made no opposition1 but asked 
his reasons for such a plan2 he alleged 
the miserable sensations he had in his  
stomach1 which were no longer endurable4

 ,knowing what power over ,kant a       
quotation from a ,roman poet had always 
had1 ,i simply replied--',post equitem  
sedet atra cura1' and for the present he
 said no more4 ,but the touching and    
pathetic earnestness with which he was  
continually ejaculating prayers for     
warmer weather1 made it doubtful to me  
whether his wishes on this point ought  
not1 partially at least1 to be          
gratified2 and ,i therefore proposed to 
him a little excursion to the cottage we
 had visited the year before4           
',anywhere1' said he1 'no matter        
whither1 provided it be far enough4'    
,towards the latter end of ,june1       
therefore1 we executed this scheme2 on  
getting into the carriage1 the order of 
the day with ,kant was1 ',distance1     
distance4 ,only let us go far enough1'  
said he3 but scarcely had we reached the
 city-gates before the journey seemed   
already to have lasted too long4 ,on    
reaching the cottage we found coffee    
waiting for us2 but he would scarcely   

allow himself time for drinking it1     
before he ordered the carriage to the   
door2 and the journey back seemed       
insupportably long to him1 though it was
 performed in something less than twenty
 minutes4 ',is this never to have an    
end8' was his continual exclamation2 and
 great was his joy when he found himself
 once more in his study1 undressed1 and 
in bed4 ,and for this night he slept in 
peace1 and once again was liberated from
 the persecution of dreams4  ,soon after
 he began again to talk of journeys1 of 
travels in remote countries1 c41 and1 in
 consequence1 we repeated our former    
excursion several times2 and though the 
circumstances were pretty nearly the    
same on every occasion1 and always      
terminating in disappointment as to the 
immediate pleasure anticipated1 yet1    
undoubtedly1 they were1 on the whole1   
salutary to his spirits4 ,in particular1
 the cottage itself1 standing under the 
shelter of tall alders1 with a valley   
stretched beneath it1 through which a   

little brook meandered1 broken by a     
water- fall1 whose pealing sound dwelt  
pleasantly on the ear1 sometimes1 on a  
quiet sunny day1 gave a lively delight  
to ,kant3 and once1 under accidental    
circumstances of summer clouds and      
sun-lights1 the little pastoral         
landscape suddenly awakened a lively    
remembrance which had been long laid    
asleep1 of a heavenly summer morning in 
youth1 which he had passed in a bower   
upon the banks of a rivulet that ran    
through the grounds of a dear and early 
friend1 ,gen4 ,von ,lossow4 ,the        
strength of the impression was such1    
that he seemed actually to be living    
over that morning again1 thinking as he 
then thought1 and conversing with those 
that were no more4  ,his very last      
excursion was in ,august of this year1  
7#ahjc17 not to my cottage1 but to the  
garden of a friend4 ,but on this day he 
manifested great impatience4 ,it had    
been arranged that he was to meet an old
 friend at the gardens2 and ,i1 with two

 other gentlemen1 attended him4 ,it     
happened that out party arrived first2  
and such was ,kant's weakness1 and total
 loss of power to estimate the duration 
of time1 that1 after waiting a few      
moments1 he insisted that some hours had
 elapsed--that his friend could not be  
expected--and went away in great        
discomposure of mind4 ,and so ended     
,kant's travelling in this world4  ,in  
the beginning of autumn the sight of his
 right eye began to fail him2 the left  
he had long lost the use of4 ,this      
earliest of his losses1 by the way1 he  
discovered by mere accident1 and without
 any previous warning4 ,sitting down one
 day to rest himself in the course of a 
walk1 it occurred to him that he would  
try the comparative strength of his     
eyes2 but on taking out a newspaper     
which he had in his pocket1 he was      
surprised to find that with his left eye
 he could not distinguish a letter4 ,in 
earlier life he had two remarkable      
affections of the eyes3 once1 on        

returning from a walk1 he saw objects   
double for a long space of time2 and    
twice he became stone-blind4 ,whether   
these accidents are to be considered as 
uncommon1 ,i leave to the decision of   
oculists4 ,certain it is1 they gave very
 little disturbance to ,kant2 who1 until
 old age had reduced his powers1 lived  
in a constant state of stoical          
preparation for the worst that could    
befall him4 ,i was now shocked to think 
of the degree in which his burthensome  
sense of dependence would be aggravated1
 if he should totally lose the power of 
sight4 ,as it was1 he read and wrote    
with great difficulty3 in fact1 his     
writing was little better than that     
which most people can produce as a trial
 of skill with their eyes shut4 ,from   
old habits of solitary study1 he had no 
pleasure in hearing others read to him2 
and he daily distressed me by the       
pathetic earnestness of his entreaties  
that ,i would have a reading-glass      
devised for him4 ,whatever my own       

