,,the ,,note ,,book ,,of ,,an ,,english ,,opium-,,eater4 ,,by ,,thomas ,,de ,,quincey4 ,,contents4 ,,three ,,memorable ,,murders ,,true ,,relations ,,of ,,the ,,bible ,,to ,,merely ,,human ,,science ,,literary ,,history ,,of ,,the ,,eighteenth ,,century ,,the ,,antigone ,,of ,,sophocles ,,the ,,marquess ,,wellesley ,,milton vs4 ,,southey ,,and ,,landor ,,falsification ,,of ,,english ,,history ,a ,,peripatetic ,,philosopher ,,on ,,suicide ,,superficial ,,knowledge ,,english ,,dictionaries ,,dryden',s ,,hexastich ,,pope',s ,,retort ,,upon ,,addison ,,three ,,memorable ,,murders4 ,a ,,sequel ,,to ',,murder ,,considered ,,as ,,one ,,of ,,the ,,fine ,,arts4' #a #ahed4 ,it is impossible to conciliate readers of so saturnine and gloomy a class1 that they cannot enter with genial sympathy into any gaiety whatever1 but1 least of all1 when the gaiety trespasses a little into the province of the extravagant4 ,in such a case1 not to sympathize is not to understand2 and the playfulness1 which is not relished1 becomes flat and insipid1 or absolutely without meaning4 ,fortunately1 after all such churls have withdrawn from my audience in high displeasure1 there remains a large majority who are loud in acknowledging the amusement which they have derived from a former paper of mine1 ',on ,murder considered as one of the ,fine ,arts2' at the same time proving the sincerity of their praise by one hesitating expression of censure4 ,repeatedly they have suggested to me1 that perhaps the extravagance1 though clearly intentional1 and forming one element in the general gaiety of the conception1 went too far4 ,i am not myself of that opinion2 and ,i beg to remind these friendly censors1 that it is amongst the direct purposes and efforts of this bagatelle to graze the brink of horror1 and of all that would in actual realization be most repulsive4 ,the very excess of the extravagance1 in fact1 by suggesting to the reader continually the mere aeriality of the entire speculation1 furnishes the surest means of disenchanting him from the horror which might else gather upon his feelings4 ,let me remind such objectors1 once for all1 of ,dean ,swift's proposal for turning to account the supernumerary infants of the three kingdoms1 which1 in those days1 both at ,dublin and at ,london1 were provided for in foundling hospitals1 by cooking and eating them4 ,this was an extravaganza1 though really bolder and more coarsely practical than mine1 which did not provoke any reproaches even to a dignitary of the supreme ,irish church2 its own monstrosity was its excuse2 mere extravagance was felt to license and accredit the little jeu d'esprit1 precisely as the blank impossibilities of ,lilliput1 of ,laputa1 of the ,yahoos1 c41 had licensed those4 ,if1 therefore1 any man thinks it worth his while to tilt against so mere a foam-bubble of gaiety as this lecture on the aesthetics of murder1 ,i shelter myself for the moment under the ,telamonian shield of the ,dean4 ,but1 in reality1 my own little paper may plead a privileged excuse for its extravagance1 such as is altogether wanting to the ,dean's4 ,nobody can pretend1 for a moment1 on behalf of the ,dean1 that there is any ordinary and natural tendency in human thoughts1 which could ever turn to infants as articles of diet2 under any conceivable circumstances1 this would be felt as the most aggravated form of cannibalism--cannibalism applying itself to the most defenceless part of the species4 ,but1 on the other hand1 the tendency to a critical or aesthetic valuation of fires and murders is universal4 ,if you are summoned to the spectacle of a great fire1 undoubtedly the first impulse is--to assist in putting it out4 ,but that field of exertion is very limited1 and is soon filled by regular professional people1 trained and equipped for the service4 ,in the case of a fire which is operating upon private property1 pity for a neighbor's calamity checks us at first in treating the affair as a scenic spectacle4 ,but perhaps the fire may be confined to public buildings4 ,and in any case1 after we have paid our tribute of regret to the affair1 considered as a calamity1 inevitably1 and without restraint1 we go on to consider it as a stage spectacle4 ,exclamations of--,how grand6 ,how magnificent6 arise in a sort of rapture from the crowd4 ,for instance1 when ,drury ,lane was burned down in the first decennium of this century1 the falling in of the roof was signalized by a mimic suicide of the protecting ,apollo that surmounted and crested the centre of this roof4 ,the god was stationary with his lyre1 and seemed looking down upon the fiery ruins that were so rapidly approaching him4 ,suddenly the supporting timbers below him gave way2 a convulsive heave of the billowing flames seemed for a moment to raise the statue2 and then1 as if on some impulse of despair1 the presiding deity appeared not to fall1 but to throw himself into the fiery deluge1 for he went down head foremost2 and in all respects1 the descent had the air of a voluntary act4 ,what followed8 ,from every one of the bridges over the river1 and from other open areas which commanded the spectacle1 there arose a sustained uproar of admiration and sympathy4 ,some few years before this event1 a prodigious fire occurred at ,liverpool2 the ,goree1 a vast pile of warehouses close to one of the docks1 was burned to the ground4 ,the huge edifice1 eight or nine stories high1 and laden with most combustible goods1 many thousand bales of cotton1 wheat and oats in thousands of quarters1 tar1 turpentine1 rum1 gunpowder1 c41 continued through many hours of darkness to feed this tremendous fire4 ,to aggravate the calamity1 it blew a regular gale of wind2 luckily for the shipping1 it blew inland1 that is1 to the east2 and all the way down to ,warrington1 eighteen miles distant to the eastward1 the whole air was illuminated by flakes of cotton1 often saturated with rum1 and by what seemed absolute worlds of blazing sparks1 that lighted up all the upper chambers of the air4 ,all the cattle lying abroad in the fields through a breadth of eighteen miles1 were thrown into terror and agitation4 ,men1 of course1 read in this hurrying overhead of scintillating and blazing vortices1 the annunciation of some gigantic calamity going on in ,liverpool2 and the lamentation on that account was universal4 ,but that mood of public sympathy did not at all interfere to suppress or even to check the momentary bursts of rapturous admiration1 as this arrowy sleet of many-colored fire rode on the wings of hurricane1 alternately through open depths of air1 or through dark clouds overhead4 ,precisely the same treatment is applied to murders4 ,after the first tribute of sorrow to those who have perished1 but1 at all events1 after the personal interests have been tranquillized by time1 inevitably the scenical features 7what aesthetically may be called the comparative advantages7 of the several murders are reviewed and valued4 ,one murder is compared with another2 and the circumstances of superiority1 as1 for example1 in the incidence and effects of surprise1 of mystery1 c41 are collated and appraised4 ,i1 therefore1 for my extravagance1 claim an inevitable and perpetual ground in the spontaneous tendencies of the human mind when left to itself4 ,but no one will pretend that any corresponding plea can be advanced on behalf of ,swift4 ,in this important distinction between myself and the ,dean1 lies one reason which prompted the present writing4 ,a second purpose of this paper is1 to make the reader acquainted circumstantially with three memorable cases of murder1 which long ago the voice of amateurs has crowned with laurel1 but especially with the two earliest of the three1 viz41 the immortal ,williams' murders of #ahab4 ,the act and the actor are each separately in the highest degree interesting2 and1 as forty-two years have elapsed since #ahab1 it cannot be supposed that either is known circumstantially to the men of the current generation4 ,never1 throughout the annals of universal ,christendom1 has there indeed been any act of one solitary insulated individual1 armed with power so appalling over the hearts of men1 as that exterminating murder1 by which1 during the winter of #ahab1 ,john ,williams in one hour1 smote two houses with emptiness1 exterminated all but two entire households1 and asserted his own supremacy above all the children of ,cain4 ,it would be absolutely impossible adequately to describe the frenzy of feelings which1 throughout the next fortnight1 mastered the popular heart2 the mere delirium of indignant horror in some1 the mere delirium of panic in others4 ,for twelve succeeding days1 under some groundless notion that the unknown murderer had quitted ,london1 the panic which had convulsed the mighty metropolis diffused itself all over the island4 ,i was myself at that time nearly three hundred miles from ,london2 but there1 and everywhere1 the panic was indescribable4 ,one lady1 my next neighbor1 whom personally ,i knew1 living at the moment1 during the absence of her husband1 with a few servants in a very solitary house1 never rested until she had placed eighteen doors 7so she told me1 and1 indeed1 satisfied me by ocular proof71 each secured by ponderous bolts1 and bars1 and chains1 between her own bedroom and any intruder of human build4 ,to reach her1 even in her drawing-room1 was like going1 as a flag of truce1 into a beleaguered fortress2 at every sixth step one was stopped by a sort of portcullis4 ,the panic was not confined to the rich2 women in the humblest ranks more than once died upon the spot1 from the shock attending some suspicious attempts at intrusion upon the part of vagrants1 meditating probably nothing worse than a robbery1 but whom the poor women1 misled by the ,london newspapers1 had fancied to be the dreadful ,london murderer4 ,meantime1 this solitary artist1 that rested in the centre of ,london1 self-supported by his own conscious grandeur1 as a domestic ,attila1 or 'scourge of ,god2' this man1 that walked in darkness1 and relied upon murder 7as afterwards transpired7 for bread1 for clothes1 for promotion in life1 was silently preparing an effectual answer to the public journals2 and on the twelfth day after his inaugural murder1 he advertised his presence in ,london1 and published to all men the absurdity of ascribing to him any ruralizing propensities1 by striking a second blow1 and accomplishing a second family extermination4 ,somewhat lightened was the provincial panic by this proof that the murderer had not condescended to sneak into the country1 or to abandon for a moment1 under any motive of caution or fear1 the great metropolitan castra stativa of gigantic crime1 seated for ever on the ,thames4 ,in fact1 the great artist disdained a provincial reputation2 and he must have felt1 as a case of ludicrous disproportion1 the contrast between a country town or village1 on the one hand1 and1 on the other1 a work more lasting than brass--a ,greek3 chtaema es aei--a murder such in quality as any murder that he would condescend to own for a work turned out from his own studio4 ,coleridge1 whom ,i saw some months after these terrific murders1 told me1 that1 for his part1 though at the time resident in ,london1 he had not shared in the prevailing panic2 him they effected only as a philosopher1 and threw him into a profound reverie upon the tremendous power which is laid open in a moment to any man who can reconcile himself to the abjuration of all conscientious restraints1 if1 at the same time1 thoroughly without fear4 ,not sharing in the public panic1 however1 ,coleridge did not consider that panic at all unreasonable2 for1 as he said most truly in that vast metropolis there are many thousands of households1 composed exclusively of women and children2 many other thousands there are who necessarily confide their safety1 in the long evenings1 to the discretion of a young servant girl2 and if she suffers herself to be beguiled by the pretence of a message from her mother1 sister1 or sweetheart1 into opening the door1 there1 in one second of time1 goes to wreck the security of the house4 ,however1 at that time1 and for many months afterwards1 the practice of steadily putting the chain upon the door before it was opened prevailed generally1 and for a long time served as a record of that deep impression left upon ,london by ,mr4 ,williams4 ,southey1 ,i may add1 entered deeply into the public feeling on this occasion1 and said to me1 within a week or two of the first murder1 that it was a private event of that order which rose to the dignity of a national event4 #b ,but now1 having prepared the reader to appreciate on its true scale this dreadful tissue of murder 7which as a record belonging to an era that is now left forty-two years behind us1 not one person in four of this generation can be expected to know correctly71 let me pass to the circumstantial details of the affair4 ,yet1 first of all1 one word as to the local scene of the murders4 ,ratcliffe ,highway is a public thoroughfare in a most chaotic quarter of eastern or nautical ,london2 and at this time 7viz41 in #ahab71 when no adequate police existed except the detective police of ,bow ,street1 admirable for its own peculiar purposes1 but utterly incommensurate to the general service of the capital1 it was a most dangerous quarter4 ,every third man at the least might be set down as a foreigner4 ,lascars1 ,chinese1 ,moors1 ,negroes1 were met at every step4 ,and apart from the manifold ruffianism1 shrouded impenetrably under the mixed hats and turbans of men whose past was untraceable to any ,european eye1 it is well known that the navy 7especially1 in time of war1 the commercial navy7 of ,christendom is the sure receptacle of all the murderers and ruffians whose crimes have given them a motive for withdrawing themselves for a season from the public eye4 ,it is true1 that few of this class are qualified to act as 'able' seamen3 but at all times1 and especially during war1 only a small proportion 7or nucleus7 of each ship's company consists of such men3 the large majority being mere untutored landsmen4 ,john ,williams1 however1 who had been occasionally rated as a seaman on board of various ,indiamen1 c41 was probably a very accomplished seaman4 ,pretty generally1 in fact1 he was a ready and adroit man1 fertile in resources under all sudden difficulties1 and most flexibly adapting himself to all varieties of social life4 ,williams was a man of middle stature 7five feet seven and a-half1 to five feet eight inches high71 slenderly built1 rather thin1 but wiry1 tolerably muscular1 and clear of all superfluous flesh4 ,a lady1 who saw him under examination 7,i think at the ,thames ,police ,office71 assured me that his hair was of the most extraordinary and vivid color1 viz41 bright yellow1 something between an orange and lemon color4 ,williams had been in ,india2 chiefly in ,bengal and ,madras3 but he had also been upon the ,indus4 ,now1 it is notorious that1 in the ,punjaub1 horses of a high caste are often painted--crimson1 blue1 green1 purple2 and it struck me that ,williams might1 for some casual purpose of disguise1 have taken a hint from this practice of ,scinde and ,lahore1 so that the color might not have been natural4 ,in other respects1 his appearance was natural enough2 and1 judging by a plaster cast of him1 which ,i purchased in ,london1 ,i should say mean1 as regarded his facial structure4 ,one fact1 however1 was striking1 and fell in with the impression of his natural tiger character1 that his face wore at all times a bloodless ghastly pallor4 ',you might imagine1' said my informant1 'that in his veins circulated not red life- blood1 such as could kindle into the blush of shame1 of wrath1 of pity-- but a green sap that welled from no human heart4' ,his eyes seemed frozen and glazed1 as if their light were all converged upon some victim lurking in the far background4 ,so far his appearance might have repelled2 but1 on the other hand1 the concurrent testimony of many witnesses1 and also the silent testimony of facts1 showed that the oiliness and snaky insinuation of his demeanor counteracted the repulsiveness of his ghastly face1 and amongst inexperienced young women won for him a very favorable reception4 ,in particular1 one gentle-mannered girl1 whom ,williams had undoubtedly designed to murder1 gave in evidence--that once1 when sitting alone with her1 he had said1 ',now1 ,miss ,r41 supposing that ,i should appear about midnight at your bedside1 armed with a carving knife1 what would you say8' ,to which the confiding girl had1 replied1 ',oh1 ,mr4 ,williams1 if it was anybody else1 ,i should be frightened4 ,but1 as soon as ,i heard your voice1 ,i should be tranquil4' ,poor girl6 had this outline sketch of ,mr4 ,williams been filled in and realized1 she would have seen something in the corpse-like face1 and heard something in the sinister voice1 that would have unsettled her tranquillity for ever4 ,but nothing short of such dreadful experiences could avail to unmask ,mr4 ,john ,williams4 ,into this perilous region it was that1 on a ,saturday night in ,december1 ,mr4 ,williams1 whom we suppose to have long since made his coup d'essai1 forced his way through the crowded streets1 bound on business4 ,to say1 was to do4 ,and this night he had said to himself secretly1 that he would execute a design which he had already sketched1 and which1 when finished1 was destined on the following day to strike consternation into 'all that mighty heart' of ,london1 from centre to circumference4 ,it was afterwards remembered that he had quitted his lodgings on this dark errand about eleven o'clock ,p4 ,m42 not that he meant to begin so soon3 but he needed to reconnoitre4 ,he carried his tools closely buttoned up under his loose roomy coat4 ,it was in harmony with the general subtlety of his character1 and his polished hatred of brutality1 that by universal agreement his manners were distinguished for exquisite suavity3 the tiger's heart was masked by the most insinuating and snaky refinement4 ,all his acquaintances afterwards described his dissimulation as so ready and so perfect1 that if1 in making his way through the streets1 always so crowded on a ,saturday night in neighborhoods so poor1 he had accidentally jostled any person1 he would 7as they were all satisfied7 have stopped to offer the most gentlemanly apologies3 with his devilish heart brooding over the most hellish of purposes1 he would yet have paused to express a benign hope that the huge mallet1 buttoned up under his elegant surtout1 with a view to the little business that awaited him about ninety minutes further on1 had not inflicted any pain on the stranger with whom he had come into collision4 ,titian1 ,i believe1 but certainly ,rubens1 and perhaps ,vandyke1 made it a rule never to practise his art but in full dress--point ruffles1 bag wig1 and diamond-hilted sword2 and ,mr4 ,williams1 there is reason to believe1 when he went out for a grand compound massacre 7in another sense1 one might have applied to it the ,oxford phrase of going out as ,grand ,compounder71 always assumed black silk stockings and pumps2 nor would he on any account have degraded his position as an artist by wearing a morning gown4 ,in his second great performance1 it was particularly noticed and recorded by the one sole trembling man1 who under killing agonies of fear was compelled 7as the reader will find7 from a secret stand to become the solitary spectator of his atrocities1 that ,mr4 ,williams wore a long blue frock1 of the very finest cloth1 and richly lined with silk4 ,amongst the anecdotes which circulated about him1 it was also said at the time1 that ,mr4 ,williams employed the first of dentists1 and also the first of chiropodists4 ,on no account would he patronize any second-rate skill4 ,and beyond a doubt1 in that perilous little branch of business which was practised by himself1 he might be regarded as the most aristocratic and fastidious of artists4 ,but who meantime was the victim1 to whose abode he was hurrying8 ,for surely he never could be so indiscreet as to be sailing about on a roving cruise in search of some chance person to murder8 ,oh1 no3 he had suited himself with a victim some time before1 viz41 an old and very intimate friend4 ,for he seems to have laid it down as a maxim--that the best person to murder was a friend2 and1 in default of a friend1 which is an article one cannot always command1 an acquaintance3 because1 in either case1 on first approaching his subject1 suspicion would be disarmed3 whereas a stranger might take alarm1 and find in the very countenance of his murderer elect a warning summons to place himself on guard4 ,however1 in the present ease1 his destined victim was supposed to unite both characters3 originally he had been a friend2 but subsequently1 on good cause arising1 he had become an enemy4 ,or more probably1 as others said1 the feelings had long since languished which gave life to either relation of friendship or of enmity4 ,marr was the name of that unhappy man1 who 7whether in the character of friend or enemy7 had been selected for the subject of this present ,saturday night's performance4 ,and the story current at that time about the connection between ,williams and ,marr1 having 7whether true or not true7 never been contradicted upon authority1 was1 that they sailed in the same ,indiaman to ,calcutta2 that they had quarrelled when at sea2 but another version of the story said--no3 they had quarrelled after returning from sea2 and the subject of their quarrel was ,mrs4 ,marr1 a very pretty young woman1 for whose favor they had been rival candidates1 and at one time with most bitter enmity towards each other4 ,some circumstances give a color of probability to this story4 ,otherwise it has sometimes happened1 on occasion of a murder not sufficiently accounted for1 that1 from pure goodness of heart intolerant of a mere sordid motive for a striking murder1 some person has forged1 and the public has accredited1 a story representing the murderer as having moved under some loftier excitement3 and in this case the public1 too much shocked at the idea of ,williams having on the single motive of gain consummated so complex a tragedy1 welcomed the tale which represented him as governed by deadly malice1 growing out of the more impassioned and noble rivalry for the favor of a woman4 ,the case remains in some degree doubtful2 but1 certainly1 the probability is1 that ,mrs4 ,marr had been the true cause1 the causa teterrima1 of the feud between the men4 ,meantime1 the minutes are numbered1 the sands of the hour-glass are running out1 that measure the duration of this feud upon earth4 ,this night it shall cease4 ,to-morrow is the day which in ,england they call ,sunday1 which in ,scotland they call by the ,judaic name of ',sabbath4' ,to both nations1 under different names1 the day has the same functions2 to both it is a day of rest4 ,for thee also1 ,marr1 it shall be a day of rest2 so is it written2 thou1 too1 young ,marr1 shalt find rest--thou1 and thy household1 and the stranger that is within thy gates4 ,but that rest must be in the world which lies beyond the grave4 ,on this side the grave ye have all slept your final sleep4 ,the night was one of exceeding darkness2 and in this humble quarter of ,london1 whatever the night happened to be1 light or dark1 quiet or stormy1 all shops were kept open on ,saturday nights until twelve o'clock1 at the least1 and many for half an hour longer4 ,there was no rigorous and pedantic ,jewish superstition about the exact limits of ,sunday4 ,at the