optical skill could suggest1 ,i tried2  
and the best opticians were sent for to 
bring their glasses1 and take his       
directions for altering them2 but all   
was to no purpose4  ,in this last year  
of his life ,kant very unwillingly      
received the visits of strangers2 and1  
unless under particular circumstances1  
wholly declined them4 ,yet1 when        
travellers had come a very great way out
 of their road to see him1 ,i confess   
that ,i was at a loss how to conduct    
myself4 ,to have refused too            
pertinaciously1 could not but give me   
the air of wishing to make myself of    
importance4 ,and ,i must acknowledge1   
that1 amongst some instances of         
importunity and coarse expressions of   
low-bred curiosity1 ,i witnessed1 on the
 part of many people of rank1 a most    
delicate sensibility to the condition of
 the aged recluse4 ,on sending in their 
cards1 they would generally accompany   
them by some message1 expressive of     
their unwillingness to gratify their    

wish to see him at any risk of          
distressing him4 ,the fact was1 that    
such visits did distress him much2 for  
he felt it a degradation to be exhibited
 in his helpless state1 when he was     
aware of his own incapacity to meet     
properly the attention that was paid to 
him4 ,some1 however1 were admitted1     
,footnote3 ,to whom it appears that     
,kant would generally reply1 upon their 
expressing the pleasure it gave them to 
see him1 ',in me you behold a poor      
superannuated1 weak1 old man4' according
 to the circumstances of the case1 and  
the state of ,kant's spirits at the     
moment4 ,amongst these1 ,i remember that
 we were particularly pleased with ,m4  
,otto1 the same who signed the treaty of
 peace between ,france and ,england with
 the present ,lord ,liverpool1 7then    
,lord ,hawkesbury47 ,a young ,russian   
also rises to my recollection at this   
moment1 from the excessive 7and ,i think
 unaffected7 enthusiasm which he        
displayed4 ,on being introduced to      

,kant1 he advanced hastily1 took both   
his hands1 and kissed them4 ,kant1 who1 
from living so much amongst his ,english
 friends1 had a good deal of the        
,english dignified reserve about him1   
and hated anything like scenes1 appeared
 to shrink a little from this mode of   
salutation1 and was rather embarrassed4 
,however1 the young man's manner1 ,i    
believe1 was not at all beyond his      
genuine feelings2 for next day he called
 again1 made some inquiries about       
,kant's health1 was very anxious to know
 whether his old age were burthensome to
 him1 and above all things entreated for
 some little memorial of the great man  
to carry away with him4 ,by accident the
 servant had found a small cancelled    
fragment of the original ,,ms4 of       
,kant's ',anthropologie3' this1 with my 
sanction1 he gave to the ,russian2 who  
received it with rapture1 kissed it1 and
 then gave him in return the only dollar
 he had about him2 and1 thinking that   
not enough1 actually pulled off his coat

 and waistcoat and forced them upon the 
man4 ,kant1 whose native simplicity of  
character very much indisposed him to   
sympathy with any extravagances of      
feeling1 could not1 however1 forbear    
smiling good- humoredly on being made   
acquainted with this instance of navet  
and enthusiasm in his young admirer4  ,i
 now come to an event in ,kant's life1  
which ushered in its closing stage4 ,on 
the #hth of ,october1 #ahjc1 for the    
first time since his youth1 he was      
seriously ill4 ,when a student at the   
,university1 he had once suffered from  
an ague1 which1 however1 gave way to    
pedestrian exercise2 and in later years1
 he had endured some pain from a        
contusion on his head2 but1 with these  
two exceptions1 7if they can be         
considered such17 he had never 7properly
 speaking7 been ill4 ,the cause of his  
illness was this3 his appetite had      
latterly been irregular1 or rather ,i   
should say depraved2 and he no longer   
took pleasure in anything but bread and 

butter1 and ,english cheese4,footnote3  
,mr4 ,w4 here falls into the ordinary   
mistake of confounding the cause and the
 occasion1 and would leave the          
impression1 that ,kant 7who from his    
youth up had been a model of temperance7
 died of sensual indulgence4 ,the cause 
of ,kant's death was clearly the general
 decay of the vital powers1 and in      
particular the atony of the digestive   
organs1 which must soon have destroyed  
him under any care or abstinence        
whatever4 ,this was the cause4 ,the     
accidental occasion1 which made that    
cause operative on the #gth of ,october1
 might or might not be what ,mr4 ,w4    
says4 ,but in ,kant's burthensome state 
of existence1 it could not be a question
 of much importance whether his illness 
were to commence in an ,october or a    
,november4 ,on the #gth of ,october1 at 
dinner1 he ate little else1 in spite of 
everything that ,i and another friend   
then dining with him1 could urge to     
dissuade him4 ,and for the first time ,i