very worst1 the ,sunday stretched over from one o'clock1 ,a4 ,m4 of one day1 up to eight o'clock ,a4 ,m4 of the next1 making a clear circuit of thirty-one hours4 ,this1 surely1 was long enough4 ,marr1 on this particular ,saturday night1 would be content if it were even shorter1 provided it would come more quickly1 for he has been toiling through sixteen hours behind his counter4 ,marr's position in life was this3 he kept a little hosier's shop1 and had invested in his stock and the fittings of his shop about #ahj pounds4 ,like all men engaged in trade1 he suffered some anxieties4 ,he was a new beginner2 but1 already1 bad debts had alarmed him2 and bills were coming to maturity that were not likely to be met by commensurate sales4 ,yet1 constitutionally1 he was a sanguine hoper4 ,at this time he was a stout1 fresh-colored young man of twenty-seven2 in some slight degree uneasy from his commercial prospects1 but still cheerful1 and anticipating--7how vainly67--that for this night1 and the next night1 at least1 he will rest his wearied head and his cares upon the faithful bosom of his sweet lovely young wife4 ,the household of ,marr1 consisting of five persons1 is as follows3 ,first1 there is himself1 who1 if he should happen to be ruined1 in a limited commercial sense1 has energy enough to jump up again1 like a pyramid of fire1 and soar high above ruin many times repeated4 ,yes1 poor ,marr1 so it might be1 if thou wert left to thy native energies unmolested2 but even now there stands on the other side of the street one born of hell1 who puts his peremptory negative on all these flattering prospects4 ,second in the list of his household1 stands his pretty and amiable wife1 who is happy after the fashion of youthful wives1 for she is only twenty-two1 and anxious 7if at all7 only on account of her darling infant4 ,for1 thirdly1 there is in a cradle1 not quite nine feet below the street1 viz41 in a warm1 cosy kitchen1 and rocked at intervals by the young mother1 a baby eight months old4 ,nineteen months have ,marr and herself been married2 and this is their first-born child4 ,grieve not for this child1 that it must keep the deep rest of ,sunday in some other world2 for wherefore should an orphan1 steeped to the lips in poverty1 when once bereaved of father and mother1 linger upon an alien and murderous earth8 ,fourthly1 there is a stoutish boy1 an apprentice1 say thirteen years old2 a ,devonshire boy1 with handsome features1 such as most ,devonshire youths have2 #c satisfied with his place2 not overworked2 treated kindly1 and aware that he was treated kindly1 by his master and mistress4 ,fifthly1 and lastly1 bringing up the rear of this quiet household1 is a servant girl1 a grown-up young woman2 and she1 being particularly kind-hearted1 occupied 7as often happens in families of humble pretensions as to rank7 a sort of sisterly place in her relation to her mistress4 ,a great democratic change is at this very time 7#ahed71 and has been for twenty years1 passing over ,british society4 ,multitudes of persons are becoming ashamed of saying1 'my master1' or 'my mistress3' the term now in the slow process of superseding it is1 'my employer4' ,now1 in the ,united ,states1 such an expression of democratic hauteur1 though disagreeable as a needless proclamation of independence which nobody is disputing1 leaves1 however1 no lasting bad effect4 ,for the domestic 'helps' are pretty generally in a state of transition so sure and so rapid to the headship of domestic establishments belonging to themselves1 that in effect they are but ignoring1 for the present moment1 a relation which would at any rate dissolve itself in a year or two4 ,but in ,england1 where no such resources exist of everlasting surplus lands1 the tendency of the change is painful4 ,it carries with it a sullen and a coarse expression of immunity from a yoke which was in any case a light one1 and often a benign one4 ,in some other place ,i will illustrate my meaning4 ,here1 apparently1 in ,mrs4 ,marr's service1 the principle concerned illustrated itself practically4 ,mary1 the female servant1 felt a sincere and unaffected respect for a mistress whom she saw so steadily occupied with her domestic duties1 and who1 though so young1 and invested with some slight authority1 never exerted it capriciously1 or even showed it at all conspiciously4 ,according to the testimony of all the neighbors1 she treated her mistress with a shade of unobtrusive respect on the one hand1 and yet was eager to relieve her1 whenever that was possible1 from the weight of her maternal duties1 with the cheerful voluntary service of a sister4 ,to this young woman it was1 that1 suddenly1 within three or four minutes of midnight1 ,marr called aloud from the head of the stairs--directing her to go out and purchase some oysters for the family supper4 ,upon what slender accidents hang oftentimes solemn lifelong results6 ,marr occupied in the concerns of his shop1 ,mrs4 ,marr occupied with some little ailment and restlessness of her baby1 had both forgotten the affair of supper2 the time was now narrowing every moment1 as regarded any variety of choice2 and oysters were perhaps ordered as the likeliest article to be had at all1 after twelve o'clock should have struck4 ,and yet1 upon this trivial circumstance depended ,mary's life4 ,had she been sent abroad for supper at the ordinary time of ten or eleven o'clock1 it is almost certain that she1 the solitary member of the household who escaped from the exterminating tragedy1 would not have escaped2 too surely she would have shared the general fate4 ,it had now become necessary to be quick4 ,hastily1 therefore1 receiving money from ,marr with a basket in her hand1 but unbonneted1 ,mary tripped out of the shop4 ,it became afterwards1 on recollection1 a heart-chilling remembrance to herself--that1 precisely as she emerged from the shop-door1 she noticed1 on the opposite side of the street1 by the light of the lamps1 a man's figure2 stationary at the instant1 but in the next instant slowly moving4 ,this was ,williams2 as a little incident1 either just before or just after 7at present it is impossible to say which71 sufficiently proved4 ,now1 when one considers the inevitable hurry and trepidation of ,mary under the circumstances stated1 time barely sufficing for any chance of executing her errand1 it becomes evident that she must have connected some deep feeling of mysterious uneasiness with the movements of this unknown man2 else1 assuredly1 she would not have found her attention disposable for such a case4 ,thus far1 she herself threw some little light upon what it might be that1 semi- consciously1 was then passing through her mind2 she said1 that1 notwithstanding the darkness1 which would not permit her to trace the man's features1 or to ascertain the exact direction of his eyes1 it yet struck her1 that from his carriage when in motion1 and from the apparent inclination of his person1 he must be looking at ,no4 #bi4 ,the little incident which ,i have alluded to as confirming ,mary's belief was1 that1 at some period not very far from midnight1 the watchman had specially noticed this stranger2 he had observed him continually peeping into the window of ,marr's shop2 and had thought this act1 connected with the man's appearance1 so suspicious1 that he stepped into ,marr's shop1 and communicated what he had seen4 ,this fact he afterwards stated before the magistrates2 and he added1 that subsequently1 viz41 a few minutes after twelve 7eight or ten minutes1 probably1 after the departure of ,mary71 he 7the watchman71 when re-entering upon his ordinary half-hourly beat1 was requested by ,marr to assist him in closing the shutters4 ,here they had a final communication with each other2 and the watchman mentioned to ,marr that the mysterious stranger had now apparently taken himself off2 for that he had not been visible since the first communication made to ,marr by the watchman4 ,there is little doubt that ,williams had observed the watchman's visit to ,marr1 and had thus had his attention seasonably drawn to the indiscretion of his own demeanor2 so that the warning1 given unavailingly to ,marr1 had been turned to account by ,williams4 ,there can be still less doubt1 that the bloodhound had commenced his work within one minute of the watchman's assisting ,marr to put up his shutters4 ,and on the following consideration3--that which prevented ,williams from commencing even earlier1 was the exposure of the shop's whole interior to the gaze of street passengers4 ,it was indispensable that the shutters should be accurately closed before ,williams could safely get to work4 ,but1 as soon as ever this preliminary precaution had been completed1 once having secured that concealment from the public eye it then became of still greater importance not to lose a moment by delay1 than previously it had been not to hazard any thing by precipitance4 ,for all depended upon going in before ,marr should have locked the door4 ,on any other mode of effecting an entrance 7as1 for instance1 by waiting for the return of ,mary1 and making his entrance simultaneously with her71 it will be seen that ,williams must have forfeited that particular advantage which mute facts1 when read into their true construction1 will soon show the reader that he must have employed4 ,williams waited1 of necessity1 for the sound of the watchman's retreating steps2 waited1 perhaps1 for thirty seconds2 but when that danger was past1 the next danger was1 lest ,marr should lock the door2 one turn of the key1 and the murderer would have been locked out4 ,in1 therefore1 he bolted1 and by a dexterous movement of his left hand1 no doubt1 turned the key1 without letting ,marr perceive this fatal stratagem4 ,it is really wonderful and most interesting to pursue the successive steps of this monster1 and to notice the absolute certainty with which the silent hieroglyphics of the case betray to us the whole process and movements of the bloody drama1 not less surely and fully than if we had been ourselves hidden in ,marr's shop1 or had looked down from the heavens of mercy upon this hell-kite1 that knew not what mercy meant4 ,that he had concealed from ,marr his trick1 secret and rapid1 upon the lock1 is evident2 because else1 ,marr would instantly have taken the alarm1 especially after what the watchman had communicated4 ,but it will soon be seen that ,marr had not been alarmed4 ,in reality1 towards the full success of ,williams1 it was important1 in the last degree1 to intercept and forestall any yell or shout of agony from ,marr4 ,such an outcry1 and in a situation so slenderly fenced off from the street1 viz41 by walls the very thinnest1 makes itself heard outside pretty nearly as well as if it were uttered in the street4 ,such an outcry it was indispensable to stifle4 ,it was stifled2 and the reader will soon understand how4 ,meantime1 at this point1 let us leave the murderer alone with his victims4 ,for fifty minutes let him work his pleasure4 ,the front-door1 as we know1 is now fastened against all help4 ,help there is none4 ,let us1 therefore1 in vision1 attach ourselves to ,mary2 and1 when all is over1 let us come back with her1 again raise the curtain1 and read the dreadful record of all that has passed in her absence4 ,the poor girl1 uneasy in her mind to an extent that she could but half understand1 roamed up and down in search of an oyster shop2 and finding none that was still open1 within any circuit that her ordinary experience had made her acquainted with1 she fancied it best to try the chances of some remoter district4 ,lights she saw gleaming or twinkling at a distance1 that still tempted her onwards2 and thus1 amongst unknown streets poorly lighted1 #d and on a night of peculiar darkness1 and in a region of ,london where ferocious tumults were continually turning her out of what seemed to be the direct course1 naturally she got bewildered4 ,the purpose with which she started1 had by this time become hopeless4 ,nothing remained for her now but to retrace her steps4 ,but this was difficult2 for she was afraid to ask directions from chance passengers1 whose appearance the darkness prevented her from reconnoitring4 ,at length by his lantern she recognized a watchman2 through him she was guided into the right road2 and in ten minutes more1 she found herself back at the door of ,no4 #bi1 in ,ratcliffe ,highway4 ,but by this time she felt satisfied that she must have been absent for fifty or sixty minutes2 indeed1 she had heard1 at a distance1 the cry of past one o'clock1 which1 commencing a few seconds after one1 lasted intermittingly for ten or thirteen minutes4 ,in the tumult of agonizing thoughts that very soon surprised her1 naturally it became hard for her to recall distinctly the whole succession of doubts1 and jealousies1 and shadowy misgivings that soon opened upon her4 ,but1 so far as could be collected1 she had not in the first moment of reaching home noticed anything decisively alarming4 ,in very many cities bells are the main instruments for communicating between the street and the interior of houses3 but in ,london knockers prevail4 ,at ,marr's there was both a knocker and a bell4 ,mary rang1 and at the same time very gently knocked4 ,she had no fear of disturbing her master or mistress2 them she made sure of finding still up4 ,her anxiety was for the baby1 who being disturbed1 might again rob her mistress of a night's rest4 ,and she well knew that1 with three people all anxiously awaiting her return1 and by this time1 perhaps1 seriously uneasy at her delay1 the least audible whisper from herself would in a moment bring one of them to the door4 ,yet how is this8 ,to her astonishment1 but with the astonishment came creeping over her an icy horror1 no stir nor murmur was heard ascending from the kitchen4 ,at this moment came back upon her1 with shuddering anguish1 the indistinct image of the stranger in the loose dark coat1 whom she had seen stealing along under the shadowy lamp-light1 and too certainly watching her master's motions3 keenly she now reproached herself that1 under whatever stress of hurry1 she had not acquainted ,mr4 ,marr with the suspicious appearances4 ,poor girl6 she did not then know that1 if this communication could have availed to put ,marr upon his guard1 it had reached him from another quarter2 so that her own omission1 which had in reality arisen under her hurry to execute her master's commission1 could not be charged with any bad consequences4 ,but all such reflections this way or that were swallowed up at this point in over-mastering panic4 ,that her double summons could have been unnoticed--this solitary fact in one moment made a revelation of horror4 ,one person might have fallen asleep1 but two--but three--that was a mere impossibility4 ,and even supposing all three together with the baby locked in sleep1 still how unaccountable was this utter--utter silence6 ,most naturally at this moment something like hysterical horror overshadowed the poor girl1 and now at last she rang the bell with the violence that belongs to sickening terror4 ,this done1 she paused3 self-command enough she still retained1 though fast and fast it was slipping away from her1 to bethink herself--that1 if any overwhelming accident had compelled both ,marr and his apprentice-boy to leave the house in order to summon surgical aid from opposite quarters--a thing barely supposable--still1 even in that case ,mrs4 ,marr and her infant would be left2 and some murmuring reply1 under any extremity1 would be elicited from the poor mother4 ,to pause1 therefore1 to impose stern silence upon herself1 so as to leave room for the possible answer to this final appeal1 became a duty of spasmodic effort4 ,listen1 therefore1 poor trembling heart2 listen1 and for twenty seconds be still as death4 ,still as death she was3 and during that dreadful stillness1 when she hushed her breath that she might listen1 occurred an incident of killing fear1 that to her dying day would never cease to renew its echoes in her ear4 ,she1 ,mary1 the poor trembling girl1 checking and overruling herself by a final effort1 that she might leave full opening for her dear young mistress's answer to her own last frantic appeal1 heard at last and most distinctly a sound within the house4 ,yes1 now beyond a doubt there is coming an answer to her summons4 ,what was it8 ,on the stairs1 not the stairs that led downwards to the kitchen1 but the stairs that led upwards to the single story of bed-chambers above1 was heard a creaking sound4 ,next was heard most distinctly a footfall3 one1 two1 three1 four1 five stairs were slowly and distinctly descended4 ,then the dreadful footsteps were heard advancing along the little narrow passage to the door4 ,the steps--oh heavens6 whose steps8--have paused at the door4 ,the very breathing can be heard of that dreadful being1 who has silenced all breathing except his own in the house4 ,there is but a door between him and ,mary4 ,what is he doing on the other side of the door8 ,a cautious step1 a stealthy step it was that came down the stairs1 then paced along the little narrow passage--narrow as a coffin--till at last the step pauses at the door4 ,how hard the fellow breathes6 ,he1 the solitary murderer1 is on one side the door2 ,mary is on the other side4 ,now1 suppose that he should suddenly open the door1 and that incautiously in the dark ,mary should rush in1 and find herself in the arms of the murderer4 ,thus far the case is a possible one--that to a certainty1 had this little trick been tried immediately upon ,mary's return1 it would have succeeded2 had the door been opened suddenly upon her first tingle-tingle1 headlong she would have tumbled in1 and perished4 ,but now ,mary is upon her guard4 ,the unknown murderer and she have both their lips upon the door1 listening1 breathing hard2 but luckily they are on different sides of the door2 and upon the least indication of unlocking or unlatching1 she would have recoiled into the asylum of general darkness4 ,what was the murderer's meaning in coming along the passage to the front door8 ,the meaning was this3 separately1 as an individual1 ,mary was worth nothing at all to him4 ,but1 considered as a member of a household1 she had this value1 viz41 that she1 if caught and murdered1 perfected and rounded the desolation of the house4 ,the case being reported1 as reported it would be all over ,christendom1 led the imagination captive4 ,the whole covey of victims was thus netted2 the household ruin was thus full and orbicular2 and in that proportion the tendency of men and women1 flutter as they might1 would be helplessly and hopelessly to sink into the all-conquering hands of the mighty murderer4 ,he had but to say--my testimonials are dated from ,no4 #bi ,ratcliffe ,highway1 and the poor vanquished imagination sank powerless before the fascinating rattlesnake eye of the murderer4 ,there is not a doubt that the motive of the murderer for standing on the inner side of ,marr's front-door1 whilst ,mary stood on the outside1 was--a hope that1 if he quietly opened the door1 whisperingly counterfeiting ,marr's voice1 and saying1 ,what made you stay so long8 possibly she might have been inveigled4 ,he was wrong2 the time was past for that2 ,mary was now maniacally awake2 she began now to ring the bell and to ply the knocker with unintermitting violence4 ,and the natural consequence was1 that the next door neighbor1 who had recently gone to bed and instantly fallen asleep1 was roused2 and by the incessant violence of the ringing and the knocking1 which now obeyed a delirious and uncontrollable impulse in ,mary1 he became sensible that some very dreadful event must be at the root of so clamorous an uproar4 ,to rise1 to throw up the sash1 to demand angrily the cause of this unseasonable tumult1 was the work of a moment4 ,the poor girl remained sufficiently mistress of herself rapidly to explain the circumstance of her own absence for an hour2 her belief that ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,marr's family had all been murdered in the interval2 and that at this very moment the murderer was in the house4 ,the person to whom she addressed this statement was a pawnbroker2 and a thoroughly brave man he must have been2 for it was a perilous undertaking1 merely as a trial of physical strength1 singly to face a mysterious assassin1 who had apparently signalized his prowess by a triumph so comprehensive4 ,but1 again1 for the imagination it required an effort of self-conquest to rush headlong into the presence of one invested with a cloud of mystery1 whose nation1 age1 motives1 were all alike unknown4 ,rarely on any field of battle has a soldier been called upon to face so complex a danger4 ,for if the entire family of his neighbor ,marr had been exterminated1 were this indeed true1 such a scale of bloodshed would seem to argue that there must have been two persons as the perpetrators2 or if one singly had accomplished such a ruin1 in that case how colossal must have been his audacity6 probably1 also1 his skill and animal power6 ,moreover1 the unknown enemy 7whether single or double7 would1 doubtless1 be elaborately armed4 ,yet1 under all these disadvantages1 did this fearless man rush at once to the field of butchery in his neighbor's house4 ,waiting only to draw on his trousers1 and to arm himself with the kitchen poker1 he went down into his own little back-yard4 ,on this mode of approach1 he would have a chance of intercepting the murderer2 whereas from the front there would be no such chance2 and there would also be considerable delay in the process of breaking open the door4 ,a brick wall1 nine or ten feet high1 divided his own back premises from those of ,marr4 ,over this he vaulted2 and at the moment when he was recalling himself to the necessity of going back for a candle1 he suddenly perceived a feeble ray of light already glimmering on some part of ,marr's premises4 ,marr's back-door stood wide open4 ,probably the murderer had passed through it one half minute before4 ,rapidly the brave man passed onwards to the shop1 and there beheld the carnage of the night stretched out on the floor1 and the narrow premises so floated with gore1 that it was hardly possible to escape the pollution of blood in picking out a path to the front-door4 ,in the lock of the door still remained the key which had given to the unknown murderer so fatal an advantage over his victims4 ,by this time1 the heart- shaking news involved in the outcries of ,mary 7to whom it occurred that by possibility some one out of so many victims might still be within the reach of medical aid1 but that all would depend upon speed7 had availed1 even at that late hour1 to gather a small mob about the house4 ,the pawnbroker threw open the door4 ,one or two watchmen headed the crowd2 but the soul-harrowing spectacle checked them1 and impressed sudden silence upon their voices1 previously so loud4 ,the tragic drama read aloud its own history1 and the succession of its several steps--few and summary4 ,the murderer was as yet altogether unknown2 not even suspected4 ,but there were reasons for thinking that he must have been a person familiarly known to ,marr4 ,he had entered the shop by opening the door after it had been closed by ,marr4 ,but it was justly argued--that1 after the caution conveyed to ,marr by the watchman1 the appearance of any stranger in the shop at that hour1 and in so dangerous a neighborhood1 and entering by so irregular and suspicious a course1 7i4e41 walking in after the door had been closed1 and after the closing of the shutters had cut off all open communication with the street71 would naturally have roused ,marr to an attitude of vigilance and self-defence4 ,any indication1 therefore1 that ,marr had not been so roused1 would argue to a certainty that something had occurred to neutralize this alarm1 and fatally to disarm the prudent jealousies of ,marr4 ,but this 'something' could only have lain in one simple fact1 viz41 that the person of the murderer was familiarly known to ,marr as that of an ordinary and unsuspected acquaintance4 ,this being presupposed as the key to all the rest1 the whole course and evolution of the subsequent drama becomes clear as daylight4 ,the murderer1 it is evident1 had opened gently1 and again closed behind him with equal gentleness1 the street-door4 ,he had then advanced to the little counter1 all the while exchanging the ordinary salutation of an old acquaintance with the unsuspecting ,marr4 ,having reached the counter1 he would then ask ,marr for a pair of unbleached cotton socks4 ,in a shop so small as ,marr's1 there could be no great latitude of choice for disposing of the different commodities4 ,the arrangement of these had no doubt become familiar to the murderer2 and he had already ascertained that1 in order to reach down the particular parcel wanted at present1 ,marr would find it requisite to face round to the rear1 and1 at the same moment1 to raise his eyes and his hands to a level eighteen inches above his own head4 ,this movement placed him in the most disadvantageous possible position with regard to the murderer1 who now1 at the instant when ,marr's hands and eyes were embarrassed1 and the back of his head fully exposed1 suddenly from below his large surtout1 had unslung a heavy ship-carpenter's mallet1 and1 with one solitary blow1 had so thoroughly stunned his victim1 as to leave him incapable of resistance4 ,the whole position of ,marr told its own tale4 ,he had collapsed naturally behind the counter1 with his hands so occupied as to confirm the whole outline of the affair as ,i have here suggested it4 ,probable enough it is that the very first blow1 the first indication of treachery that reached ,marr1 would also be the last blow as regarded the abolition of consciousness4 ,the murderer's plan and rationale of murder started systematically from this infliction of apoplexy1 or at least of a stunning sufficient to insure a long loss of consciousness4 ,this opening step placed the murderer at his ease4 ,but still1 as returning sense might constantly have led to the fullest exposures1 it was his settled practice1 by way of consummation1 to cut the throat4 ,to one invariable type all the murders on this occasion conformed3 the skull was first shattered2 this step secured the murderer from instant retaliation2 and then1 by way of locking up all into eternal silence1 uniformly the throat was cut4 ,the rest of the circumstances1 as self-revealed1 were these4 ,the fall of ,marr might1 probably enough1 cause a dull1 confused sound of a scuffle1 and the more so1 as it could not now be confounded with any street uproar--the shop-door being shut4 ,it is more probable1 however1 that the signal for the alarm passing down to the kitchen1 would arise when the murderer proceeded to cut ,marr's throat4 ,the very confined situation behind the counter would render it impossible1 under the critical hurry of the case1 to expose the throat broadly2 the horrid scene would proceed by partial and interrupted cuts2 deep groans would arise2 and then would come the rush up-stairs4 ,against this1 as the only dangerous stage in the transaction1 the murderer would have specially prepared4 ,mrs4 ,marr and the apprentice-boy1 both young and active1 would make1 of course1 for the street door2 had ,mary been at home1 and three persons at once had combined to distract the purposes of the murderer1 it is barely possible that one of them would have succeeded in reaching the street4 ,but the dreadful swing of the heavy mallet intercepted both the boy and his mistress before they could reach the door4 ,each of them lay stretched out on the centre of the shop floor2 and the very moment that this disabling was accomplished1 the accursed hound was down upon their throats with his razor4 ,the fact is1 that1 in the mere blindness of pity for poor ,marr1 on hearing his groans1 ,mrs4 ,marr had lost sight of her obvious policy2 she and the boy ought to have made for the back door2 the alarm would thus have been given in the open air2 which1 of itself1 was a great point2 and several means of distracting the murderer's attention offered upon that course1 which the extreme limitation of the shop denied to them upon the other4 ,vain would be all attempts to convey the horror which thrilled the gathering spectators of this piteous tragedy4 ,it was known to the crowd that one person had1 by some accident1 escaped the general massacre3 but she was now speechless1 and probably delirious2 so that1 in compassion for her pitiable situation1 one female neighbor had carried her away1 and put her to bed4 ,hence it had happened1 for a longer space of time than could else have been possible1 that no person present was sufficiently acquainted with the ,marrs to be aware of the little infant2 for the bold pawnbroker had gone off to make a communication to the coroner2 and another neighbor to lodge some evidence which he thought urgent at a neighboring police-office4 ,suddenly some person appeared amongst the crowd who was aware that the murdered parents had a young infant2 this would be found either below-stairs1 or in one of the bedrooms above4 ,immediately a stream of people poured down into the kitchen1 where at once they saw the cradle--but with the bedclothes in a state of indescribable confusion4 ,on disentangling these1 pools of blood became visible2 and the next ominous sign was1 that the hood of the cradle had been smashed to pieces4 ,it became evident that the wretch had found himself doubly embarrassed-- first1 by the arched hood at the head of the cradle1 which1 accordingly1 he had beat into a ruin with his mallet1 and secondly1 by the gathering of the blankets and pillows about the baby's head4 ,the free play of his blows had thus been baffled4 ,and he had therefore finished the scene by applying his razor to the throat of the little innocent2 after which1 with no apparent purpose1 as though he had become confused by the spectacle of his own atrocities1 he had busied himself in piling the clothes elaborately over the child's corpse4 ,this incident undeniably gave the character of a vindictive proceeding to the whole affair1 and so far confirmed the current rumor that the quarrel between ,williams and ,marr had originated in rivalship4 ,one writer1 indeed1 alleged that the murderer might have found it necessary for his own safety to extinguish the crying of the child2 but it was justly replied1 that a child only eight months old could not have cried under any sense of the tragedy proceeding1 but simply in its ordinary way for the absence of its mother2 and such a cry1 even if audible at all out of the house1 must have been precisely what the neighbors were hearing constantly1 so that it could have drawn no special attention1 nor suggested any reasonable alarm to the murderer4 ,no one incident1 indeed1 throughout the whole tissue of atrocities1 so much envenomed the popular fury against the unknown ruffian1 as this useless butchery of the infant4 ,naturally1 on the ,sunday morning that dawned four or five hours later1 the case was too full of horror not to diffuse itself in all directions2 but ,i have no reason to think that it crept into any one of the numerous ,sunday papers4 ,in the regular course1 any ordinary occurrence1 not occurring1 or not transpiring until fifteen minutes after #a ,a4 ,m4 on a ,sunday morning1 would first reach the public ear through the ,monday editions of the ,sunday papers1 and the regular morning papers of the ,monday4 ,but1 if such were the course pursued on this occasion1 never can there have been a more signal oversight4 ,for it is certain1 that to have met the public demand for details on the ,sunday1 which might so easily have been done by cancelling a couple of dull columns1 and substituting a circumstantial narrative1 for which the pawnbroker and the watchman could have furnished the materials1 would have made a small fortune4 ,by proper handbills dispersed through all quarters of the infinite metropolis1 two hundred and fifty thousand extra copies might have been sold2 that is1 by any journal that should have collected exclusive materials1 meeting the public excitement1 everywhere stirred to the centre by flying rumors1 and everywhere burning for ampler information4 ,on the ,sunday se'ennight 7,sunday the octave from the event71 took place the funeral of the ,marrs2 in the first coffin was placed ,marr2 in the second ,mrs4 ,marr1 and the baby in her arms2 in the third the apprentice boy4 ,they were buried side by side2 and thirty thousand laboring people followed the funeral procession1 with horror and grief written in their countenances4 ,as yet no whisper was astir that indicated1 even conjecturally1 the hideous author of these ruins--this patron of grave-diggers4 ,had as much been known on this ,sunday of the funeral concerning that person as became known universally six days later1 the people would have gone right from the churchyard to the murderer's lodgings1 and 7brooking no delay7 would have torn him limb from limb4 ,as yet1 however1 in mere default of any object on whom reasonable suspicion could settle1 the public wrath was compelled to suspend itself4 ,else1 far indeed from showing any tendency to subside1 the public emotion strengthened every day conspicuously1 as the reverberation of the shock began to travel back from the provinces to the capital4 ,on every great road in the kingdom1 continual arrests were made of vagrants and 'trampers1' who could give no satisfactory account of themselves1 or whose appearance in any respect answered to the imperfect description of ,williams furnished by the watchman4 ,with this mighty tide of pity and indignation pointing backwards to the dreadful past1 there mingled also in the thoughts of reflecting persons an under-current of fearful expectation for the immediate future4 ',the earthquake1' to quote a fragment from a striking passage in ,wordsworth-- ',the earthquake is not satisfied at once4' ,all perils1 specially malignant1 are recurrent4 ,a murderer1 who is such by passion and by a wolfish craving for bloodshed as a mode of unnatural luxury1 cannot relapse into inertia4 ,such a man1 even more than the ,alpine chamois hunter1 comes to crave the dangers and the hairbreadth escapes of his trade1 as a condiment for seasoning the insipid monotonies of daily life4 ,but1 apart from the hellish instincts that might too surely be relied on for renewed atrocities1 it was clear that the murderer of the ,marrs1 wheresoever lurking1 must be a needy man2 and a needy man of that class least likely to seek or to find resources in honorable modes of industry2 for which1 equally by haughty disgust and by disuse of the appropriate habits1 men of violence are specially disqualified4 ,were it1 therefore1 merely for a livelihood1 the murderer whom all hearts were yearning to decipher1 might be expected to make his resurrection on some stage of horror1 after a reasonable interval4 ,even in the ,marr murder1 granting that it had been governed chiefly by cruel and vindictive impulses1 it was still clear that the desire of booty had co-operated with such feelings4 ,equally clear it was that this desire must have been disappointed3 excepting the trivial sum reserved by ,marr for the week's expenditure1 the murderer found1 doubtless1 little or nothing that he could turn to account4 ,two guineas1 perhaps1 would be the outside of what he had obtained in the way of booty4 ,a week or so would see the end of that4 ,the conviction1 therefore1 of all people was1 that in a month or two1 when the fever of excitement might a little have cooled down1 or have been superseded by other topics of fresher interest1 so that the newborn vigilance of household life would have had time to relax1 some new murder1 equally appalling1 might be counted upon4 ,such was the public expectation4 ,let the reader then figure to himself the pure frenzy of horror when in this hush of expectation1 looking1 indeed1 and waiting for the unknown arm to strike once more1 but not believing that any audacity could be equal to such an attempt as yet1 whilst all eyes were watching1 suddenly1 on the twelfth night from the ,marr murder1 a second case of the same mysterious nature1 a murder on the same exterminating plan was perpetrated in the very same neighborhood4 ,it was on the ,thursday next but one succeeding to the ,marr murder that this second atrocity took place2 and many people thought at the time1 that in its dramatic features of thrilling interest1 this second case even went beyond the first4 ,the family which suffered in this instance was that of a ,mr4 ,williamson2 and the house was situated1 if not absolutely in ,ratcliffe ,highway1 at any rate immediately round the corner of some secondary street1 running at right angles to this public thoroughfare1 ,mr4 ,williamson was a well-known and respectable man1 long settled in that district2 he was supposed to be rich2 and more with a view to the employment furnished by such a calling1 than with much anxiety for further accumulations1 he kept a sort of tavern2 which1 in this respect1 might be considered on an old patriarchal footing--that1 although people of considerable property resorted to the house in the evenings1 no kind of anxious separation was maintained between them and the other visitors from the class of artisans or common laborers4 ,anybody who conducted himself with propriety was free to take a seat1 and call for any liquor that he might prefer4 ,and thus the society was pretty miscellaneous2 in part stationary1 but in some proportion fluctuating4 ,the household consisted of the following five persons3--#a4 ,mr4 ,williamson1 its head1 who was an old man above seventy1 and was well fitted for his situation1 being civil1 and not at all morose1 but1 at the same time1 firm in maintaining order2 #b4 ,mrs4 ,williamson1 his wife1 about ten years younger than himself2 #c4 a little grand-daughter1 about nine years old2 #d4 a housemaid1 who was nearly forty years old2 #e4 a young journeyman1 aged about twenty-six1 belonging to some manufacturing establishment 7of what class ,i have forgotten72 neither do ,i remember of what nation he was4 ,it was the established rule at ,mr4 ,williamson's1 that1 exactly as the clock struck eleven1 all the company1 without favor or exception1 moved off4 ,that was one of the customs by which1 in so stormy a district1 ,mr4 ,williamson had found it possible to keep his house free from brawls4 ,on the present ,thursday night everything had gone on as usual1 except for one slight shadow of suspicion1 which had caught the attention of more persons than one4 ,perhaps at a less agitating time it would hardly have been noticed2 but now1 when the first question and the last in all social meetings turned upon the ,marrs1 and their unknown murderer1 it was a circumstance naturally fitted to cause some uneasiness1 that a stranger1 of sinister appearance1 in a wide surtout1 had flitted in and out of the room at intervals during the evening2 had sometimes retired from the light into obscure corners2 and1 by more than one person1 had been observed stealing into the private passages of the house4 ,it was presumed in general1 that the man must be known to ,williamson4 ,and in some slight degree1 as an occasional customer of the house1 it is not impossible that he was4 ,but afterwards1 this repulsive stranger1 with his cadaverous ghastliness1 extraordinary hair1 and glazed eyes1 showing himself intermittingly through the hours from #h to #aa ,p4,m41 revolved upon the memory of all who had steadily observed him with something of the same freezing effect as belongs to the two assassins in ',macbeth1' who present themselves reeking from the murder of ,banquo1 and gleaming dimly1 with dreadful faces1 from the misty background1 athwart the pomps of the regal banquet4 ,meantime the clock struck eleven2 the company broke up2 the door of entrance was nearly closed2 and at this moment of general dispersion the situation of the five inmates left upon the premises was precisely this3 the three elders1 viz41 ,williamson1 his wife1 and his female servant1 were all occupied on the ground floor--,williamson himself was drawing ale1 porter1 c41 for those neighbors1 in whose favor the house-door had been left ajar1 until the hour of twelve should strike2 ,mrs4 ,williamson and her servant were moving to and fro between the back-kitchen and a little parlor2 the little grand-daughter1 whose sleeping-room was on the first floor 7which term in ,london means always the floor raised by one flight of stairs above the level of the street71 had been fast asleep since nine o'clock2 lastly1 the journeyman artisan had retired to rest for some time4 ,he was a regular lodger in the house2 and his bedroom was on the second floor4 ,for some time he had been undressed1 and had lain down in bed4 ,being1 as a working man1 bound to habits of early rising1 he was naturally anxious to fall asleep as soon as possible4 ,but1 on this particular night1 his uneasiness1 arising from the recent murders at ,no4 #bi1 rose to a paroxysm of nervous excitement which kept him awake4 ,it is possible1 that from somebody he had heard of the suspicious-looking stranger1 or might even personally observed him slinking about4 ,but1 were it otherwise1 he was aware of several circumstances dangerously affecting this house2 for instance1 the ruffianism of this whole neighborhood1 and the disagreeable fact that the ,marrs had lived within a few doors of this very house1 which again argued that the murderer also lived at no great distance4 ,these were matters of general alarm4 ,but there were others peculiar to this house2 in particular1 the notoriety of ,williamson's opulence2 the belief1 whether well or ill founded1 that he accumulated1 in desks and drawers1 the money continually flowing into his hands2 and lastly1 the danger so ostentatiously courted by that habit of leaving the house-door ajar through one entire hour--and that hour loaded with extra danger1 by the well-advertised assurance that no collision need be feared with chance convivial visiters1 since all such people were banished at eleven4 ,a regulation1 which had hitherto operated beneficially for the character and comfort of the house1 now1 on the contrary1 under altered circumstances1 became a positive proclamation of exposure and defencelessness1 through one entire period of an hour4 ,williamson himself1 it was said generally1 being a large unwieldy man1 past seventy1 and signally inactive1 ought1 in prudence1 to make the locking of his door coincident with the dismissal of his evening party4 ,upon these and other grounds of alarm 7particularly this1 that ,mrs4 ,williamson was reported to possess a considerable quantity of plate71 the journeyman was musing painfully1 and the time might be within twenty-eight or twenty-five minutes of twelve1 when all at once1 with a crash1 proclaiming some hand of hideous violence1 the house-door was suddenly shut and locked4 ,here1 then1 beyond all doubt1 was the diabolic man1 clothed in mystery1 from ,no4 #bi ,ratcliffe ,highway4 ,yes1 that dreadful being1 who for twelve days had employed all thoughts and all tongues1 was now1 too certainly1 in this defenceless house1 and would1 in a few minutes1 be face to face with every one of its inmates4 ,a question still lingered in the public mind--whether at ,marr's there might not have been two men at work4 ,if so1 there would be two at present2 and one of the two would be immediately disposable for the up-stairs work2 since no danger could obviously be more immediately fatal to such an attack than any alarm given from an upper window to the passengers in the street4 ,through one half-minute the poor panic-stricken man sat up motionless in bed4 ,but then he rose1 his first movement being towards the door of his room4 ,not for any purpose of securing it against intrusion--too well he knew that there was no fastening of any sort--neither lock1 nor bolt2 nor was there any such moveable furniture in the room as might have availed to barricade the door1 even if time could be counted on for such an attempt4 ,it was no effect of prudence1 merely the fascination of killing fear it was1 that drove him to open the door4 ,one step brought him to the head of the stairs3 he lowered his head over the balustrade in order to listen2 and at that moment ascended1 from the little parlor1 this agonizing cry from the woman-servant1 ',lord ,jesus ,christ6 we shall all be murdered6' ,what a ,medusa's head must have lurked in those dreadful bloodless features1 and those glazed rigid eyes1 that seemed rightfully belonging to a corpse1 when one glance at them sufficed to proclaim a death-warrant4 ,three separate death-struggles were by this time over2 and the poor petrified journeyman1 quite unconscious of what he was doing1 in blind1 passive1 self-surrender to panic1 absolutely descended both flights of stairs4 ,infinite terror inspired him with the same impulse as might have been inspired by headlong courage4 ,in his shirt1 and upon old decaying stairs1 that at times creaked under his feet1 he continued to descend1 until he had reached the lowest step but four4 ,the situation was tremendous beyond any that is on record4 ,a sneeze1 a cough1 almost a breathing1 and the young man would be a corpse1 without a chance or a struggle for his life4 ,the murderer was at that time in the little parlor --the door of which parlor faced you in descending the stairs2 and this door stood ajar2 indeed1 much more considerably open than what is understood by the term 'ajar4' ,of that quadrant1 or #ij degrees1 which the door would describe in swinging so far open as to stand at right angles to the lobby1 or to itself1 in a closed position1 #ee degrees at the least were exposed4 ,consequently1 two out of three corpses were exposed to the young man's gaze4 ,where was the third8 ,and the murderer--where was he8 ,as to the murderer1 he was walking rapidly backwards and forwards in the parlor1 audible but not visible at first1 being engaged with something or other in that part of the room which the door still concealed4 ,what the something might be1 the sound soon explained2 he was applying keys tentatively to a cupboard1 a closet1 and a scrutoire1 in the hidden part of the room4 ,very soon1 however1 he came into view2 but1 fortunately for the young man1 at this critical moment1 the murderer's purpose too entirely absorbed him to allow of his throwing a glance to the staircase1 on which else the white figure of the journeyman1 standing in motionless horror1 would have been detected in one instant1 and seasoned for the grave in the second4 ,as to the third corpse1 the missing corpse1 viz41 ,mr4 ,williamson's1 that is in the cellar2 and how its local position can be accounted for1 remains a separate question much discussed at the time1 but never satisfactorily cleared up4 ,meantime1 that ,williamson was dead1 became evident to the young man2 since else he would have been heard stirring or groaning4 ,three friends1 therefore1 out of four1 whom the young man had parted with forty minutes ago1 were now extinguished2 remained1 therefore1 #dj per cent4 7a