 fancied that he seemed displeased with 
my importunity1 as though ,i were       
overstepping the just line of my duties4
 ,he insisted that the cheese never had 
done him any harm1 nor would now4 ,i had
 no course left me but to hold my       
tongue2 and he did as he pleased4 ,the  
consequence was what might have been    
anticipated--a restless night1 succeeded
 by a day of memorable illness4 ,the    
next morning all went on as usual1 till 
nine o'clock1 when ,kant1 who was then  
leaning on his sister's arm1 suddenly   
fell senseless to the ground4 ,a        
messenger was immediately despatched for
 me2 and ,i hurried down to his house1  
where ,i found him lying in his bed1    
which had now been removed into his     
study1 speechless and insensible4 ,i had
 already summoned his physician2 but1   
before he arrived1 nature put forth     
efforts which brought ,kant a little to 
himself4 ,in about an hour he opened his
 eyes1 and continued to mutter          
unintelligibly till towards the evening1

 when he rallied a little1 and began to 
talk rationally4 ,for the first time in 
his life1 he was now1 for a few days1   
confined to his bed1 and ate nothing4   
,on the #abth ,october1 he again took   
some refreshment1 and would have had his
 favorite food2 but ,i was now resolved1
 at any risk of his displeasure1 to     
oppose him firmly4 ,i therefore stated  
to him the whole consequences of his    
last indulgence1 of all which he        
manifestly had no recollection4 ,he     
listened to what ,i said very           
attentively1 and calmly expressed his   
conviction that ,i was perfectly in the 
wrong2 but for the present he submitted4
 ,however1 some days after1 ,i found    
that he had offered a florin for a      
little bread and cheese1 and then a     
dollar1 and even more4 ,being again     
refused1 he complained heavily2 but     
gradually he weaned himself from asking 
for it1 though at times he betrayed     
involuntarily how much he desired it4   
,on the #acth of ,october1 his usual    

dinner parties were resumed1 and he was 
considered convalescent2 but it was     
seldom indeed that he recovered the tone
 of tranquil spirits which he had       
preserved until his late attack4        
,hitherto he had always loved to prolong
 this meal1 the only one he took--or1 as
 he expressed it in classical phrase1   
'coenam ducere2' but now it was         
difficult to hurry it over fast enough  
for his wishes4 ,from dinner1 which     
terminated about two o'clock1 he went   
straight to bed1 and at intervals fell  
into slumbers2 from which1 however1 he  
was regularly awoke by phantasmata or   
terrific dreams4 ,at seven in the       
evening came on duly a period of great  
agitation1 which lasted till five or six
 in the morning--sometimes later2 and he
 continued through the night alternately
 to walk about and lie down1            
occasionally tranquil1 but more often in
 great distress4 ,it now became         
necessary that somebody should sit up   
with him1 his man-servant being wearied 

out with the toils of the day4 ,no      
person seemed to be so proper for this  
office as his sister1 both as having    
long received a very liberal pension    
from him1 and also as his nearest       
relative1 who would be the best witness 
to the fact that her illustrious brother
 had wanted no comforts or attention in 
his last hours1 which his situation     
admitted of4 ,accordingly she was       
applied to1 and undertook to watch him  
alternately with his footman--a separate
 table being kept for her1 and a very   
handsome addition made to her allowance4
 ,she turned out to be a quiet          
gentle-minded woman1 who raised no      
disturbances amongst the servants1 and  
soon won her brother's regard by the    
modest and retiring style of her        
manners2 ,i may add1 also1 by the truly 
sisterly affection which she displayed  
towards him to the last4  ,the #hth of  
,october had grievously affected ,kant's
 faculties1 but had not wholly destroyed
 them4 ,for short intervals the clouds  

seemed to roll away that had settled    
upon his majestic intellect1 and it     
shone forth as heretofore4 ,during these
 moments of brief self-possession1 his  
wonted benignity returned to him2 and he
 expressed his gratitude for the        
exertions of those about him1 and his   
sense of the trouble they underwent1 in 
a very affecting way4 ,with regard to   
his man-servant in particular1 he was   
very anxious that he should be rewarded 
by liberal presents2 and he pressed me  
earnestly on no account to be           
parsimonious4 ,indeed ,kant was nothing 
less than princely in his use of money2 
and there was no occasion on which he   
was known to express the passion of     
scorn very powerfully1 but when he was  
commenting on mean and penurious acts or
 habits4 ,those who knew him only in the
 streets1 fancied that he was not       
liberal2 for he steadily refused1 upon  
principle1 to relieve all common        
beggars4 ,but1 on the other hand1 he was
 liberal to the public charitable       

institutions2 he secretly assisted his  
own poor relations in a much ampler way 
than could reasonably have been expected
 of him2 and it now appeared that he had
 many other deserving pensioners upon   
his bounty2 a fact that was utterly     
unknown to any of us1 until his         
increasing blindness and other          
infirmities devolved the duty of paying 
these pensions upon myself4 ,it must be 
recollected1 also1 that ,kant's whole   
fortune1 which amounted to about twenty 
thousand dollars1 was the product of his
 own honorable toils for nearly         
threescore years2 and that he had       
himself suffered all the hardships of   
poverty in his youth1 though he never   
once ran into any man's                 
debt1--circumstances in his history1    
which1 as they express how fully he must
 have been acquainted with the value of 
money1 greatly enhance the merit of his 
munificence4  ,in ,december1 #ahjc1 he  
became incapable of signing his name4   
,his sight1 indeed1 had for some time   

failed him so much1 that at dinner he   
could not find his spoon without        
assistance2 and1 when ,i happened to    
dine with him1 ,i first cut in pieces   
whatever was on his plate1 next put it  
into a spoon1 and then guided his hand  
to find the spoon4 ,but his inability to
 sign his name did not arise merely from
 blindness3 the fact was1 that1 from    
irretention of memory1 he could not     
recollect the letters which composed his
 name2 and1 when they were repeated to  
him1 he could not represent the figure  
of the letters in his imagination4 ,at  
the latter end of ,november1 ,i had     
remarked that these incapacities were   
rapidly growing upon him1 and in        
consequence ,i prevailed on him to sign 
beforehand all the receipts1 c41 which  
would be wanted at the end of the year2 
and1 afterwards1 on my representation1  
to prevent all disputes1 he gave me a   
regular legal power to sign on his      
behalf4  ,much as ,kant was now reduced1
 yet he had occasionally moods of social

 hilarity4 ,his birth-day was always an 
agreeable subject to him3 some weeks    
before his death1 ,i was calculating the
 time which it still wanted of that     
anniversary1 and cheering him with the  
prospect of the rejoicings which would  
then take place3 ',all your old         
friends1' said ,i1 'will meet together1 
and drink a glass of champagne to your  
health4' ',that1' said he1 'must be done
 upon the spot3' and he was not         
satisfied till the party was actually   
assembled4 ,he drank a glass of wine    
with them1 and with great elevation of  
spirits celebrated this birth-day which 
he was destined never to see4  ,in the  
latter weeks of his life1 however1 a    
great change took place in the tone of  
his spirits4 ,at his dinner-table1 where
 heretofore such a cloudless spirit of  
joviality had reigned1 there was now a  
melancholy silence4 ,it disturbed him to
 see his two dinner companions          
conversing privately together1 whilst he
 himself sat like a mute on the stage   

with no part to perform4 ,yet to have   
engaged him in the conversation would   
have been still more distressing2 for   
his hearing was now very imperfect2 the 
effort to hear was itself painful to    
him2 and his expressions1 even when his 
thoughts were accurate enough1 became   
nearly unintelligible4 ,it is           
remarkable1 however1 that at the very   
lowest point of his depression1 when he 
became perfectly incapable of conversing
 with any rational meaning on the       
ordinary affairs of life1 he was still  
able to answer correctly and distinctly1
 in a degree that was perfectly         
astonishing1 upon any question of       
philosophy or of science1 especially of 
physical geography1 ,footnote3 ,physical
 ,geography1 in opposition to           
,political4 chemistry1 or natural       
history4 ,he talked satisfactorily1 in  
his very worst state1 of the gases1 and 
stated very accurately different        
propositions of ,kepler's1 especially   
the law of the planetary motions4 ,and  