large per centage for ,williams to leave72 remained1 in fact1 himself and his pretty young friend1 the little grand-daughter1 whose childish innocence was still slumbering without fear for herself1 or grief for her aged grand-parents4 ,if they are gone for ever1 happily one friend 7for such he will prove himself1 indeed1 if from such a danger he can save this child7 is pretty near to her4 ,but alas6 he is still nearer to a murderer4 ,at this moment he is unnerved for any exertion whatever2 he has changed into a pillar of ice2 for the objects before him1 separated by just thirteen feet1 are these3--,the housemaid had been caught by the murderer on her knees2 she was kneeling before the fire-grate1 which she had been polishing with black lead4 ,that part of her task was finished2 and she had passed on to another task1 viz41 the filling of the grate with wood and coals1 not for kindling at this moment1 but so as to have it ready for kindling on the next day4 ,the appearances all showed that she must have been engaged in this labor at the very moment when the murderer entered2 and perhaps the succession of the incidents arranged itself as follows3--,from the awful ejaculation and loud outcry to ,christ1 as overheard by the journeyman1 it was clear that then first she had been alarmed2 yet this was at least one and a-half or even two minutes after the door-slamming4 ,consequently the alarm which had so fearfully and seasonably alarmed the young man1 must1 in some unaccountable way1 have been misinterpreted by the two women4 ,it was said1 at the time1 that ,mrs4 ,williamson labored under some dulness of hearing2 and it was conjectured that the servant1 having her ears filled with the noise of her own scrubbing1 and her head half under the grate1 might have confounded it with the street noises1 or else might have imputed this violent closure to some mischievous boys4 ,but1 howsoever explained1 the fact was evident1 that1 until the words of appeal to ,christ1 the servant had noticed nothing suspicious1 nothing which interrupted her labors4 ,if so1 it followed that neither had ,mrs4 ,williamson noticed anything2 for1 in that case1 she would have communicated her own alarm to the servant1 since both were in the same small room4 ,apparently the course of things after the murderer had entered the room was this3--,mrs4 ,williamson had probably not seen him1 from the accident of standing with her back to the door4 ,her1 therefore1 before he was himself observed at all1 he had stunned and prostrated by a shattering blow on the back of her head2 this blow1 inflicted by a crow-bar1 had smashed in the hinder part of the skull4 ,she fell2 and by the noise of her fall 7for all was the work of a moment7 had first roused the attention of the servant2 who then uttered the cry which had reached the young man2 but before she could repeat it1 the murderer had descended with his uplifted instrument upon her head1 crushing the skull inwards upon the brain4 ,both the women were irrecoverably destroyed1 so that further outrages were needless2 and1 moreover1 the murderer was conscious of the imminent danger from delay2 and yet1 in spite of his hurry1 so fully did he appreciate the fatal consequences to himself1 if any of his victims should so far revive into consciousness as to make circumstantial depositions1 that1 by way of making this impossible1 he had proceeded instantly to cut the throats of each4 ,all this tallied with the appearances as now presenting themselves4 ,mrs4 ,williamson had fallen backwards with her head to the door2 the servant1 from her kneeling posture1 had been incapable of rising1 and had presented her head passively to blows2 after which1 the miscreant had but to bend her head backwards so as to expose her throat1 and the murder was finished4 ,it is remarkable that the young artisan1 paralyzed as he had been by fear1 and evidently fascinated for a time so as to walk right towards the lion's mouth1 yet found himself able to notice everything important4 ,the reader must suppose him at this point watching the murderer whilst hanging over the body of ,mrs4 ,williamson1 and whilst renewing his search for certain important keys4 ,doubtless it was an anxious situation for the murderer2 for1 unless he speedily found the keys wanted1 all this hideous tragedy would end in nothing but a prodigious increase of the public horror1 in tenfold precautions therefore1 and redoubled obstacles interposed between himself and his future game4 ,nay1 there was even a nearer interest at stake2 his own immediate safety might1 by a probable accident1 be compromised4 ,most of those who came to the house for liquor were giddy girls or children1 who1 on finding this house closed1 would go off carelessly to some other2 but1 let any thoughtful woman or man come to the door now1 a full quarter of an hour before the established time of closing1 in that case suspicion would arise too powerful to be checked4 ,there would be a sudden alarm given2 after which1 mere luck would decide the event4 ,for it is a remarkable fact1 and one that illustrates the singular inconsistency of this villain1 who1 being often so superfluously subtle1 was in other directions so reckless and improvident1 that at this very moment1 standing amongst corpses that had deluged the little parlor with blood1 ,williams must have been in considerable doubt whether he had any sure means of egress4 ,there were windows1 he knew1 to the back2 but upon what ground they opened1 he seems to have had no certain information2 and in a neighborhood so dangerous1 the windows of the lower story would not improbably be nailed down2 those in the upper might be free1 but then came the necessity of a leap too formidable4 ,from all this1 however1 the sole practical inference was to hurry forward with the trial of further keys1 and to detect the hidden treasure4 ,this it was1 this intense absorption in one overmastering pursuit1 that dulled the murderer's perceptions as to all around him2 otherwise1 he must have heard the breathing of the young man1 which to himself at times became fearfully audible4 ,as the murderer stood once more over the body of ,mrs4 ,williamson1 and searched her pockets more narrowly1 he pulled out various clusters of keys1 one of which dropping1 gave a harsh gingling sound upon the floor4 ,at this time it was that the secret witness1 from his secret stand1 noticed the fact of ,williams's surtout being lined with silk of the finest quality4 ,one other fact he noticed1 which eventually became more immediately important than many stronger circumstances of incrimination2 this was1 that the shoes of the murderer1 apparently new1 and bought1 probably1 with poor ,marr's money1 creaked as he walked1 harshly and frequently4 ,with the new clusters of keys1 the murderer walked off to the hidden section of the parlor4 ,and here1 at last1 was suggested to the journeyman the sudden opening for an escape4 ,some minutes would be lost to a certainty trying all these keys2 and subsequently in searching the drawers1 supposing that the keys answered--or in violently forcing them1 supposing that they did not4 ,he might thus count upon a brief interval of leisure1 whilst the rattling of the keys might obscure to the murderer the creaking of the stairs under the re-ascending journeyman4 ,his plan was now formed3 on regaining his bedroom1 he placed the bed against the door by way of a transient retardation to the enemy1 that might give him a short warning1 and in the worst extremity1 might give him a chance for life by means of a desperate leap4 ,this change made as quietly as possible1 he tore the sheets1 pillow-cases1 and blankets into broad ribbons2 and after plaiting them into ropes1 spliced the different lengths together4 ,but at the very first he descries this ugly addition to his labors4 ,where shall he look for any staple1 hook1 bar1 or other fixture1 from which his rope1 when twisted1 may safely depend8 ,measured from the window-sill--i4e41 the lowest part of the window architrave--there count but twenty-two or twenty-three feet to the ground4 ,of this length ten or twelve feet may be looked upon as cancelled1 because to that extent he might drop without danger4 ,so much being deducted1 there would remain1 say1 a dozen feet of rope to prepare4 ,but1 unhappily1 there is no stout iron fixture anywhere about his window4 ,the nearest1 indeed the sole fixture of that sort1 is not near to the window at all2 it is a spike fixed 7for no reason at all that is apparent7 in the bed-tester2 now1 the bed being shifted1 the spike is shifted2 and its distance from the window1 having been always four feet1 is now seven4 ,seven entire feet1 therefore1 must be added to that which would have sufficed if measured from the window4 ,but courage6 ,god1 by the proverb of all nations in ,christendom1 helps those that help themselves4 ,this our young man thankfully acknowledges2 he reads already1 in the very fact of any spike at all being found where hitherto it has been useless1 an earnest of providential aid4 ,were it only for himself that he worked1 he could not feel himself meritoriously employed2 but this is not so2 in deep sincerity1 he is now agitated for the poor child1 whom he knows and loves2 every minute1 he feels1 brings ruin nearer to her2 and1 as he passed her door1 his first thought had been to take her out of bed in his arms1 and to carry her where she might share his chances4 ,but1 on consideration1 he felt that this sudden awaking of her1 and the impossibility of even whispering any explanation1 would cause her to cry audibly2 and the inevitable indiscretion of one would be fatal to the two4 ,as the ,alpine avalanches1 when suspended above the traveller's head1 oftentimes 7we are told7 come down through the stirring of the air by a simple whisper1 precisely on such a tenure of a whisper was now suspended the murderous malice of the man below4 ,no2 there is but one way to save the child2 towards her deliverance1 the first step is through his own4 ,and he has made an excellent beginning2 for the spike1 which too fearfully he had expected to see torn away by any strain upon the half-carious wood1 stands firmly when tried against the pressure of his own weight4 ,he has rapidly fastened on to it three lengths of his new rope1 measuring eleven feet4 ,he plaits it roughly2 so that only three feet have been lost in the intertwisting2 he has spliced on a second length equal to the first2 so that1 already1 sixteen feet are ready to throw out of the window2 and thus1 let the worst come to the worst1 it will not be absolute ruin to swarm down the rope so far as it will reach1 and then to drop boldly4 ,all this has been accomplished in about six minutes2 and the hot contest between above and below is steadily but fervently proceeding4 ,murderer is working hard in the parlor2 journeyman is working hard in the bedroom4 ,miscreant is getting on famously down-stairs2 one batch of bank-notes he has already bagged2 and is hard upon the scent of a second4 ,he has also sprung a covey of golden coins4 ,sovereigns as yet were not2 but guineas at this period fetched thirty shillings a-piece2 and he has worked his way into a little quarry of these4 ,murderer is almost joyous2 and if any creature is still living in this house1 as shrewdly he suspects1 and very soon means to know1 with that creature he would be happy1 before cutting the creature's throat1 to drink a glass of something4 ,instead of the glass1 might he not make a present to the poor creature of its throat8 ,oh no6 impossible6 ,throats are a sort of thing that he never makes presents of2 business-- business must be attended to4 ,really the two men1 considered simply as men of business1 are both meritorious4 ,like chorus and semi-chorus1 strophe and antistrophe1 they work each against the other4 ,pull journeyman1 pull murderer6 ,pull baker1 pull devil6 ,as regards the journeyman1 he is now safe4 ,to his sixteen feet1 of which seven are neutralized by the distance of the bed1 he has at last added six feet more1 which will be short of reaching the ground by perhaps ten feet--a trifle which man or boy may drop without injury4 ,all is safe1 therefore1 for him3 which is more than one can be sure of for miscreant in the parlor4 ,miscreant1 however1 takes it coolly enough3 the reason being1 that1 with all his cleverness1 for once in his life miscreant has been over-reached4 ,the reader and ,i know1 but miscreant does not in the least suspect1 a little fact of some importance1 viz41 that just now through a space of full three minutes he has been overlooked and studied by one1 who 7though reading in a dreadful book1 and suffering under mortal panic7 took accurate notes of so much as his limited opportunities allowed him to see1 and will assuredly report the creaking shoes and the silk-mounted surtout in quarters where such little facts will tell very little to his advantage4 ,but1 although it is true that ,mr4 ,williams1 unaware of the journeyman's having 'assisted' at the examination of ,mrs4 ,williamson's pockets1 could not connect any anxiety with that person's subsequent proceedings'1 nor specially1 therefore1 with his having embarked in the rope-weaving line1 assuredly he knew of reasons enough for not loitering4 ,and yet he did loiter4 ,reading his acts by the light of such mute traces as he left behind him1 the police became aware that latterly he must have loitered4 ,and the reason which governed him is striking2 because at once it records--that murder was not pursued by him simply as a means to an end1 but also as an end for itself4 ,mr4 ,williams had now been upon the premises for perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes2 and in that space of time he had dispatched1 in a style satisfactory to himself1 a considerable amount of business4 ,he had done1 in commercial language1 'a good stroke of business4' ,upon two floors1 viz41 the cellar-floor and the ground-floor1 he has 'accounted for' all the population4 ,but there remained at least two floors more2 and it now occurred to ,mr4 ,williams that1 although the landlord's somewhat chilling manner had shut him out from any familiar knowledge of the household arrangements1 too probably on one or other of those floors there must be some throats4 ,as to plunder1 he has already bagged the whole4 ,and it was next to impossible that any arrear the most trivial should still remain for a gleaner4 ,but the throats--the throats--there it was that arrears and gleanings might perhaps be counted on4 ,and thus it appeared that1 in his wolfish thirst for blood1 ,mr4 ,williams put to hazard the whole fruits of his night's work1 and his life into the bargain4 ,at this moment1 if the murderer knew all1 could he see the open window above stairs ready for the descent of the journeyman1 could he witness the life- and-death rapidity with which that journeyman is working1 could he guess at the almighty uproar which within ninety seconds will be maddening the population of this populous district--no picture of a maniac in flight of panic or in pursuit of vengeance would adequately represent the agony of haste with which he would himself be hurrying to the street-door for final evasion4 ,that mode of escape was still free4 ,even at this moment1 there yet remained time sufficient for a successful flight1 and1 therefore1 for the following revolution in the romance of his own abominable life4 ,he had in his pockets above a hundred pounds of booty2 means1 therefore1 for a full disguise4 ,this very night1 if he will shave off his yellow hair1 and blacken his eyebrows1 buying1 when morning light returns1 a dark-colored wig1 and clothes such as may co-operate in personating the character of a grave professional man1 he may elude all suspicions of impertinent policemen2 may sail by any one of a hundred vessels bound for any port along the huge line of sea-board 7stretching through twenty-four hundred miles7 of the ,american ,united ,states2 may enjoy fifty years for leisurely repentance2 and may even die in the odor of sanctity4 ,on the other hand1 if he prefer active life1 it is not impossible that1 with his subtlety1 hardihood1 and unscrupulousness1 in a land where the simple process of naturalization converts the alien at once into a child of the family1 he might rise to the president's chair2 might have a statue at his death2 and afterwards a life in three volumes quarto1 with no hint glancing towards ,no4 #bi ,ratcliffe ,highway4 ,but all depends on the next ninety seconds4 ,within that time there is a sharp turn to be taken2 there is a wrong turn1 and a right turn4 ,should his better angel guide him to the right one1 all may yet go well as regards this world's prosperity4 ,but behold6 in two minutes from this point we shall see him take the wrong one3 and then ,nemesis will be at his heels with ruin perfect and sudden4 ,meantime1 if the murderer allows himself to loiter1 the ropemaker overhead does not4 ,well he knows that the poor child's fate is on the edge of a razor3 for all turns upon the alarm being raised before the murderer reaches her bedside4 ,and at this very moment1 whilst desperate agitation is nearly paralyzing his fingers1 he hears the sullen stealthy step of the murderer creeping up through the darkness4 ,it had been the expectation of the journeyman 7founded on the clamorous uproar with which the street-door was slammed7 that ,williams1 when disposable for his up-stairs work1 would come racing at a long jubilant gallop1 and with a tiger roar2 and perhaps1 on his natural instincts1 he would have done so4 ,but this mode of approach1 which was of dreadful effect when applied to a case of surprise1 became dangerous in the case of people who might by this time have been placed fully upon their guard4 ,the step which he had heard was on the staircase--but upon which stair8 ,he fancied upon the lowest3 and in a movement so slow and cautious1 even this might make all the difference2 yet might it not have been the tenth1 twelfth1 or fourteenth stair8 ,never1 perhaps1 in this world did any man feel his own responsibility so cruelly loaded and strained1 as at this moment did the poor journeyman on behalf of the slumbering child4 ,lose but two seconds1 through awkwardness or through the self-counteractions of panic1 and for her the total difference arose between life and death4 ,still there is a hope3 and nothing can so frightfully expound the hellish nature of him whose baleful shadow1 to speak astrologically1 at this moment darkens the house of life1 than the simple expression of the ground on which this hope rested4 ,the journeyman felt sure that the murderer would not be satisfied to kill the poor child whilst unconscious4 ,this would be to defeat his whole purpose in murdering her at all4 ,to an epicure in murder such as ,williams1 it would be taking away the very sting of the enjoyment1 if the poor child should be suffered to drink off the bitter cup of death without fully apprehending the misery of the situation4 ,but this luckily would require time3 the double confusion of mind1 first1 from being roused up at so unusual an hour1 and1 secondly1 from the horror of the occasion when explained to her1 would at first produce fainting1 or some mode of insensibility or distraction1 such as must occupy a considerable time4 ,the logic of the case1 in short1 all rested upon the ultra fiendishness of ,williams4 ,were he likely to be content with the mere fact of the child's death1 apart from the process and leisurely expansion of its mental agony--in that case there would be no hope4 ,but1 because our present murderer is fastidiously finical in his exactions--a sort of martinet in the scenical grouping and draping of the circumstances in his murders--therefore it is that hope becomes reasonable1 since all such refinements of preparation demand time4 ,murders of mere necessity ,williams was obliged to hurry2 but1 in a murder of pure voluptuousness1 entirely disinterested1 where no hostile witness was to be removed1 no extra booty to be gained1 and no revenge to be gratified1 it is clear that to hurry would be altogether to ruin4 ,if this child1 therefore1 is to be saved1 it will be on pure aesthetical considerations4 #e ,but all considerations whatever are at this moment suddenly cut short4 ,a second step is heard on the stairs1 but still stealthy and cautious2 a third--and then the child's doom seems fixed4 ,but just at that4 moment all is ready4 ,the window is wide open2 the rope is swinging free2 the journeyman has launched himself2 and already he is in the first stage of his descent4 ,simply by the weight of his person he descended1 and by the resistance of his hands he retarded the descent4 ,the danger was1 that the rope should run too smoothly through his hands1 and that by too rapid an acceleration of pace he should come violently to the ground4 ,happily he was able to resist the descending impetus3 the knots of the splicings furnished a succession of retardations4 ,but the rope proved shorter by four or five feet than he had calculated3 ten or eleven feet from the ground he hung suspended in the air2 speechless for the present1 through long-continued agitation2 and not daring to drop boldly on the rough carriage pavement1 lest he should fracture his legs4 ,but the night was not dark1 as it had been on occasion of the ,marr murders4 ,and yet1 for purposes of criminal police1 it was by accident worse than the darkest night that ever hid a murder or baffled a pursuit4 ,london1 from east to west1 was covered with a deep pall 7rising from the river7 of universal fog4 ,hence it happened1 that for twenty or thirty seconds the young man hanging in the air was not observed4 ,his white shirt at length attracted notice4 ,three or four people ran up1 and received him in their arms1 all anticipating some dreadful annunciation4 ,to what house did he belong8 ,even that was not instantly apparent2 but he pointed with his finger to ,williamson's door1 and said in a half-choking whisper--',marr's murderer1 now at work6' ,all explained itself in a moment3 the silent language of the fact made its own eloquent revelation4 ,the mysterious exterminator of ,no4 #bi ,ratcliffe ,highway had visited another house2 and1 behold6 one man only had escaped through the air1 and in his night-dress1 to tell the tale4 ,superstitiously1 there was something to check the pursuit of this unintelligible criminal4 ,morally1 and in the interests of vindictive justice1 there was everything to rouse1 quicken1 and sustain it4 ,yes1 ,marr's murderer--the man of mystery--was again at work2 at this moment perhaps extinguishing some lamp of life1 and not at any remote place1 but here--in the very house which the listeners to this dreadful announcement were actually touching4 ,the chaos and blind uproar of the scene which followed1 measured by the crowded reports in the journals of many subsequent days1 and in one feature of that case1 has never to my knowledge had its parallel2 or1 if a parallel1 only in one case--what followed1 ,i mean1 on the acquittal of the seven bishops at ,westminster in #afhh4 ,at present there was more than passionate enthusiasm4 ,the frenzied movement of mixed horror and exultation--the ululation of vengeance which ascended instantaneously from the individual street1 and then by a sublime sort of magnetic contagion from all the adjacent streets1 can be adequately expressed only by a rapturous passage in ,shelley3-- ',the transport of a fierce and monstrous gladness ,spread through the multitudinous streets1 fast flying ,upon the wings of fear3--,from his dull madness ,the starveling