,i remember in particular1 that upon the
 very last ,monday of his life1 when the
 extremity of his weakness moved a      
circle of his friends to tears1 and he  
sat amongst us insensible to all we     
could say to him1 cowering down1 or     
rather ,i might say collapsing into a   
shapeless heap upon his chair1 deaf1    
blind1 torpid1 motionless1--even then ,i
 whispered to the others that ,i would  
engage that ,kant should take his part  
in conversation with propriety and      
animation4 ,this they found it difficult
 to believe4 ,upon which ,i drew close  
to his ear1 and put a question to him   
about the ,moors of ,barbary4 ,to the   
surprise of everybody but myself1 he    
immediately gave us a summary account of
 their habits and customs2 and told us  
by the way1 that in the word ,algiers1  
the g ought to be pronounced hard 7as in
 the ,english word gear74  ,during the  
last fortnight of ,kant's life1 he      
busied himself unceasingly in a way that
 seemed not merely purposeless but      

self-contradictory4 ,twenty times in a  
minute he would unloose and tie his neck
 handkerchief--so also with a sort of   
belt which he wore about his            
dressing-gown1 the moment it was        
clasped1 he unclasped it with           
impatience1 and was then equally        
impatient to have it clasped again4 ,but
 no description can convey an adequate  
impression of the weary restlessness    
with which from morning to night he     
pursued these labors of ,sisyphus--doing
 and undoing--fretting that he could not
 do it1 fretting that he had done it4   
,by this time he seldom knew any of us  
who were about him1 but took us all for 
strangers4 ,this happened first with his
 sister1 then with me1 and finally with 
his servant4 ,such an alienation        
distressed me more than any other       
instance of his decay3 though ,i knew   
that he had not really withdrawn his    
affection from me1 yet his air and mode 
of addressing me gave me constantly that
 feeling4 ,so much the more affecting   

was it1 when the sanity of his          
perceptions and his remembrances        
returned2 but these intervals were of   
slower and slower occurrence4 ,in this  
condition1 silent or babbling           
childishly1 self- involved and torpidly 
abstracted1 or else busy with           
self-created phantoms and delusions1    
what a contrast did he offer to that    
,kant who had once been the brilliant   
centre of the most brilliant circles for
 rank1 wit1 or knowledge1 that ,prussia 
afforded6 ,a distinguished person from  
,berlin1 who had called upon him during 
the preceding summer1 was greatly       
shocked at his appearance1 and said1    
',this is not ,kant that ,i have seen1  
but the shell of ,kant6' ,how much more 
would he have said this1 if he had seen 
him now6  ,now came ,february1 #ahjd1   
which was the last month that ,kant was 
destined to see4 ,it is remarkable that1
 in the memorandum book which ,i have   
before mentioned1 ,i found a fragment of
 an old song1 7inserted by ,kant1 and   

dated in the summer about six months    
before the time of his death17 which    
expressed that ,february was the month  
in which people had the least weight to 
carry1 for the obvious reason that it   
was shorter by two and by three days    
than the others2 and the concluding     
sentiment was in a tone of fanciful     
pathos to this effect--',oh1 happy      
,february6 in which man has least to    
bear--least pain1 least sorrow1 least   
self- reproach6' ,even of this short    
month1 however1 ,kant had not twelve    
entire days to bear2 for it was on the  
#abth that he died2 and in fact he may  
be said to have been dying from the     
#ast4 ,he now barely vegetated2 though  
there were still transitory gleams      
flashing by fits from the embers of his 
ancient intellect4  ,on the #c;d of     
,february the springs of life seemed to 
be ceasing from their play1 for1 from   
this day1 strictly speaking1 he ate     
nothing more4 ,his existence            
henceforward seemed to be the mere      

prolongation of an impetus derived from 
an eighty years' life1 after the moving 
power of the mechanism was withdrawn4   
,his physician visited him every day at 
a particular hour2 and it was settled   
that ,i should always be there to meet  
him4 ,nine days before his death1 on    
paying his usual visit1 the following   
little circumstance occurred1 which     
affected us both1 by recalling forcibly 
to our minds the ineradicable courtesy  
and goodness of ,kant's nature4 ,when   
the physician was announced1 ,i went up 
to ,kant and said to him1 ',here is ,dr4
 ,a----4' ,kant rose from his chair1    
and1 offering his hand to the ,doctor1  
murmured something in which the word    
'posts' was frequently repeated1 but    
with an air as though he wished to be   
helped out with the rest of the         
sentence4 ,dr4 ,a----1 who thought that1
 by posts1 he meant the stations for    
relays of post-horses1 and therefore    
that his mind was wandering1 replied    
that all the horses were engaged1 and   

begged him to compose himself4 ,but     
,kant went on1 with great effort to     
himself1 and added--',many posts1 heavy 
posts--then much goodness--then much    
gratitude4' ,all this he said with      
apparent incoherence1 but with great    
warmth1 and increasing self-possession4 
,i meantime perfectly divined what it   
was that ,kant1 under his cloud of      
imbecility1 wished to say1 and ,i       
interpreted accordingly4 ',what the     
,professor wishes to say1 ,dr4 ,a----1  
is this1 that1 considering the many and 
weighty offices which you fill in the   
city and in the university1 it argues   
great goodness on your part to give up  
so much of your time to him1' 7for ,dr4 
,a---- would never take any fees from   
,kant27 'and that he has the deepest    
sense of this goodness4' ',right1' said 
,kant1 earnestly1 'right6' ,but he still
 continued to stand1 and was nearly     
sinking to the ground4 ,upon which ,i   
remarked to the physician1 that ,i was  
so well acquainted with ,kant1 that ,i  

was satisfied he would not sit down1    
however much he suffered from standing1 
until he knew that his visitors were    
seated4 ,the ,doctor seemed to doubt    
this--but ,kant1 who heard what ,i said1
 by a prodigious effort confirmed my    
construction of his conduct1 and spoke  
distinctly these words--',god forbid ,i 
should be sunk so low as to forget the  
offices of humanity4'  ,when dinner was 
announced1 ,dr4 ,a---- took his leave4  
,another guest had now arrived1 and ,i  
was in hopes1 from the animation which  
,kant had so recently displayed1 that we
 should to-day have a pleasant party1   
but my hopes were vain--,kant was more  
than usually exhausted1 and though he   
raised a spoon to his mouth1 he         
swallowed nothing4 ,for some time       
everything had been tasteless to him2   
and ,i had endeavored1 but with little  
success1 to stimulate the organs of     
taste by nutmeg1 cinnamon1 c4 ,to-day   
all failed1 and ,i could not even       
prevail upon him to taste a biscuit1    

rusk1 or anything of that sort4 ,i had  
once heard him say that several of his  
friends1 who had died of marasmus1 had  
closed their illness by four or five    
days of entire freedom from pain1 but   
totally without appetite1 and then      
slumbered tranquilly away4 ,through this
 state ,i apprehended that he was       
himself now passing4  ,saturday1 the    
#dth of ,february1 ,i heard his guests  
loudly expressing their fears that they 
should never meet him again2 and ,i     
could not but share these fears myself4 
,however1 on  ,sunday1 the #eth1 ,i     
dined at his table in company with his  
particular friend ,mr4 ,r4 ,r4 ,v4 ,kant
 was still present1 but so weak that his
 head drooped upon his knees1 and he    
sank down against the right side of the 
chair4 ,i went and arranged his pillows 
so as to raise and support his head2    
and1 having done this1 ,i said--',now1  
my dear ,sir1 you are again in right    
order4' ,great was our astonishment when
 he answered clearly and audibly in the 

,roman military phrase--',yes1 testudine
 et facie2' and immediately after added1
 ',ready for the enemy1 and in battle   
array4' ,his powers of mind were 7if ,i 
may be allowed that expression7         
smouldering away in their ashes2 but    
every now and then some lambent flame1  
or grand emanation of light1 shot forth 
to make it evident that the ancient fire
 still slumbered below4  ,monday1 the   
#fth1 he was much weaker and more       
torpid3 he spoke not a word1 except on  
the occasion of my question about the   
,moors1 as previously stated1 and sate  
with sightless eyes1 lost in himself1   
and manifesting no sense of our         
presence1 so that we had the feeling of 
some mighty shade or phantom from some  
forgotten century being seated amongst  
us4  ,about this time1 ,kant had become 
much more tranquil and composed4 ,in the
 earlier periods of his illness1 when   
his yet unbroken strength was brought   
into active contest with the first      
attacks of decay1 he was apt to be      

peevish1 and sometimes spoke roughly or 
even harshly to his servants4 ,this1    
though very opposite to his natural     
disposition1 was altogether excusable   
under the circumstances4 ,he could not  
make himself understood3 things were    
therefore brought to him continually    
which he had not asked for2 and often it
 happened that what he really wanted he 
could not obtain1 because all his       
efforts to name it were unintelligible4 
,a violent nervous irritation1 besides1 
affected him from the unsettling of the 
equilibrium in the different functions  
of his nature2 weakness in one organ    
being made more palpable to him by      
disproportionate strength in another4   
,but now the strife was over2 the whole 
system was at length undermined1 and in 
rapid and harmonious progress to        
dissolution4 ,and from this time        
forward1 no movement of impatience1 or  
expression of fretfulness1 ever escaped 
him4  ,i now visited him three times    
a-day2 and on  ,tuesday1 ,feb4 #gth1    