waked1 and died in joy3 the dying1 ,among the corpses in stark agony lying1 ,just heard the happy tidings1 and in hope ,closed their faint eyes3 from house to house replying ,with loud acclaim the living shook heaven's cope1 ,and fill'd the startled earth with echoes4' #f ,there was something1 indeed1 half inexplicable in the instantaneous interpretation of the gathering shout according to its true meaning4 ,in fact1 the deadly roar of vengeance1 and its sublime unity1 could point in this district only to the one demon whose idea had brooded and tyrannized1 for twelve days1 over the general heart3 every door1 every window in the neighborhood1 flew open as if at a word of command2 multitudes1 without waiting for the regular means of egress1 leaped down at once from the windows on the lower story2 sick men rose from their beds2 in one instance1 as if expressly to verify the image of ,shelley 7in v4 #d1 #e1 #f1 #g71 a man whose death had been looked for through some days1 and who actually did die on the following day1 rose1 armed himself with a sword1 and descended in his shirt into the street4 ,the chance was a good one1 and the mob were made aware of it1 for catching the wolfish dog in the high noon and carnival of his bloody revels--in the very centre of his own shambles4 ,for a moment the mob was self-baffled by its own numbers and its own fury4 ,but even that fury felt the call for self-control4 ,it was evident that the massy street-door must be driven in1 since there was no longer any living person to co-operate with their efforts from within1 excepting only a female child4 ,crowbars dexterously applied in one minute threw the door out of hangings1 and the people entered like a torrent4 ,it may be guessed with what fret and irritation to their consuming fury1 a signal of pause and absolute silence was made by a person of local importance4 ,in the hope of receiving some useful communication1 the mob became silent4 ',now listen1' said the man of authority1 'and we shall learn whether he is above-stairs or below4' ,immediately a noise was heard as if of some one forcing windows1 and clearly the sound came from a bedroom above4 ,yes1 the fact was apparent that the murderer was even yet in the house3 he had been caught in a trap4 ,not having made himself familiar with the details of ,williamson's house1 to all appearance he had suddenly become a prisoner in one of the upper rooms4 ,towards this the crowd now rushed impetuously4 ,the door1 however1 was found to be slightly fastened2 and1 at the moment when this was forced1 a loud crash of the window1 both glass and frame1 announced that the wretch had made his escape4 ,he had leaped down2 and several persons in the crowd1 who burned with the general fury1 leaped after him4 ,these persons had not troubled themselves about the nature of the ground2 but now1 on making an examination of it with torches1 they reported it to be an inclined plane1 or embankment of clay1 very wet and adhesive4 ,the prints of the man's footsteps were deeply impressed upon the clay1 and therefore easily traced up to the summit of the embankment2 but it was perceived at once that pursuit would be useless1 from the density of the mist4 ,two feet ahead of you1 a man was entirely withdrawn from your power of identification2 and1 on overtaking him1 you could not venture to challenge him as the same whom you had lost sight of4 ,never1 through the course of a whole century1 could there be a night expected more propitious to an escaping criminal3 means of disguise ,williams now had in excess2 and the dens were innumerable in the neighborhood of the river that could have sheltered him for years from troublesome inquiries4 ,but favors are thrown away upon the reckless and the thankless4 ,that night1 when the turning-point offered itself for his whole future career1 ,williams took the wrong turn2 for1 out of mere indolence1 he took the turn to his old lodgings--that place which1 in all ,england1 he had just now the most reason to shun4 ,meantime the crowd had thoroughly searched the premises of ,williamson4 ,the first inquiry was for the young grand-daughter4 ,williams1 it was evident1 had gone into her room3 but in this room apparently it was that the sudden uproar in the streets had surprised him2 after which his undivided attention had been directed to the windows1 since through these only any retreat had been left open to him4 ,even this retreat he owed only to the fog and to the hurry of the moment1 and to the difficulty of approaching the premises by the rear4 ,the little girl was naturally agitated by the influx of strangers at that hour2 but otherwise1 through the humane precautions of the neighbors1 she was preserved from all knowledge of the dreadful events that had occurred whilst she herself was sleeping4 ,her poor old grandfather was still missing1 until the crowd descended into the cellar2 he was then found lying prostrate on the cellar floor3 apparently he had been thrown down from the top of the cellar stairs1 and with so much violence1 that one leg was broken4 ,after he had been thus disabled1 ,williams had gone down to him1 and cut his throat4 ,there was much discussion at the time1 in some of the public journals1 upon the possibility of reconciling these incidents with other circumstantialities of the case1 supposing that only one man had been concerned in the affair4 ,that there was only one man concerned1 seems to be certain4 ,one only was seen or heard at ,marr's3 one only1 and beyond all doubt the same man1 was seen by the young journeyman in ,mrs4 ,williamson's parlor2 and one only was traced by his footmarks on the clay embankment4 ,apparently the course which he had pursued was this3 he had introduced himself to ,williamson by ordering some beer4 ,this order would oblige the old man to go down into the cellar2 ,williams would wait until he had reached it1 and would then 'slam' and lock the street-door in the violent way described4 ,williamson would come up in agitation upon hearing this violence4 ,the murderer1 aware that he would do so1 met him1 no doubt1 at the head of the cellar stairs1 and threw him down2 after which he would go down to consummate the murder in his ordinary way4 ,all this would occupy a minute1 or a minute and a half2 and in that way the interval would be accounted for that elapsed between the alarming sound of the street-door as heard by the journeyman1 and the lamentable outcry of the female servant4 ,it is evident also1 that the reason why no cry whatsoever had been heard from the lips of ,mrs4 ,williamson1 is due to the positions of the parties as ,i have sketched them4 ,coming behind ,mrs4 ,williamson1 unseen therefore1 and from her deafness unheard1 the murderer would inflict entire abolition of consciousness while she was yet unaware of his presence4 ,but with the servant1 who had unavoidably witnessed the attack upon her mistress1 the murderer could not obtain the same fulness of advantage2 and she therefore had time for making an agonizing ejaculation4 ,it has been mentioned1 that the murderer of the ,marrs was not for nearly a fortnight so much as suspected2 meaning that1 previously to the ,williamson murder1 no vestige of any ground for suspicion in any direction whatever had occurred either to the general public or to the police4 ,but there were two very limited exceptions to this state of absolute ignorance4 ,some of the magistrates had in their possession something which1 when closely examined1 offered a very probable means for tracing the criminal4 ,but as yet they had not traced him4 ,until the ,friday morning next after the destruction of the ,williamsons1 they had not published the important fact1 that upon the ship-carpenter's mallet 7with which1 as regarded the stunning or disabling process1 the murders had been achieved7 were inscribed the letters ',j4 ,p4' ,this mallet had1 by a strange oversight on the part of the murderer1 been left behind in ,marr's shop2 and it is an interesting fact1 therefore1 that1 had the villain been intercepted by the brave pawnbroker1 he would have been met virtually disarmed4 ,this public notification was made officially on the ,friday1 viz41 on the thirteenth day after the first murder4 ,and it was instantly followed 7as will be seen7 by a most important result4 ,meantime1 within the secrecy of one single bedroom in all ,london1 it is a fact that ,williams had been whisperingly the object of very deep suspicion from the very first--that is1 within that same hour which witnessed the ,marr tragedy4 ,and singular it is1 that the suspicion was due entirely to his own folly4 ,williams lodged1 in company with other men of various nations1 at a public-house4 ,in a large dormitory there were arranged five or six beds2 these were occupied by artisans1 generally of respectable character4 ,one or two ,englishmen there were1 one or two ,scotchmen1 three or four ,germans1 and ,williams1 whose birth-place was not certainly known4 ,on the fatal ,saturday night1 about half-past one o'clock1 when ,williams returned from his dreadful labors1 he found the ,english and ,scotch party asleep1 but the ,germans awake3 one of them was sitting up with a lighted candle in his hands1 and reading aloud to the other two4 ,upon this1 ,williams said1 in an angry and very peremptory tone1 ',oh1 put that candle out2 put it out directly2 we shall all be burned in our beds4' ,had the ,british party in the room been awake1 ,mr4 ,williams would have roused a mutinous protest against this arrogant mandate4 ,but ,germans are generally mild and facile in their tempers2 so the light was complaisantly extinguished4 ,yet1 as there were no curtains1 it struck the ,germans that the danger was really none at all2 for bed-clothes1 massed upon each other1 will no more burn than the leaves of a closed book4 ,privately1 therefore1 the ,germans drew an inference1 that ,mr4 ,williams must have had some urgent motive for withdrawing his own person and dress from observation4 ,what this motive might be1 the next day's news diffused all over ,london1 and of course at this house1 not two furlongs from ,marr's shop1 made awfully evident2 and1 as may well be supposed1 the suspicion was communicated to the other members of the dormitory4 ,all of them1 however1 were aware of the legal danger attaching1 under ,english law1 to insinuations against a man1 even if true1 which might not admit of proof4 ,in reality1 had ,williams used the most obvious precautions1 had he simply walked down to the ,thames 7not a stone's-throw distant71 and flung two of his implements into the river1 no conclusive proof could have been adduced against him4 ,and he might have realized the scheme of ,courvoisier 7the murderer of ,lord ,william ,russell7 --viz41 have sought each separate month's support in a separate well- concerted murder4 ,the party in the dormitory1 meantime1 were satisfied themselves1 but waited for evidences that might satisfy others4 ,no sooner1 therefore1 had the official notice been published as to the initials ,j4 ,p4 on the mallet1 than every man in the house recognized at once the well- known initials of an honest ,norwegian ship-carpenter1 ,john ,petersen1 who had worked in the ,english dockyards until the present year2 but1 having occasion to revisit his native land1 had left his box of tools in the garrets of this inn4 ,these garrets were now searched4 ,petersen's tool- chest was found1 but wanting the mallet2 and1 on further examination1 another overwhelming discovery was made4 ,the surgeon1 who examined the corpses at ,williamson's1 had given it as his opinion that the throats were not cut by means of a razor1 but of some implement differently shaped4 ,it was now remembered that ,williams had recently borrowed a large ,french knife of peculiar construction2 and accordingly1 from a heap of old lumber and rags1 there was soon extricated a waistcoat1 which the whole house could swear to as recently worn by ,williams4 ,in this waistcoat1 and glued by gore to the lining of its pockets1 was found the ,french knife4 ,next1 it was matter of notoriety to everybody in the inn1 that ,williams ordinarily wore at present a pair of creaking shoes1 and a brown surtout lined with silk4 ,many other presumptions seemed scarcely called for4 ,williams was immediately apprehended1 and briefly examined4 ,this was on the ,friday4 ,on the ,saturday morning 7viz41 fourteen days from the ,marr murders7 he was again brought up4 ,the circumstantial evidence was overwhelming2 ,williams watched its course1 but said very little4 ,at the close1 he was fully committed for trial at the next sessions2 and it is needless to say1 that1 on his road to prison1 he was pursued by mobs so fierce1 that1 under ordinary circumstances1 there would have been small hope of escaping summary vengeance4 ,but upon this occasion a powerful escort had been provided2 so that he was safely lodged in jail4 ,in this particular jail at this time1 the regulation was1 that at five o'clock1 ,p4 ,m4 all the prisoners on the criminal side should be finally locked up for the night1 and without candles4 ,for fourteen hours 7that is1 until seven o'clock on the next morning7 they were left unvisited1 and in total darkness4 ,time1 therefore1 ,williams had for committing suicide4 ,the means in other respects were small4 ,one iron bar there was1 meant 7if ,i remember7 for the suspension of a lamp2 upon this he had hanged himself by his braces4 ,at what hour was uncertain3 some people fancied at midnight4 ,and in that case1 precisely at the hour when1 fourteen days before1 he had been spreading horror and desolation through the quiet family of poor ,marr1 now was he forced into drinking of the same cup1 presented to his lips by the same accursed hands4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the case of the ,m',keans1 which has been specially alluded to1 merits also a slight rehearsal for the dreadful picturesqueness of some two or three amongst its circumstances4 ,the scene of this murder was at a rustic inn1 some few miles 7,i think7 from ,manchester2 and the advantageous situation of this inn it was1 out of which arose the two fold temptations of the case4 ,generally speaking1 an inn argues1 of course1 a close cincture of neighbors--as the original motive for opening such an establishment4 ,but1 in this case1 the house individually was solitary1 so that no interruption was to be looked for from any persons living within reach of screams2 and yet1 on the other hand1 the circumjacent vicinity was eminently populous2 as one consequence of which1 a benefit club had established its weekly rendezvous in this inn1 and left the peculiar accumulations in their club- room1 under the custody of the landlord4 ,this fund arose often to a considerable amount1 fifty or seventy pounds1 before it was transferred to the hands of a banker4 ,here1 therefore1 was a treasure worth some little risk1 and a situation that promised next to none4 ,these attractive circumstances had1 by accident1 become accurately known to one or both of the two ,m',keans2 and1 unfortunately1 at a moment of overwhelming misfortune to themselves4 ,they were hawkers2 and1 until lately1 had borne most respectable characters3 but some mercantile crash had overtaken them with utter ruin1 in which their joint capital had been swallowed up to the last shilling4 ,this sudden prostration had made them desperate3 their own little property had been swallowed up in a large social catastrophe1 and society at large they looked upon as accountable to them for a robbery4 ,in preying1 therefore1 upon society1 they considered themselves as pursuing a wild natural justice of retaliation4 ,the money aimed at did certainly assume the character of public money1 being the product of many separate subscriptions4 ,they forgot1 however1 that in the murderous acts1 which too certainly they meditated as preliminaries to the robbery1 they could plead no such imaginary social precedent4 ,in dealing with a family that seemed almost helpless1 if all went smoothly1 they relied entirely upon their own bodily strength4 ,they were stout young men1 twenty-eight to thirty-two years old2 somewhat undersized as to height2 but squarely built1 deep- chested1 broad-shouldered1 and so beautifully formed1 as regarded the symmetry of their limbs and their articulations1 that1 after their execution1 the bodies were privately exhibited by the surgeons of the ,manchester ,infirmary1 as objects of statuesque interest4 ,on the other hand1 the household which they proposed to attack consisted of the following four persons3--#a4 the landlord1 a stoutish farmer--but him they intended to disable by a trick then newly introduced amongst robbers1 and termed hocussing1 i4e41 clandestinely drugging the liquor of the victim with laudanum2 #b4 the landlord's wife2 #c4 a young servant woman2 #d4 a boy1 twelve or fourteen years old4 ,the danger was1 that out of four persons1 scattered by possibility over a house which had two separate exits1 one at least might escape1 and by better acquaintance with the adjacent paths1 might succeed in giving an alarm to some of the houses a furlong distant4 ,their final resolution was1 to be guided by circumstances as to the mode of conducting the affair2 and yet1 as it seemed essential to success that they should assume the air of strangers to each other1 it was necessary that they should preconcert some general outline of their plan2 since it would on this scheme be impossible1 without awaking violent suspicions1 to make any communications under the eyes of the family4 ,this outline included1 at the least1 one murder3 so much was settled2 but1 otherwise1 their subsequent proceedings make it evident that they wished to have as little bloodshed as was consistent with their final object4 ,on the appointed day1 they presented themselves separately at the rustic inn1 and at different hours4 ,one came as early as four o'clock in the afternoon2 the other not until half-past seven4 ,they saluted each other distantly and shyly2 and1 though occasionally exchanging a few words in the character of strangers1 did not seem disposed to any familiar intercourse4 ,with the landlord1 however1 on his return about eight o'clock from ,manchester1 one of the brothers entered into a lively conversation2 invited him to take a tumbler of punch2 and1 at a moment when the landlord's absence from the room allowed it1 poured into the punch a spoonful of laudanum4 ,some time after this1 the clock struck ten2 upon which the elder ,m',kean1 professing to be weary1 asked to be shown up to his bedroom3 for each brother1 immediately on arriving1 had engaged a bed4 ,on this1 the poor servant girl had presented herself with a bed-candle to light him upstairs4 ,at this critical moment the family were distributed thus3--the landlord1 stupefied with the horrid narcotic which he had drunk1 had retired to a private room adjoining the public room1 for the purpose of reclining upon a sofa3 and he1 luckily for his own safety1 was looked upon as entirely incapacitated for action4 ,the landlady was occupied with her husband4 ,and thus the younger ,m',kean was left alone in the public room4 ,he rose1 therefore1 softly1 and placed himself at the foot of the stairs which his brother had just ascended1 so as to be sure of intercepting any fugitive from the bedroom above4 ,into that room the elder ,m',kean was ushered by the servant1 who pointed to two beds--one of which was already half occupied by the boy1 and the other empty3 in these1 she intimated that the two strangers must dispose of themselves for the night1 according to any arrangement that they might agree upon4 ,saying this1 she presented him with the candle1 which he in a moment placed upon the table2 and1 intercepting her retreat from the room threw his arm round her neck with a gesture as though he meant to kiss her4 ,this was evidently what she herself anticipated1 and endeavored to prevent4 ,her horror may be imagined1 when she felt the perfidious hand that clasped her neck armed with a razor1 and violently cutting her throat4 ,she was hardly able to utter one scream1 before she sank powerless upon the floor4 ,this dreadful spectacle was witnessed by the boy1 who was not asleep1 but had presence of mind enough instantly to close his eyes4 ,the murderer advanced hastily to the bed1 and anxiously examined the expression of the boy's features3 satisfied he was not1 and he then placed his hand upon the boy's heart1 in order to judge by its beatings whether he were agitated or not4 ,this was a dreadful trial3 and no doubt the counterfeit sleep would immediately have been detected1 when suddenly a dreadful spectacle drew off the attention of the murderer4 ,solemnly1 and in ghostly silence1 uprose in her dying delirium the murdered girl2 she stood upright1 she walked steadily for a moment or two1 she bent her steps towards the door4 ,the murderer turned away to pursue her2 and at that moment the boy1 feeling that his one solitary chance was to fly while this scene was in progress1 bounded out of bed4 ,on the landing at the head of the stairs was one murderer1 at the foot of the stairs was the other3 who could believe that the boy had the shadow of a chance for escaping8 ,and yet1 in the most natural way1 he surmounted all hindrances4 ,in the boy's horror1 he laid his left hand on the balustrade1 and took a flying leap over it1 which landed him at the bottom of the stairs1 without having touched a single stair4 ,he had thus effectually passed one of the murderers3 the other1 it is true1 was still to be passed2 and this would have been impossible but for a sudden accident4 ,the landlady had been alarmed by the faint scream of the young woman2 had hurried from her private room to the girl's assistance2 but at the foot of the stairs had been intercepted by the younger brother1 and was at this moment struggling with him4 ,the confusion of this life-and- death conflict had allowed the boy to whirl past them4 ,luckily he took a turn into a kitchen1 out of which was a back-door1 fastened by a single bolt1 that ran freely at a touch2 and through this door he rushed into the open fields4 ,but at this moment the elder brother was set free for pursuit by the death of the poor girl4 ,there is no doubt1 that in her delirium the image moving through her thoughts was that of the club1 which met once a- week4 ,she fancied it no doubt sitting2 and to this room1 for help and for safety she staggered along2 she entered it1 and within the doorway once more she dropped down1 and instantly expired4 ,her murderer1 who had followed her closely1 now saw himself set at liberty for the pursuit of the boy4 ,at this critical moment1 all was at stake2 unless the boy were caught1 the enterprise was ruined4 ,he passed his brother1 therefore1 and the landlady without pausing1 and rushed through the open door into the fields4 ,by a single second1 perhaps1 he was too late4 ,the boy was keenly aware1 that if he continued in sight1 he would have no chance of escaping from a powerful young man4 ,he made1 therefore1 at once for a ditch1 into which he tumbled headlong4 ,had the murderer ventured to make a leisurely examination of the nearest ditch1 he would easily have found the boy--made so conspicuous by his white shirt4 ,but he lost all heart1 upon failing at once to arrest the boy's flight4 ,and every succeeding second made his despair the greater4 ,if the boy had really effected his escape to the neighboring farm-house1 a party of men might be gathered within five minutes2 and already it might have become difficult for himself and his brother1 unacquainted with the field paths1 to evade being intercepted4 ,nothing remained1 therefore1 but to summon his brother away4 ,thus it happened that the landlady1 though mangled1 escaped with life1 and eventually recovered4 ,the landlord owed his safety to the stupefying potion4 ,and the baffled murderers had the misery of knowing that their dreadful crime had been altogether profitless4 ,the road1 indeed1 was now open to the club-room2 and1 probably1 forty seconds would have sufficed to carry off the box of treasure1 which afterwards might have been burst open and pillaged at leisure4 ,but the fear of intercepting enemies was too strongly upon them2 and they fled rapidly by a road which carried them actually within six feet of the lurking boy4 ,that night they passed through ,manchester4 ,when daylight returned1 they slept in a thicket twenty miles distant from the scene of their guilty attempt4 ,on the second and third nights1 they pursued their march on foot1 resting again during the day4 ,about sunrise on the fourth morning1 they were entering some village near ,kirby ,lonsdale1 in ,westmoreland4 ,they must have designedly quitted the direct line of route2 for their object was ,ayrshire1 of which county they were natives2 and the regular road would have led them through ,shap1 ,penrith1 ,carlisle4 ,probably they were seeking to elude the persecution of the stage-coaches1 which1 for the last thirty hours1 had been scattering at all the inns and road-side cabarets hand-bills describing their persons and dress4 ,it happened 7perhaps through design7 that on this fourth morning they had separated1 so as to enter the village ten minutes apart from each other4 ,they were exhausted and footsore4 ,in this condition it was easy to stop them4 ,a blacksmith had silently reconnoitred them1 and compared their appearance with the description of the hand-bills4 ,they were then easily overtaken1 and separately arrested4 ,their trial and condemnation speedily followed at ,lancaster2 and in those days it followed1 of course1 that they were executed4 ,otherwise their case fell so far within the sheltering limits of what would now be regarded as extenuating circumstances--that1 whilst a murder more or less was not to repel them from their object1 very evidently they were anxious to economize the bloodshed as much as possible4 ,immeasurable1 therefore1 was the interval which divided them from the monster ,williams4 ,they perished on the scaffold3 ,williams1 as ,i have said1 by his own hand2 and1 in obedience to the law as it then stood1 he was buried in the centre of a quadrivium1 or conflux of four roads 7in this case four streets71 with a stake driven through his heart4 ,and over him drives for ever the uproar of unresting ,london6 ,,footnotes #a ,see ',miscellaneous ,essays1' p4 #ag4 #b ,i am not sure whether ,southey held at this time his appointment to the editorship of the ',edinburgh ,annual ,register4' ,if he did1 no doubt in the domestic section of that chronicle will be found an excellent account of the whole4 #c ,an artist told me in this year1 #ahab1 that having accidentally seen a native ,devonshire regiment 7either volunteers or militia71 nine hundred strong1 marching past a station at which he had posted himself1 he did not observe a dozen men that would not have been described in common parlance as 'good looking4' #d ,i do not remember1 chronologically1 the history of gas-lights4 ,but in ,london1 long after ,mr4 ,winsor had shown the value of gas-lighting1 and its applicability to street purposes1 various districts were prevented1 for many years1 from resorting to the new system1 in consequence of old contracts with oil-dealers1 subsisting through long terms of years4 #e ,let the reader1 who is disposed to regard as exaggerated or romantic the pure fiendishness imputed to ,williams1 recollect that1 except for the luxurious purpose of basking and revelling in the anguish of dying despair1 he had no motive at all1 small or great1 for attempting the murder of this young girl4 ,she had seen nothing1 heard nothing--was fast asleep1 and her door was closed2 so that1 as a witness against him1 he knew that she was as useless as any one of the three corpses4 ,and yet he was making preparations for her murder1 when the alarm in the street interrupted him4 #f ',revolt of ,islam1' canto xii4 #g ,see his bitter letters to ,lady ,suffolk4 ,,the ,,true ,,relations ,,of ,,the ,,bible ,,to ,,merely ,,human ,,science4 ,it is sometimes said1 that a religious messenger from ,god does not come amongst men for the sake of teaching truths in science1 or of 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 direct and imperative function of his mission1 it was yet open to him1 as a permissible function--that1 although not pressing with the force of an obligation upon the missionary1 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 and beside the purposes of a religion1 but would have been against them4 ,even upon errors of a far more important class than errors in science can ever be--superstitions1 for instance1 that degraded the very idea of ,god2 prejudices and false usages1 that laid waste human happiness 7such as slavery1 and many hundreds of other abuses that might be mentioned71 the rule evidently acted upon by the ,founder of ,christianity was this--,given the purification of the well-head1 once assumed that the fountains of truth are cleansed1 all these derivative currents of evil will cleanse themselves4 ,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 really had moral and spiritual relations1 how much more with regard to the comparative trifles 7as in the ultimate relations of human nature they are7 of merely human science6 ,but1 for my part1 ,i go further1 and assert1 that upon three reasons it was impossible for any messenger from ,god 7or offering himself in that character7 to have descended into the communication of truth merely scientific1 or economic1 or worldly4 ,and the three reasons are these3--,first1 ,because such a descent would have degraded his mission1 by lowering it to the base level of a collusion with human curiosity1 or 7in the most favorable case7 of a collusion with petty and transitory interests4 ,secondly1 ,because it would have ruined his mission1 by disturbing its free agency1 and misdirecting its energies1 in two separate modes3 first1 by destroying the spiritual auctoritas 7the prestige and consideration7 of the missionary2 secondly1 by vitiating the spiritual atmosphere of his audience--that is1 corrupting and misdirecting the character of their thoughts and expectations4 ,he that in the early days of ,christianity should have proclaimed the true theory of the solar system1 or that by any chance word or allusion should then1 in a condition of man so little prepared to receive such truths1 have asserted or assumed the daily motion of the earth on its own axis1 or its annual motion round the sun1 would have found himself entangled at once and irretrievably in the following unmanageable consequences3--,first of all1 and instantaneously1 he would have been roused to the alarming fact1 that1 by this dreadful indiscretion he himself1 the professed deliverer of a new and spiritual religion1 had in a moment untuned the spirituality of his audience4 ,he would find that he had awakened within them the passion of curiosity--the most unspiritual of passions1 and of curiosity in a fierce polemic shape4 ,the very safest step in so deplorable a situation would be1 instantly to recant4 ,already by this one may estimate the evil1 when such would be its readiest palliation4 ,for in what condition would the reputation of the teacher be left for discretion and wisdom as an intellectual guide1 when his first act must be to recant--and to recant what to the whole body of his hearers would wear the character of a lunatic proposition4 ,such considerations might possibly induce him not to recant4 ,but in that case the consequences are far worse4 ,having once allowed himself to sanction what his hearers regard as the most monstrous of paradoxes1 he has no liberty of retreat open to him4 ,he must stand to the promises of his own acts4 ,uttering the first truth of a science1 he is pledged to the second2 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 ,starting1 besides1 from the authority of a divine mission1 he could not 7as others might7 have the privilege of selecting arbitrarily or partially4 ,if upon one science1 then upon all2 if upon science1 then upon art2 if upon art and science1 then upon every branch of social economy his reformations and advances are equally due--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 ,the spiritual mission1 therefore1 the purpose for which only the religious teacher was sent1 has now perished altogether--overlaid and confounded by the merely scientific wranglings to which his own inconsiderate precipitance has opened the door4 ,but suppose at this point that the teacher1 aware at length of the mischief which he has caused1 and seeing that the fatal error of uttering one solitary novel truth upon a matter of mere science is by inevitable consequence to throw him upon a road leading altogether away from the proper field of his mission1 takes the laudable course of confessing his error1 and of attempting a return into his proper spiritual province4 ,this may be his best course2 yet1 after all1 it will not retrieve his lost ground4 ,he returns with a character confessedly damaged4 ,his very excuse rests upon the blindness and shortsightedness which forbade his anticipating the true and natural consequences4 ,neither will his own account of the case be generally accepted4 ,he will not be supposed to retreat from further controversy1 as inconsistent with spiritual purposes1 but because he finds himself unequal to the dispute4 ,and1 in the very best case1 he is1 by his own acknowledgment1 tainted with human infirmity4 ,he has been ruined for a servant of inspiration2 and how8 ,by a process1 let it be remembered1 of which all the steps are inevitable under the same agency3 that is1 in the case of any primitive ,christian teacher having attempted to speak the language of scientific truth in dealing with the phenomena of astronomy1 geology1 or of any merely human knowledge4 ,now1 thirdly and lastly1 in order to try the question in an extreme form1 let it be supposed that1 aided by powers of working miracles1 some early apostle of ,christianity should actually have succeeded in carrying through the ,copernican system of astronomy1 as an article of blind belief1 sixteen centuries before the progress of man's intellect had qualified him for naturally developing that system4 ,what1 in such a case1 would be the true estimate and valuation of the achievement8 ,simply this1 that he had thus succeeded in cancelling and counteracting a determinate scheme of divine discipline and training for man4 ,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 relays1 through scores 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 ,this is to mistake the very meaning and purposes of a revelation4 ,a revelation is not made for the purpose of showing to indolent men that which1 by faculties already given to them1 they may show to themselves2 no3 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 thoughtful 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 men1 by qualifying men1 to reveal for themselves4 ,even as regards astronomy--a science so nearly allying itself to religion by the loftiness and by the purity of its contemplations--,scripture is nowhere the parent of any doctrine1 nor so much as the silent sanctioner of any doctrine4 ,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 men 7which at any rate it must do1 in order to make itself understood71 not by way of sanctioning a theory1 but by way of using a fact4 ,the ,bible1 for instance1 uses 7postulates7 the phenomena of day and night1 of summer and winter2 and1 in relation to their causes1 speaks by the same popular and inaccurate language which is current for ordinary purposes1 even amongst the most scientific of astronomers4 ,for the man of science1 equally with the populace1 talks of the sun as rising and setting1 as having finished half his day's journey1 c41 and1 without pedantry1 could not in many cases talk otherwise4 ,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 stronger4 ,here there is no opening for a compliance even with a language that is erroneous2 for no language at all is current upon subjects that have never engaged the popular attention4 ,here1 where there is no such stream of apparent phenomena running counter 7as in astronomy there is7 to the real phenomena1 neither is there any popular language opposed to the scientific4 ,the whole are abtruse speculations1 even as regards their objects1 nor 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 as taking the shape of histories1 applied to processes current and in movement1 or as taking the shape of theories applied to processes past and accomplished4 ,the ,mosaic cosmogony1 indeed1 gives the succession of natural births2 and probably the general outline of such a succession will be more and more confirmed as geology advances4 ,but as to the time1 the duration1 of this successive evolution1 it is the idlest of notions that the ,scriptures either have1 or could have1 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 it possible that human folly should go the length of understanding by the ,mosaical day1 the mysterious day of that awful agency which moulded the heavens and the heavenly host1 no more than the ordinary nychthemeron or cycle of twenty-four hours8 ,the period implied in a day1 when used in relation to the inaugural manifestation of creative power in that vast drama which introduces ,god to man in the character of a demiurgus or creator of the world1 indicated one stage amongst six2 involving probably many millions of years4 ,the silliest of nurses1 in her nursery babble1 could hardly suppose that the mighty process began on a ,monday morning1 and ended on ,saturday night4 ,if we are seriously to study the value and scriptural acceptation of scriptural words and phrases1 ,i presume that our first business will be to collate the use of these words in one part of ,scripture1 with their use in other parts1 holding the same spiritual relations4 ,the creation1 for instance1 does not belong to the earthly or merely historical records1 but to the spiritual records of the ,bible2 to the same category1 therefore1 as the prophetic sections of the ,bible4 ,now1 in those1 and in the ,psalms1 how do we understand the word day8 ,is any man so little versed in biblical language as not to know1 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 aeon1 though a ,grecian word1 bear scripturally 7either in ,daniel or in ,st4 ,john7 any sense known to ,grecian ears8 ,do the seventy weeks of the prophet mean weeks in the sense of human calendars8 ,already the ,psalms 7xc471 already ,st4 ,peter 7#b;d ,epist471 warn us of a peculiar sense attached to the word day in divine ears4 ,and who of the innumerable interpreters understands the twelve hundred and sixty 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 this 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 but of those things which1 were it not through special light from heaven1 must eternally remain sealed up in inaccessible darkness4 ,on this principle we should all laugh at a revealed cookery4 ,but essentially the same ridicule1 not more1 and not less1 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 used 7viz41 that a revelation on such fields would counteract other machineries of providence71 there can be no such astronomy or geology 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 ,,schlosser',s ,,literary ,,history ,,of ,,the ,,eighteenth ,,century4 ,in the person of this ,mr4 ,schlosser is exemplified a common abuse1 not confined to literature4 ,an artist from the ,italian opera of ,london and ,paris1 making a professional excursion to our provinces1 is received according to the tariff of the metropolis2 no one being bold enough to dispute decisions coming down from the courts above4 ,in that particular case there is seldom any reason to complain--since really out of ,germany and ,italy there is no city1 if you except ,paris and ,london1 possessing materials1 in that field of art1 for the composition of an audience large enough to act as a court of revision4 ,it would be presumption in the provincial audience1 so slightly trained to good music and dancing1 if it should affect to reverse a judgment ratified in the supreme capital4 ,the result1 therefore1 is practically just1 if the original verdict was just2 what was right from the first cannot be made wrong by iteration4 ,yet1 even in such a case1 there is something not satisfactory to a delicate sense of equity2 for the artist returns from the tour as if from some new and independent triumph1 whereas1 all is but the reverberation of an old one2 it seems a new access of sunlight1 whereas it is but a reflex illumination from satellites4 ,in literature the corresponding case is worse4 ,an author1 passing by means of translation before a foreign people1 ought de jure to find himself before a new tribunal2 but de facto1 he does not4 ,like the opera artist1 but not with the same propriety1 he comes before a court that never interferes to disturb a judgment1 but only to re-affirm it4 ,and he returns to his native country1 quartering in his armorial bearings these new trophies1 as though won by new trials1 when1 in fact1 they are due to servile ratifications of old ones4 ,when ,sue1 or ,balzac1 ,hugo1 or ,george ,sand1 comes before an ,english audience--the opportunity is invariably lost for estimating them at a new angle of sight4 ,all who dislike them lay them aside--whilst those only apply themselves seriously to their study1 who are predisposed to the particular key of feeling1 through which originally these authors had prospered4 ,and thus a new set of judges1 that might usefully have modified the narrow views of the old ones1 fall by mere inertia into the humble character of echoes and sounding-boards to swell the uproar of the original mob4 ,in this way is thrown away the opportunity1 not only of applying corrections to false national tastes1 but oftentimes even to the unfair accidents of luck that befall books4 ,for it is well known to all who watch literature with vigilance1 that books and authors have their fortunes1 which travel upon a far different scale of proportions from those that measure their merits4 ,not even the caprice or the folly of the reading public is required to account for this4 ,very often1 indeed1 the whole difference between an extensive circulation for one book1 and none at all for another of about equal merit1 belongs to no particular blindness in men1 but to the simple fact1 that the one has1 whilst the other has not1 been brought effectually under the eyes of the public4 ,by far the greater part of books are lost1 not because they are rejected1 but because they are never introduced4 ,in any proper sense of the word1 very few books are published4 ,technically they are published2 which means1 that for six or ten times they are advertised1 but they are not made known to attentive ears1 or to ears prepared for attention4 ,and amongst the causes which account for this difference in the fortune of books1 although there are many1 we may reckon1 as foremost1 personal accidents of position in the authors4 ,for instance1 with us in ,england it will do a bad book no ultimate service1 that it is written by a lord1 or a bishop1 or a privy counsellor1 or a member of ,parliament--though1 undoubtedly1 it will do an instant service--it will sell an edition or so4 ,this being the case1 it being certain that no rank will reprieve a bad writer from final condemnation1 the sycophantic glorifier of the public fancies his idol justified2 but not so4 ,a bad book1 it is true1 will not be saved by advantages of position in the author2 but a book moderately good will be extravagantly aided by such advantages4 ,lectures on ,christianity1 that happened to be respectably written and delivered1 had prodigious success in my young days1 because1 also1 they happened to be lectures of a prelate2 three times the ability would not have procured them any attention had they been the lectures of an obscure curate4 ,yet on the other hand1 it is but justice to say1 that1 if written with three times less ability1 lawn-sleeves would not have given them buoyancy1 but1 on the contrary1 they would have sunk the bishop irrecoverably2 whilst the curate1 favored by obscurity1 would have survived for another chance4 ,so again1 and indeed1 more than so1 as to poetry4 ,lord ,carlisle1 of the last generation1 wrote tolerable verses4 ,they were better than ,lord ,roscommon's1 which1 for one hundred and fifty years1 the judicious public has allowed the booksellers to incorporate1 along with other refuse of the seventeenth and eighteenth century1 into the costly collections of the ',british ,poets4' ,and really1 if you will insist on odious comparisons1 they were not so very much below the verses of an amiable prime minister known to us all4 ,yet1 because they wanted vital stamina1 not only they fell1 but1 in falling1 they caused the earl to reel much more than any commoner would have done4 ,now1 on the other hand1 a kinsman of ,lord ,carlisle1 viz41 ,lord ,byron1 because he brought real genius and power to the effort1 found a vast auxiliary advantage in a peerage and a very ancient descent4 ,on these double wings he soared into a region of public interest1 far higher than ever he would have reached by poetic power alone4 ,not only all his rubbish--which in quantity is great--passed for jewels1 but also what are incontestably jewels have been1 and will be1 valued at a far higher rate than if they had been raised from less aristocratic mines4 ,so fatal for mediocrity1 so gracious for real power1 is any adventitious distinction from birth1 station1 or circumstances of brilliant notoriety4 ,in reality1 the public1 our never-sufficiently-to-be- respected mother1 is the most unutterable sycophant that ever the clouds dropped their rheum upon4 ,she is always ready for jacobinical scoffs at a man for being a lord1 if he happens to fail2 she is always ready for toadying a lord1 if he happens to make a hit4 ,ah1 dear sycophantic old lady1 ,i kiss your sycophantic hands1 and wish heartily that ,i were a duke for your sake6 ,it would be a mistake to fancy that this tendency to confound real merit and its accidents of position is at all peculiar to us or to our age4 ,dr4 ,sacheverell1 by embarking his small capital of talent on the springtide of a furious political collision1 brought back an ampler return for his little investment than ever did ,wickliffe or ,luther4 ,such was his popularity in the heart of love and the heart of hatred1 that he would have been assassinated by the ,whigs1 on his triumphal progresses through ,england1 had he not been canonized by the ,tories4 ,he was a dead man if he had not been suddenly gilt and lacquered as an idol4 ,neither is the case peculiar at all to ,england4 ,ronge1 the ci-devant ,romish priest 7whose name pronounce as you would the ,english word wrong1 supposing that it had for a second syllable the final a of 'sopha1' i4e41 ,wronguh71 has been found a wrong-headed man by all parties1 and in a venial degree is1 perhaps1 a stupid man2 but he moves about with more eclat by far than the ablest man in ,germany4 ,and1 in days of old1 the man that burned