going about dinner-time1 ,i found the   
usual party of friends sitting down     
alone2 for ,kant was in bed4 ,this was a
 new scene in his house1 and increased  
our fears that his end was now at hand4 
,however1 having seen him rally so      
often1 ,i would not run the risk of     
leaving him without a dinner-party for  
the next day2 and accordingly1 at the   
customary hour of one1 we assembled in  
his house on  ,wednesday1 ,feb4 #hth4 ,i
 paid my respects to him as cheerfully  
as possible1 and ordered dinner to be   
served up4 ,kant sat at the table with  
us2 and1 taking a spoon with a little   
soup in it1 put it to his lips2 but     
immediately put it down again1 and      
retired to bed1 from which he never rose
 again1 except during the few minutes   
when it was re- arranged4  ,thursday1   
the #ith1 he had sunk into the weakness 
of a dying person1 and the corpse-like  
appearance had already taken possession 
of him4 ,i visited him frequently       
through the day2 and1 going at ten      

o'clock at night1 ,i found him in a     
state of insensibility4 ,i could not    
draw any sign from him that he knew me1 
and ,i left him to the care of his      
sister and his servant4  ,friday1 the   
#ajth1 ,i went to see him at six o'clock
 in the morning4 ,it was very stormy1   
and a deep snow had fallen in the       
night-time4 ,and1 by the way1 ,i        
remember that a gang of house-breakers  
had forced their way through the        
premises in order to reach ,kant's next 
neighbor1 who was a goldsmith4 ,as ,i   
drew near to his bed-side1 ,i said1     
',good morning4' ,he returned my        
salutation by saying1 ',good morning1'  
but in so feeble and faltering a voice  
that it was hardly articulate4 ,i was   
rejoiced to find him sensible1 and ,i   
asked him if he knew me3--',yes1' he    
replied2 and1 stretching out his hand1  
touched me gently upon the cheek4       
,through the rest of the day1 whenever  
,i visited him1 he seemed to have       
relapsed into a state of insensibility4 

,saturday1 the #aath1 he lay with fixed 
and rayless eyes2 but to all appearance 
in perfect peace4 ,i asked him again1 on
 this day1 if he knew me4 ,he was       
speechless1 but he turned his face      
towards me and made signs that ,i should
 kiss him4 ,deep emotion thrilled me1 as
 ,i stooped down to kiss his pallid     
lips2 for ,i knew that in this solemn   
act of tenderness he meant to express   
his thankfulness for our long           
friendship1 and to signify his affection
 and his last farewell4 ,i had never    
seen him confer this mark of his love   
upon anybody1 except once1 and that was 
a few weeks before his death1 when he   
drew his sister to him and kissed her4  
,the kiss which he now gave to me was   
the last memorial that he knew me4      
,whatever fluid was now offered to him  
passed the oesophagus with a rattling   
sound1 as often happens with dying      
people2 and there were all the signs of 
death being close at hand4  ,i wished to
 stay with him till all was over2 and as

 ,i had been witness of his life1 to be 
witness also of his departure2 and      
therefore ,i never quitted him except   
when ,i was called off for a few minutes
 to attend some private business4 ,the  
whole of this night ,i spent at his     
bed-side4 ,though he had passed the day 
in a state of insensibility1 yet in the 
evening he made intelligible signs that 
he wished to have his bed put in order2 
he was therefore lifted out in our arms1
 and the bed-clothes and pillows being  
hastily arranged1 he was carried back   
again4 ,he did not sleep2 and a spoonful
 of liquid1 which was sometimes put to  
his lips1 he usually pushed aside2 but  
about one o'clock in the night he       
himself made a motion towards the spoon1
 from which ,i collected that he was    
thirsty2 and ,i gave him a small        
quantity of wine and water sweetened2   
but the muscles of his mouth had not    
strength enough to retain it1 so that to
 prevent its flowing back he raised his 
hand to his lips1 until with a rattling 

sound it was swallowed4 ,he seemed to   
wish for more2 and ,i continued to give 
him more1 until he said1 in a way that  
,i was just able to understand1--',it is
 enough4' ,and these were his last      
words4 ,at intervals he pushed away the 
bed-clothes1 and exposed his person2 ,i 
constantly restored the clothes to their
 situation1 and on one of these         
occasions ,i found that the whole body  
and extremities were already growing    
cold1 and the pulse intermitting4  ,at a
 quarter after three o'clock on ,sunday 
morning1 ,february #ab1 ,kant stretched 
himself out as if taking a position for 
his final act1 and settled into the     
precise posture which he preserved to   
the moment of death4 ,the pulse was now 
no longer perceptible to the touch in   
his hands1 feet or neck4 ,i tried every 
part where a pulse beats1 and found none
 anywhere but in the left hip1 where it 
beat with violence1 but often           
intermitted4  ,about ten o'clock in the 
forenoon he suffered a remarkable       