down a miracle of beauty1 viz41 the temple of ,ephesus1 protesting1 with tears in his eyes1 that he had no other way of getting himself a name1 has got it in spite of us all4 ,he's booked for a ride down all history1 whether you and ,i like it or not4 ,every pocket dictionary knows that ,erostratus was that scamp4 ,so of ,martin1 the man that parboiled1 or par- roasted ,york ,minster some ten or twelve years back2 that fellow will float down to posterity with the annals of the glorious cathedral3 he will ',pursue the triumph and partake the gale1' whilst the founders and benefactors of the ,minster are practically forgotten4 ,these incendiaries1 in short1 are as well known as ,ephesus or ,york2 but not one of us can tell1 without humming and hawing1 who it was that rebuilt the ,ephesian wonder of the world1 or that repaired the time- honored ,minster4 ,equally in literature1 not the weight of service done1 or the power exerted1 is sometimes considered chiefly--either of these must be very conspicuous before it will be considered at all--but the splendor1 or the notoriety1 or the absurdity1 or even the scandalousness of the circumstances #a surrounding the author4 ,schlosser must have benefitted in some such adventitious way before he ever could have risen to his ,german celebrity4 ,what was it that raised him to his momentary distinction8 ,was it something very wicked that he did1 or something very brilliant that he said8 ,i should rather conjecture that it must have been something inconceivably absurd which he proposed4 ,any one of the three achievements stands good in ,germany for a reputation4 ,but1 however it were that ,mr4 ,schlosser first gained his reputation1 mark what now follows4 ,on the wings of this equivocal reputation he flies abroad to ,paris and ,london4 ,there he thrives1 not by any approving experience or knowledge of his works1 but through blind faith in his original ,german public4 ,and back he flies afterwards to ,germany1 as if carrying with him new and independent testimonies to his merit1 and from two nations that are directly concerned in his violent judgments2 whereas 7which is the simple truth7 he carries back a careless reverberation of his first ,german character1 from those who have far too much to read for declining aid from vicarious criticism when it will spare that effort to themselves4 ,thus it is that ,german critics become audacious and libellous4 ,kohl1 ,von ,raumer1 ,dr4 ,carus1 physician to the ,king of ,saxony1 by means of introductory letters floating them into circles far above any they had seen in homely ,germany1 are qualified by our own negligence and indulgence for mounting a ,european tribunal1 from which they pronounce malicious edicts against ourselves4 ,sentinels present arms to ,von ,raumer at ,windsor1 because he rides in a carriage of ,queen ,adelaide's2 and ,von ,raumer immediately conceives himself the ,chancellor of all ,christendom1 keeper of the conscience to universal ,europe1 upon all questions of art1 manners1 politics1 or any conceivable intellectual relations of ,england4 ,schlosser meditates the same career4 ,but have ,i any right to quote ,schlosser's words from an ,english translation8 ,i do so only because this happens to be at hand1 and the ,german not4 ,german books are still rare in this country1 though more 7by one thousand to one7 than they were thirty years ago4 ,but ,i have a full right to rely on the ,english of ,mr4 ,davison4 ',i hold in my hand1' as gentlemen so often say at public meetings1 'a certificate from ,herr ,schlosser1 that to quote ,mr4 ,davison is to quote him4' ,the ,english translation is one which ,mr4 ,schlosser 'durchgelesen hat1 und fur deren genauigkeit und richtigkeit er burgt has read through1 and for the accuracy and propriety of which he pledges himself4 ,mr4 ,schossler was so anxious for the spiritual welfare of us poor islanders1 that he not only read it through1 but he has even aufmerksam durchgelesen it read it through wide awake und gepruft and carefully examined it2 nay1 he has done all this in company with the translator4 ',oh ye ,athenians6 how hard do ,i labor to earn your applause6' ,and1 as the result of such herculean labors1 a second time he makes himself surety for its precision2 'er burgt also dafur wie fur seine eigne arbeit' he guarantees it accordingly as he would his own workmanship4 ,were it not for this unlimited certificate1 ,i should have sent for the book to ,germany4 ,as it is1 ,i need not wait2 and all complaints on this score ,i defy1 above all from ,herr ,schlosser4 #b ,in dealing with an author so desultory as ,mr4 ,schlosser1 the critic has a right to an extra allowance of desultoriness for his own share2 so excuse me1 reader1 for rushing at once in medias res4 ,of ,swift1 ,mr4 ,schlosser selects for notice three works--the ',drapier's ,letters1' ',gulliver's ,travels1' and the ',tale of a ,tub4' ,with respect to the first1 as it is a necessity of ,mr4 ,s4 to be forever wrong in his substratum of facts1 he adopts the old erroneous account of ,wood's contract as to the copper coinage1 and of the imaginary wrong which it inflicted on ,ireland4 ,of all ,swift's villainies for the sake of popularity1 and still more for the sake of wielding this popularity vindictively1 none is so scandalous as this4 ,in any new life of ,swift the case must be stated de novo4 ,even ,sir ,walter ,scott is not impartial2 and for the same reason as now forces me to blink it1 viz41 the difficulty of presenting the details in a readable shape4 ',gulliver's ,travels' ,schlosser strangely considers 'spun out to an intolerable extent4' ,many evil things might be said of ,gulliver2 but not this4 ,the captain is anything but tedious4 ,and1 indeed1 it becomes a question of mere mensuration1 that can be settled in a moment4 ,a year or two since ,i had in my hands a pocket edition1 comprehending all the four parts of the worthy skipper's adventures within a single volume of #dbj pages4 ,some part of the space was also wasted on notes1 often very idle4 ,now the #ast part contains two separate voyages 7,lilliput and ,blefuscu71 the #b;d1 one1 the #c;d1 five1 and the #dth1 one2 so that1 in all1 this active navigator1 who has enriched geography1 ,i hope1 with something of a higher quality than your old muffs that thought much of doubling ,cape ,horn1 here gives us nine great discoveries1 far more surprising than the pretended discoveries of ,sinbad 7which are known to be fabulous71 averaging quam proxime1 forty- seven small #afmo pages each4 ,oh you unconscionable ,german1 built round in your own country with circumvallations of impregnable #dtos1 oftentimes dark and dull as ,avernus--that you will have the face to describe dear excellent ,captain ,lemuel ,gulliver of ,redriff1 and subsequently of ,newark1 that 'darling of children and men1' as tedious4 ,it is exactly because he is not tedious1 because he does not shoot into ,german foliosity1 that ,schlosser finds him 'intolerable4' ,i have justly transferred to ,gulliver's use the words originally applied by the poet to the robin- redbreast1 for it is remarkable that ,gulliver and the ,arabian ,nights are amongst the few books where children and men find themselves meeting and jostling each other4 ,this was the case from its first publication1 just one hundred and twenty years since4 ',it was received1' says ,dr4 ,johnson1 'with such avidity1 that the price of the first edition was raised before the second could be made--it was read by the high and the low1 the learned and the illiterate4 ,criticism was lost in wonder4 ,now1 on the contrary1 ,schlosser wonders not at all1 but simply criticises2 which we could bear1 if the criticism were even ingenious4 ,whereas1 he utterly misunderstands ,swift1 and is a malicious calumniator of the captain who1 luckily1 roaming in ,sherwood1 and thinking1 often with a sigh1 of his little nurse1 #c ,glumdalclitch1 would trouble himself slightly about what ,heidelberg might say in the next century4 ,there is but one example on our earth of a novel received with such indiscriminate applause as ',gulliver2' and that was ',don ,quixote4' ,many have been welcomed joyfully by a class --these two by a people4 ,now1 could that have happened had it been characterized by dulness8 ,of all faults1 it could least have had that4 ,as to the ',tale of a ,tub1' ,schlosser is in such ,cimmerian vapors that no system of bellows could blow open a shaft or tube through which he might gain a glimpse of the ,english truth and daylight4 ,it is useless talking to such a man on such a subject4 ,i consign him to the attentions of some patriotic ,irishman4 ,schlosser1 however1 is right in a graver reflection which he makes upon the prevailing philosophy of ,swift1 viz41 that 'all his views were directed towards what was immediately beneficial1 which is the characteristic of savages4' ,this is undeniable4 ,the meanness of ,swift's nature1 and his rigid incapacity for dealing with the grandeurs of the human spirit1 with religion1 with poetry1 or even with science1 when it rose above the mercenary practical1 is absolutely appalling4 ,his own yahoo is not a more abominable one-sided degradation of humanity1 than is he himself under this aspect4 ,and1 perhaps1 it places this incapacity of his in its strongest light1 when we recur to the fact of his astonishment at a religious princess refusing to confer a bishoprick upon one that had treated the ,trinity1 and all the profoundest mysteries of ,christianity1 not with mere scepticism1 or casual sneer1 but with set pompous merriment and farcical buffoonery4 ,this dignitary of the church1 ,dean of the most conspicuous cathedral in ,ireland1 had1 in full canonicals1 made himself into a regular mountebank1 for the sake of giving fuller effect1 by the force of contrast1 to the silliest of jests directed against all that was most inalienable from ,christianity4 ,ridiculing such things1 could he1 in any just sense1 be thought a ,christian8 ,but1 as ,schlosser justly remarks1 even ridiculing the peculiarities of ,luther and ,calvin as he did ridicule them1 ,swift could not be thought other than constitutionally incapable of religion4 ,even a ,pagan philosopher1 if made to understand the case1 would be incapable of scoffing at any form1 natural or casual1 simple or distorted1 which might be assumed by the most solemn of problems--problems that rest with the weight of worlds upon the human spirit-- ',fix'd fate1 free-will1 fore-knowledge absolute4' the destiny of man1 or the relations of man to ,god4 ,anger1 therefore1 ,swift might feel1 and he felt it #g to the end of his most wretched life2 but what reasonable ground had a man of sense for astonishment-- that a princess1 who 7according to her knowledge7 was sincerely pious1 should decline to place such a man upon an ,episcopal throne8 ,this argues1 beyond a doubt1 that ,swift was in that state of constitutional irreligion1 irreligion from a vulgar temperament1 which imputes to everybody else its own plebeian feelings4 ,people differed1 he fancied1 not by more and less religion1 but by more and less dissimulations4 ,and1 therefore1 it seemed to him scandalous that a princess1 who must1 of course1 in her heart regard 7in common with himself7 all mysteries as solemn masques and mummeries1 should pretend in a case of downright serious business1 to pump up1 out of dry conventional hoaxes1 any solid objection to a man of his shining merit4 ',the ,trinity1' for instance1 that he viewed as the password1 which the knowing ones gave in answer to the challenge of the sentinel2 but1 as soon as it had obtained admission for the party within the gates of the camp1 it was rightly dismissed to oblivion or to laughter4 ,no case so much illustrates ,swift's essential irreligion2 since1 if he had shared in ordinary human feelings on such subjects1 not only he could not have been surprised at his own exclusion from the bench of bishops1 after such ribaldries1 but originally he would have abstained from them as inevitable bars to clerical promotion1 even upon principles of public decorum4 ,as to the style of ,swift1 ,mr4 ,schlosser shows himself without sensibility in his objections1 as the often hackneyed ,english reader shows himself without philosophic knowledge of style in his applause4 ,schlosser thinks the style of ,gulliver 'somewhat dull4' ,this shows ,schlosser's presumption in speaking upon a point where he wanted1 #ast1 original delicacy of tact2 and1 #b;dly1 familiar knowledge of ,english4 ,gulliver's style is purposely touched slightly with that dulness of circumstantiality which besets the excellent1 but 'somewhat dull' race of men--old sea captains4 ,yet it wears only an aerial tint of dulness2 the felicity of this coloring in ,swift's management is1 that it never goes the length of wearying1 but only of giving a comic air of downright ,wapping and ,rotherhithe verisimilitude4 ,all men grow dull1 and ought to be dull1 that live under a solemn sense of eternal danger1 one inch only of plank 7often worm-eaten7 between themselves and the grave2 and1 also1 that see for ever one wilderness of waters--sublime1 but 7like the wilderness on shore7 monotonous4 ,all sublime people1 being monotonous1 have a tendency to be dull1 and sublime things also4 ,milton and ,aeschylus1 the sublimest of men1 are crossed at times by a shade of dulness4 ,it is their weak side4 ,but as to a sea captain1 a regular nor'-nor'-wester1 and sou'-sou'-easter1 he ought to be kicked out of the room if he is not dull4 ,it is not 'ship-shape1' or barely tolerable1 that he should be otherwise4 ,yet1 after all1 considering what ,i have stated about ,captain ,gulliver's nine voyages crowding into one pocket volume1 he cannot really have much abused his professional license for being dull4 ,indeed1 one has to look out an excuse for his being so little dull2 which excuse is found in the fact that he had studied three years at a learned university4 ,captain ,gulliver1 though a sailor1 ,i would have you to know1 was a gownsman of ,cambridge3 so says ,swift1 who knew more about the ,captain than anybody now-a-days4 ,cantabs are all horsemen1 ergo1 ,gulliver was fit for any thing1 from the wooden shoon of ,cambridge up to the ,horse ,marines4 ,now1 on the other hand1 you1 common-place reader1 that 7as an old tradition7 believe ,swift's style to be a model of excellence1 hereafter ,i shall say a word to you1 drawn from deeper principles4 ,at present ,i content myself with these three propositions1 which overthrow if you can2-- #a4 ,that the merit1 which justly you ascribe to ,swift1 is vernacularity2 he never forgets his mother-tongue in exotic forms1 unless we may call ,irish exotic2 for ,hibernicisms he certainly has4 ,this merit1 however1 is exhibited--not1 as you fancy1 in a graceful artlessness1 but in a coarse inartificiality4 ,to be artless1 and to be inartificial1 are very different things2 as different as being natural and being gross2 as different as being simple and being homely4 #b4 ,that whatever1 meantime1 be the particular sort of excellence1 or the value of the excellence1 in the style of ,swift1 he had it in common with multitudes beside of that age4 ,de ,foe wrote a style for all the world the same as to kind and degree of excellence1 only pure from ,hibernicisms4 ,so did every honest skipper ,dampier was something more who had occasion to record his voyages in this world of storms4 ,so did many a hundred of religious writers4 ,and what wonder should there be in this1 when the main qualification for such a style was plain good sense1 natural feeling1 unpretendingness1 some little scholarly practice in putting together the clockwork of sentences1 so as to avoid mechanical awkwardness of construction1 but above all the advantage of a subject1 such in its nature as instinctively to reject ornament1 lest it should draw off attention from itself8 ,such subjects are common2 but grand impassioned subjects insist upon a different treatment2 and there it is that the true difficulties of style commence4 #c4 ,which partly is suggested by the last remark4 ,that nearly all the blockheads with whom ,i have at any time had the pleasure of conversing upon the subject of style 7and pardon me for saying that men of the most sense are apt1 upon two subjects1 viz41 poetry and style1 to talk most like blockheads71 have invariably regarded ,swift's style not as if relatively good i4e4 given a proper subject1 but as if absolutely good--good unconditionally1 no matter what the subject4 ,now1 my friend1 suppose the case1 that the ,dean had been required to write a pendant for ,sir ,walter ,raleigh's immortal apostrophe to ,death1 or to many passages that ,i will select in ,sir ,thomas ,brown's ',religio ,medici1' and his ',urn-burial1' or to ,jeremy ,taylor's inaugural sections of his ',holy ,living and ,dying1' do you know what would have happened8 ,are you aware what sort of ridiculous figure your poor bald ,jonathan would have cut8 ,about the same that would be cut by a forlorn scullion or waiter from a greasy eating-house at ,rotterdam1 if suddenly called away in vision to act as seneschal to the festival of ,belshazzar the king1 before a thousand of his lords4 ,schlosser1 after saying any thing right and true 7and he really did say the true thing about ,swift's essential irreligion71 usually becomes exhausted1 like a boa-constrictor after eating his half-yearly dinner4 ,the boa gathers himself up1 it is to be hoped for a long fit of dyspepsy1 in which the horns and hoofs that he has swallowed may chance to avenge the poor goat that owned them4 ,schlosser1 on the other hand1 retires into a corner1 for the purpose of obstinately talking nonsense1 until the gong sounds again for a slight refection of sense4 ,accordingly he likens ,swift1 before he has done with him1 to whom8 ,i might safely allow the reader three years for guessing1 if the greatest of wagers were depending between us4 ,he likens him to ,kotzebue1 in the first place4 ,how faithful the resemblance6 ,how exactly ,swift reminds you of ,count ,benyowski in ,siberia1 and of ,mrs4 ,haller moping her eyes in the ',stranger6' ,one really is puzzled to say1 according to the negro's logic1 whether ,mrs4 ,haller is more like the ,dean of ,st4 ,patrick's1 or the ,dean more like ,mrs4 ,haller4 ,anyhow1 the likeness is prodigious1 if it is not quite reciprocal4 ,the other terminus of the comparison is ,wieland4 ,now there is some shadow of a resemblance there4 ,for ,wieland had a touch of the comico-cynical in his nature2 and it is notorious that he was often called the ,german ,voltaire1 which argues some tiger-monkey grin that traversed his features at intervals4 ,wieland's malice1 however1 was far more playful and genial than ,swift's2 something of this is shown in his romance of ',idris1' and oftentimes in his prose4 ,but what the world knows ,wieland by is his ',oberon4' ,now in this gay1 musical romance of ,sir ,huon and his enchanted horn1 with its gleams of voluptuousness1 is there a possibility that any suggestion of a scowling face like ,swift's should cross the festal scenes8 ,from ,swift the scene changes to ,addison and ,steele4 ,steele is of less importance2 for1 though a man of greater intellectual activity #d than ,addison1 he had far less of genius4 ,so ,i turn him out1 as one would turn out upon a heath a ram that had missed his way into one's tulip preserve2 requesting him to fight for himself against ,schlosser1 or others that may molest him4 ,but1 so far as concerns ,addison1 ,i am happy to support the character of ,schlosser for consistency1 by assuring the reader that1 of all the monstrosities uttered by any man upon ,addison1 and of all the monstrosities uttered by ,schlosser upon any man1 a thing which he says about ,addison is the worst4 ,but this ,i reserve for a climax at the end4 ,schlosser really puts his best leg foremost at starting1 and one thinks he's going to mend2 for he catches a truth1 viz41 the following--that all the brilliances of the ,queen ,anne period 7which so many inconsiderate people have called the ,augustan age of our literature7 'point to this-- that the reading public wished to be entertained1 not roused to think2 to be gently moved1 not deeply excited4' ,undoubtedly what strikes a man in ,addison1 or will strike him when indicated1 is the coyness and timidity1 almost the girlish shame1 which he betrays in the presence of all the elementary majesties belonging to impassioned or idealized nature4 ,like one bred in crowded cities1 when first left alone in forests or amongst mountains1 he is frightened at their silence1 their solitude1 their magnitude of form1 or their frowning glooms4 ,it has been remarked by others that ,addison and his companions never rise to the idea of addressing the 'nation' or the 'people2' it is always the 'town4' ,even their audience was conceived of by them under a limited form4 ,yet for this they had some excuse in the state of facts4 ,a man would like at this moment to assume that ,europe and ,asia were listening to him2 and as some few copies of his book do really go to ,paris and ,naples1 some to ,calcutta1 there is a sort of legal fiction that such an assumption is steadily taking root4 ,yet1 unhappily1 that ugly barrier of languages interferes4 ,schamyl1 the ,circassian chief1 though much of a savage1 is not so wanting in taste and discernment as to be backward in reading any book of yours or mine4 ,doubtless he yearns to read it4 ,but then1 you see1 that infernal ,tchirkass language steps between our book1 the darling1 and him1 the discerning reader4 ,now1 just such a barrier existed for the ,spectator in the travelling arrangements of ,england4 ,the very few old heavies that had begun to creep along three or four main roads1 depended so much on wind and weather1 their chances of foundering were so uncalculated1 their periods of revolution were so cometary and uncertain1 that no body of scientific observations had yet been collected to warrant a prudent man in risking a heavy bale of goods2 and1 on the whole1 even for ,york1 ,norwich1 or ,winchester1 a consignment of ',specs' was not quite a safe spec4 ,still1 ,i could have told the ,spectator who was anxious to make money1 where he might have been sure of a distant sale1 though returns would have been slow1 viz41 at ,oxford and ,cambridge4 ,we know from ,milton that old ,hobson delivered his parcels pretty regularly eighty years before #agaj4 ,and1 one generation before that1 it is plain1 by the interesting 7though somewhat ,jacobinical7 letters #e of ,joseph ,mede1 the commenter on the ,apocalypse1 that news and politics of one kind or other 7and scandal of every kind7 found out for themselves a sort of contraband lungs to breathe through between ,london and ,cambridge2 not quite so regular in their systole and diastole as the tides of ebb and flood1 but better than nothing4 ,if you consigned a packet into the proper hands on the #ast of ,may1 'as sure as death' to speak ,scottice1 it would be delivered within sixty miles of the capital before mid-summer4 ,still there were delays2 and these forced a man into carving his world out of ,london4 ,that excuses the word town4 ,inexcusable1 however1 were many other forms of expression in those days1 which argued cowardly feelings4 ,one would like to see a searching investigation into the state of society in ,anne's days--its extreme artificiality1 its sheepish reserve upon all the impassioned grandeurs1 its shameless outrages upon all the decencies of human nature4 ,certain it is1 that ,addison 7because everybody7 was in that meanest of