change2 his eye was rigid and his face  
and lips became discolored by a         
cadaverous pallor4 ,still1 such was the 
effect of his previous habits1 that no  
trace appeared of the cold sweat which  
naturally accompanies the last mortal   
agony4  ,it was near eleven o'clock when
 the moment of dissolution approached4  
,his sister was standing at the foot of 
the bed1 his sister's son at the head4  
,i1 for the purpose of still observing  
the fluctuations of the pulse in his    
hip1 was kneeling at the bed-side2 and  
,i called his servant to come and       
witness the death of his good master4   
,now began the last agony1 if to him it 
could be called an agony1 where there   
seemed to be no struggle4 ,and precisely
 at this moment1 his distinguished      
friend1 ,mr4 ,r4 ,r4 ,v41 whom ,i had   
summoned by a messenger1 entered the    
room4 ,first of all1 the breath grew    
feebler2 then it missed its regularity  
of return2 then it wholly intermitted1  
and the upper lip was slightly          

convulsed2 after this there followed one
 slight respiration or sigh2 and after  
that no more2 but the pulse still beat  
for a few seconds--slower and fainter1  
till it ceased altogether2 the mechanism
 stopped2 the last motion was at an end2
 and exactly at that moment the clock   
struck eleven4  ,soon after his death   
the head of ,kant was shaved2 and1 under
 the direction of ,professor ,knorr1 a  
plaster cast was taken1 not a masque    
merely1 but a cast of the whole bead1   
designed 7,i believe7 to enrich the     
craniological collection of ,dr4 ,gall4 
,the corpse being laid out and properly 
attired1 immense numbers of people of   
every rank1 from the highest to the     
lowest1 flocked to see it4 ,everybody   
was anxious to make use of the last     
opportunity he would have for entitling 
himself to say--',i too have seen       
,kant4' ,this went on for many          
days--during which1 from morning to     
night1 the house was thronged with the  
public4 ,great was the astonishment of  

all people at the meagreness of ,kant's 
appearance2 and it was universally      
agreed that a corpse so wasted and      
fleshless had never been beheld4 ,his   
head rested upon the same cushion on    
which once the gentlemen of the         
university had presented an address to  
him2 and ,i thought that ,i could not   
apply it to a more honorable purpose    
than by placing it in the coffin1 as the
 final pillow of that immortal head4    
,upon the style and mode of his funeral1
 ,kant had expressed his wishes in      
earlier years in a separate memorandum4 
,he there desired that it should take   
place early in the morning1 with as     
little noise and disturbance as         
possible1 and attended only by a few of 
his most intimate friends4 ,happening to
 meet with this memorandum1 whilst ,i   
was engaged at his request in arranging 
his papers1 ,i very frankly gave him my 
opinion1 that such an injunction would  
lay me1 as the executor of his will1    
under great embarrassments2 for that    

circumstances might very probably arise 
under which it would be next to         
impossible to carry it into effect4     
,upon this ,kant tore the paper1 and    
left the whole to my own discretion4    
,the fact was1 ,i foresaw that the      
students of the ,university would never 
allow themselves to be robbed of this   
occasion for expressing their veneration
 by a public funeral4 ,the event showed 
that ,i was right2 for a funeral such as
 ,kant's1 one so solemn and so          
magnificent1 the city of ,knigsberg has 
never witnessed before or since4 ,the   
public journals1 and separate accounts  
in pamphlets1 etc41 have given so minute
 an account of its details1 that ,i     
shall here notice only the heads of the 
ceremony4  ,on the #bhth of ,february1  
at two o'clock in the afternoon1 all the
 dignitaries of church and state1 not   
only those resident in ,knigsberg1 but  
from the remotest parts of ,prussia1    
assembled in the church of the ,castle4 
,hence they were escorted by the whole  

body of the ,university1 splendidly     
dressed for the occasion1 and by many   
military officers of rank1 with whom    
,kant had always been a great favorite1 
to the house of the deceased ,professor2
 from which the corpse was carried by   
torch- light1 the bells of every church 
in ,knigsberg tolling1 to the ,cathedral
 which was lit up by innumerable        
wax-lights4 ,a never-ending train of    
many thousand persons followed it on    
foot4 ,in the ,cathedral1 after the     
usual burial rites1 accompanied with    
every possible expression of national   
veneration to the deceased1 there was a 
grand musical service1 most admirably   
performed1 at the close of which ,kant's
 mortal remains were lowered into the   
academic vault1 where he now rests among
 the ancient patriarchs of the          
,university4 ,,peace ,,be ,,to ,,his    
,,dust1 ,,and ,,everlasting ,,honor6