conditions which blushes at any expression of sympathy with the lovely1 the noble1 or the impassioned4 ,the wretches were ashamed of their own nature1 and perhaps with reason2 for in their own denaturalized hearts they read only a degraded nature4 ,addison1 in particular1 shrank from every bold and every profound expression as from an offence against good taste4 ,he durst not for his life have used the word 'passion' except in the vulgar sense of an angry paroxysm4 ,he durst as soon have danced a hornpipe on the top of the 'monument' as have talked of a 'rapturous emotion4' ,what would he have said8 ,why1 'sentiments that were of a nature to prove agreeable after an unusual rate4' ,in their odious verses1 the creatures of that age talk of love as something that 'burns' them4 ,you suppose at first that they are discoursing of tallow candles1 though you cannot imagine by what impertinence they address you1 that are no tallow-chandler1 upon such painful subjects4 ,and1 when they apostrophize the woman of their heart 7for you are to understand that they pretend to such an organ71 they beseech her to 'ease their pain4' ,can human meanness descend lower8 ,as if the man1 being ill from pleurisy1 therefore had a right to take a lady for one of the dressers in an hospital1 whose duty it would be to fix a burgundy-pitch plaster between his shoulders4 ,ah1 the monsters6 ,then to read of their ,phillises and ,strephons1 and ,chloes1 and ,corydons--names that1 by their very non-reality amongst names of flesh and blood1 proclaim the fantasticalness of the life with which they are poetically connected-- it throws me into such convulsions of rage1 that ,i move to the window1 and 7without thinking what ,i am about7 throwing it up1 calling1 ',police6 police6' ,what's that for8 ,what can the police do in the business8 ,why1 certainly nothing4 ,what ,i meant in my dream was1 perhaps but one forgets what one meant upon recovering one's temper1 that the police should take ,strephon and ,corydon into custody1 whom ,i fancied at the other end of the room4 ,and really the justifiable fury1 that arises upon recalling such abominable attempts at bucolic sentiments in such abominable language1 sometimes transports me into a luxurious vision sinking back through one hundred and thirty years1 in which ,i see ,addison1 ,phillips1 both ,john and ,ambrose1 ,tickell1 ,fickell1 ,budgell1 and ,cudgell1 with many others beside1 all cudgelled in a round robin1 none claiming precedency of another1 none able to shrink from his own dividend1 until a voice seems to recall me to milder thoughts by saying1 ',but surely1 my friend1 you never could wish to see ,addison cudgelled8 ,let ,strephon and ,corydon be cudgelled without end1 if the police can show any warrant for doing it ,but ,addison was a man of great genius4' ,true1 he was so4 ,i recollect it suddenly1 and will back out of any angry things that ,i have been misled into saying by ,schlosser1 who1 by-the-bye1 was right1 after all1 for a wonder4 ,but now ,i will turn my whole fury in vengeance upon ,schlosser4 ,and1 looking round for a stone to throw at him1 ,i observe this4 ,addison could not be so entirely careless of exciting the public to think and feel1 as ,schlosser pretends1 when he took so much pains to inoculate that public with a sense of the ,miltonic grandeur4 ,the ',paradise ,lost' had then been published barely forty years1 which was nothing in an age without reviews2 the editions were still scanty2 and though no ,addison could eventually promote1 for the instant he quickened1 the circulation4 ,if ,i recollect1 ,tonson's accurate revision of the text followed immediately upon ,addison's papers4 ,and it is certain that ,addison #f must have diffused the knowledge of ,milton upon the continent1 from signs that soon followed4 ,but does not this prove that ,i myself have been in the wrong as well as ,schlosser8 ,no3 that's impossible4 ,schlosser's always in the wrong2 but it's the next thing to an impossibility that ,i should be detected in an error3 philosophically speaking1 it is supposed to involve a contradiction4 ',but surely ,i said the very same thing as ,schlosser by assenting to what he said4' ,maybe ,i did3 but then ,i have time to make a distinction1 because my article is not yet finished2 we are only at page six or seven2 whereas ,schlosser can't make any distinction now1 because his book's printed2 and his list of errata 7which is shocking though he does not confess to the thousandth part71 is actually published4 ,my distinction is--that1 though ,addison generally hated the impassioned1 and shrank from it as from a fearful thing1 yet this was when it combined with forms of life and fleshy realities 7as in dramatic works71 but not when it combined with elder forms of eternal abstractions4 ,hence1 he did not read1 and did not like ,shakspeare2 the music was here too rapid and life-like3 but he sympathized profoundly with the solemn cathedral chanting of ,milton4 ,an appeal to his sympathies which exacted quick changes in those sympathies he could not meet1 but a more stationary key of solemnity he could4 ,indeed1 this difference is illustrated daily4 ,a long list can be cited of passages in ,shakspeare1 which have been solemnly denounced by many eminent men 7all blockheads7 as ridiculous3 and if a man does find a passage in a tragedy that displeases him1 it is sure to seem ludicrous3 witness the indecent exposures of themselves made by ,voltaire1 ,la ,harpe1 and many billions beside of bilious people4 ,whereas1 of all the shameful people 7equally billions and not less bilious7 that have presumed to quarrel with ,milton1 not one has thought him ludicrous1 but only dull and somnolent4 ,in ',lear' and in ',hamlet1' as in a human face agitated by passion1 are many things that tremble on the brink of the ludicrous to an observer endowed with small range of sympathy or intellect4 ,but no man ever found the starry heavens ludicrous1 though many find them dull1 and prefer a near view of a brandy flask4 ,so in the solemn wheelings of the ,miltonic movement1 ,addison could find a sincere delight4 ,but the sublimities of earthly misery and of human frenzy were for him a book sealed4 ,beside all which1 ,milton1 renewed the types of ,grecian beauty as to form1 whilst ,shakspeare1 without designing at all to contradict these types1 did so1 in effect1 by his fidelity to a new nature1 radiating from a ,gothic centre4 ,in the midst1 however1 of much just feeling1 which one could only wish a little deeper1 in the ,addisonian papers on ',paradise ,lost1' there are some gross blunders of criticism1 as there are in ,dr4 ,johnson1 and from the self-same cause--an understanding suddenly palsied from defective passion1 ,a feeble capacity of passion must1 upon a question of passion1 constitute a feeble range of intellect4 ,but1 after all1 the worst thing uttered by ,addison in these papers is1 not against ,milton1 but meant to be complimentary4 ,towards enhancing the splendor of the great poem1 he tells us that it is a ,grecian palace as to amplitude1 symmetry1 and architectural skill3 but being in the ,english language1 it is to be regarded as if built in brick2 whereas1 had it been so happy as to be written in ,greek1 then it would have been a palace built in ,parian marble4 ,indeed6 that's smart--'that's handsome1 ,i calculate4' ,yet1 before a man undertakes to sell his mother-tongue1 as old pewter trucked against gold1 he should be quite sure of his own metallurgic skill2 because else1 the gold may happen to be copper1 and the pewter to be silver4 ,are you quite sure1 my ,addison1 that you have understood the powers of this language which you toss away so lightly1 as an old tea-kettle8 ,is it a ruled case that you have exhausted its resources8 ,nobody doubts your grace in a certain line of composition1 but it is only one line among many1 and it is far from being amongst the highest4 ,it is dangerous1 without examination1 to sell even old kettles2 misers conceal old stockings filled with guineas in old tea-kettles2 and we all know that ,aladdin's servant1 by exchanging an old lamp for a new one1 caused an ,iliad of calamities3 his master's palace jumped from ,bagdad to some place on the road to ,ashantee2 ,mrs4 ,aladdin and the piccaninies were carried off as inside passengers2 and ,aladdin himself only escaped being lagged1 for a rogue and a conjuror1 by a flying jump after his palace4 ,now1 mark the folly of man4 ,most of the people ,i am going to mention subscribed1 generally1 to the supreme excellence of ,milton2 but each wished for a little change to be made-- which1 and which only was wanted to perfection4 ,dr4 ,johnson1 though he pretended to be satisfied with the ',paradise ,lost1' even in what he regarded as the undress of blank verse1 still secretly wished it in rhyme4 ,that's ,no4 #a4 ,addison1 though quite content with it in ,english1 still could have wished it in ,greek4 ,that's ,no4 #b4 ,bentley1 though admiring the blind old poet in the highest degree1 still observed1 smilingly1 that after all he was blind2 he1 therefore1 slashing ,dick1 could have wished that the great man had always been surrounded by honest people2 but1 as that was not to be1 he could have wished that his amanuensis has been hanged2 but1 as that also had become impossible1 he could wish to do execution upon him in effigy1 by sinking1 burning1 and destroying his handywork--upon which basis of posthumous justice1 he proceeded to amputate all the finest passages in the poem4 ,slashing ,dick was ,no4 #c4 ,payne ,knight was a severer man even than slashing ,dick2 he professed to look upon the first book of ',paradise ,lost' as the finest thing that earth had to show2 but1 for that very reason1 he could have wished1 by your leave1 to see the other eleven books sawed off1 and sent overboard2 because1 though tolerable perhaps in another situation1 they really were a national disgrace1 when standing behind that unrivalled portico of book #a4 ,there goes ,no4 #d4 ,then came a fellow1 whose name was either not on his title page1 or ,i have forgotten it1 that pronounced the poem to be laudable1 and full of good materials2 but still he could have wished that the materials had been put together in a more workmanlike manner2 which kind office he set about himself4 ,he made a general clearance of all lumber3 the expression of every thought he entirely re-cast3 and he fitted up the metre with beautiful patent rhymes2 not1 ,i believe1 out of any consideration for ,dr4 ,johnson's comfort1 but on principles of mere abstract decency3 as it was1 the poem seemed naked1 and yet was not ashamed4 ,there went ,no4 #e4 ,him succeeded a droller fellow than any of the rest4 ,a ,french book-seller had caused a prose ,french translation to be made of the ',paradise ,lost1' without particularly noticing its ,english origin1 or at least not in the title page4 ,our friend1 ,no4 #f1 getting hold of this as an original ,french romance1 translated it back into ,english prose1 as a satisfactory novel for the season4 ,his little mistake was at length discovered1 and communicated to him with shouts of laughter2 on which1 after considerable kicking and plunging 7for a man cannot but turn restive when he finds that he has not only got the wrong sow by the ear1 but actually sold the sow to a bookseller71 the poor translator was tamed into sulkiness2 in which state ho observed that he could have wished his own work1 being evidently so much superior to the earliest form of the romance1 might be admitted by the courtesy of ,england to take the precedency as the original ',paradise ,lost1' and to supersede the very rude performance of ',milton1 ,mr4 ,john4' #g ,schlosser makes the astounding assertion1 that a compliment of ,boileau to ,addison1 and a pure compliment of ceremony upon ,addison's early ,latin verses1 was 7credite posteri67 the making of ,addison in ,england4 ,understand1 ,schlosser1 that ,addison's ,latin verses were never heard of by ,england1 until long after his ,english prose had fixed the public attention upon him2 his ,latin reputation was a slight reaction from his ,english reputation3 and1 secondly1 understand that ,boileau had at no time any such authority in ,england as to make anybody's reputation2 he had first of all to make his own4 ,a sure proof of this is1 that ,boileau's name was first published to ,london1 by ,prior's burlesque of what the ,frenchman had called an ode4 ,this gasconading ode celebrated the passage of the ,rhine in #afgb1 and the capture of that famous fortress called ,skink 7'le fameux fort de'71 by ,louis ,,xiv41 known to ,london at the time of ,prior's parody by the name of ',louis ,baboon4' #h ,that was not likely to recommend ,master ,boileau to any of the allies against the said ,baboon1 had it ever been heard of out of ,france4 ,nor was it likely to make him popular in ,england1 that his name was first mentioned amongst shouts of laughter and mockery4 ,it is another argument of the slight notoriety possessed by ,boileau in ,england--that no attempt was ever made to translate even his satires1 epistles1 or ',lutrin1' except by booksellers' hacks2 and that no such version ever took the slightest root amongst ourselves1 from ,addison's day to this very summer of #ahdg4 ,boileau was essentially1 and in two senses1 viz41 both as to mind and as to influence1 un homme borne4 ,addison's ',blenheim' is poor enough2 one might think it a translation from some ,german original of those times4 ,gottsched's aunt1 or ,bodmer's wet- nurse1 might have written it2 but still no fibs even as to ',blenheim4' ,his 'enemies' did not say this thing against ',blenheim' 'aloud1' nor his friends that thing against it 'softly4' ,and why8 ,because at that time 7#agjd-e7 he had made no particular enemies1 nor any particular friends2 unless by friends you mean his ,whig patrons1 and by enemies his tailor and co4 ,as to ',cato1' ,schlosser1 as usual1 wanders in the shadow of ancient night4 ,the ,english 'people1' it seems1 so 'extravagantly applauded' this wretched drama1 that you might suppose them to have 'altogether changed their nature1' and to have forgotten ,shakspeare4 ,that man must have forgotten ,shakspeare1 indeed1 and from ramollissement of the brain1 who could admire ',cato4' ',but1' says ,schlosser1 'it was only a 'fashion2' and the ,english soon repented4' ,the ,english could not repent of a crime which they had never committed4 ,cato was not popular for a moment1 nor tolerated for a moment1 upon any literary ground1 or as a work of art4 ,it was an apple of temptation and strife thrown by the goddess of faction between two infuriated parties4 ',cato1' coming from a man without ,parliamentary connections1 would have dropped lifeless to the ground4 ,the ,whigs have always affected a special love and favor for popular counsels3 they have never ceased to give themselves the best of characters as regards public freedom4 ,the ,tories1 as contradistinguished to the ,jacobites1 knowing that without their aid1 the ,revolution could not have been carried1 most justly contended that the national liberties had been at least as much indebted to themselves4 ,when1 therefore1 the ,whigs put forth their man ,cato to mouth speeches about liberty1 as exclusively their pet1 and about patriotism and all that sort of thing1 saying insultingly to the ,tories1 ',how do you like that8 ,does that sting8' ',sting1 indeed6' replied the ,tories2 'not at all2 it's quite refreshing to us1 that the ,whigs have not utterly disowned such sentiments1 which1 by their public acts1 we really thought they had4' ,and1 accordingly1 as the popular anecdote tells us1 a ,tory leader1 ,lord ,bolingbroke1 sent for ,booth who performed ,cato1 and presented him 7populo spectante7 with fifty guineas 'for defending so well the cause of the people against a perpetual dictator4' ,in which words1 observe1 ,lord ,bolingbroke at once asserted the cause of his own party1 and launched a sarcasm against a great individual opponent1 viz41 ,marlborough4 ,now1 ,mr4 ,schlosser1 ,i have mended your harness3 all right ahead2 so drive on once more4 ,but1 oh ,castor and ,pollux1 whither--in what direction is it1 that the man is driving us8 ,positively1 ,schlosser1 you must stop and let me get out4 ,i'll go no further with such a drunken coachman4 ,many another absurd thing ,i was going to have noticed1 such as his utter perversion of what ,mandeville said about ,addison 7viz41 by suppressing one word1 and misapprehending all the rest74 ,such1 again1 as his point-blank misstatement of ,addison's infirmity in his official character1 which was not that 'he could not prepare despatches in a good style1' but diametrically the opposite case--that he insisted too much on style1 to the serious retardation of public business4 ,but all these things are as nothing to what ,schlosser says elsewhere4 ,he actually describes ,addison1 on the whole1 as a 'dull prosaist1' and the patron of pedantry6 ,addison1 the man of all that ever lived most hostile even to what was good in pedantry1 to its tendencies towards the profound in erudition and the non- popular2 ,addison1 the champion of all that is easy1 natural1 superficial1 a pedant and a master of pedantry6 ,get down1 ,schlosser1 this moment2 or let me get out4 ,pope1 by far the most important writer1 ,english or ,continental1 of his own age1 is treated with more extensive ignorance by ,mr4 ,schlosser than any other1 and 7excepting ,addison7 with more ambitious injustice4 ,a false abstract is given1 or a false impression1 of any one amongst his brilliant works1 that is noticed at all2 and a false sneer1 a sneer irrelevant to the case1 at any work dismissed by name as unworthy of notice4 ,the three works1 selected as the gems of ,pope's collection1 are the ',essay on ,criticism1' the ',rape of the ,lock1' and the ',essay on ,man4' ,on the first1 which 7with ,dr4 ,johnson's leave7 is the feeblest and least interesting of ,pope's writings1 being substantially a mere versification1 like a metrical multiplication-table1 of common-places the most mouldy with which criticism has baited its rat-traps2 since nothing is said worth answering1 it is sufficient to answer nothing4 ,the ',rape of the ,lock' is treated with the same delicate sensibility that we might have looked for in ,brennus1 if consulted on the picturesque1 or in ,attila the ,hun1 if adjured to decide aesthetically1 between two rival cameos4 ,attila is said 7though no doubt falsely7 to have described himself as not properly a man so much as the ,divine wrath incarnate4 ,this would be fine in a melodrama1 with ,bengal lights burning on the stage4 ,but1 if ever he said such a naughty thing1 he forgot to tell us what it was that had made him angry2 by what title did he come into alliance with the ,divine wrath1 which was not likely to consult a savage8 ,and why did his wrath hurry1 by forced marches1 to the ,adriatic8 ,now so much do people differ in opinion1 that1 to us1 who look at him through a telescope from an eminence1 fourteen centuries distant1 he takes the shape rather of a ,mahratta trooper1 painfully gathering chout1 or a cateran levying black-mail1 or a decent tax-gatherer with an inkhorn at his button-hole1 and supported by a select party of constabulary friends4 ,the very natural instinct which ,attila always showed for following the trail of the wealthiest footsteps1 seems to argue a most commercial coolness in the dispensation of his wrath4 ,mr4 ,schlosser burns with the wrath of ,attila against all aristocracies1 and especially that of ,england4 ,he governs his fury1 also1 with an ,attila discretion in many cases2 but not here4 ,imagine this ,hun coming down1 sword in hand1 upon ,pope and his ,rosicrucian light troops1 levying chout upon ,sir ,plume1 and fluttering the dove-cot of the ,sylphs4 ,pope's 'duty it was1' says this demoniac1 to 'scourge the follies of good society1' and also 'to break with the aristocracy4' ,no1 surely8 something short of a total rupture would have satisfied the claims of duty8 ,possibly2 but it would not have satisfied ,schlosser4 ,and ,pope's guilt consists in having made his poem an idol or succession of pictures representing the gayer aspects of society as it really was1 and supported by a comic interest of the mock-heroic derived from a playful machinery1 instead of converting it into a bloody satire4 ,pope1 however1 did not shrink from such assaults on the aristocracy1 if these made any part of his duties4 ,such assaults he made twice at least too often for his own peace1 and perhaps for his credit at this day4 ,it is useless1 however1 to talk of the poem as a work of art1 with one who sees none of its exquisite graces1 and can imagine his countryman ,zacharia equal to a competition with ,pope4 ,but this it may be right to add1 that the ',rape of the ,lock' was not borrowed from the ',lutrin' of ,boileau4 ,that was impossible4 ,neither was it suggested by the ',lutrin4' ,the story in ,herodotus of the wars between cranes and pigmies1 or the ,batrachomyomachia 7so absurdly ascribed to ,homer7 might have suggested the idea more naturally4 ,both these1 there is proof that ,pope had read3 there is none that he had read the ',lutrin1' nor did he read ,french with ease to himself4 ,the ',lutrin1' meantime1 is as much below the ',rape of the ,lock' in brilliancy of treatment1 as it is dissimilar in plan or the quality of its pictures4 ,the ',essay on ,man' is a more thorny subject4 ,when a man finds himself attacked and defended from all quarters1 and on all varieties of principle1 he is bewildered4 ,friends are as dangerous as enemies4 ,he must not defy a bristling enemy1 if he cares for repose2 he must not disown a zealous defender1 though making concessions on his own behalf not agreeable to himself2 he must not explain away ugly phrases in one direction1 or perhaps he is recanting the very words of his 'guide1 philosopher1 and friend1' who cannot safely be taxed with having first led him into temptation2 he must not explain them away in another direction1 or he runs full tilt into the wrath of mother ,church--who will soon bring him to his senses by penance4 ,long lents1 and no lampreys allowed1 would soon cauterize the proud flesh of heretical ethics4 ,pope did wisely1 situated as he was1 in a decorous nation1 and closely connected1 upon principles of fidelity under political suffering1 with the ,roman ,catholics1 to say little in his own defence4 ,that defence1 and any reversionary cudgelling which it might entail upon the ,quixote undertaker1 he left--meekly but also slyly1 humbly but cunningly--to those whom he professed to regard as greater philosophers than himself4 ,all parties found their account in the affair4 ,pope slept in peace2 several pugnacious gentlemen up and down ,europe expectorated much fiery wrath in dusting each other's jackets2 and ,warburton1 the attorney1 finally earned his bishoprick in the service of whitewashing a writer1 who was aghast at finding himself first trampled on as a deist1 and then exalted as a defender of the faith4 ,meantime1 ,mr4 ,schlosser mistakes ,pope's courtesy1 when he supposes his acknowledgments to ,lord ,bolingbroke sincere in their whole extent4 ,of ,pope's ',homer' ,schlosser think fit to say1 amongst other evil things1 which it really does deserve 7though hardly in comparison with the ,german ',homer' of the ear-splitting ,voss71 'that ,pope pocketed the subscription of the ,odyssey1 and left the work to be done by his understrappers4' ,don't tell fibs1 ,schlosser4 ,never do that any more4 ,true it is1 and disgraceful enough1 that ,pope 7like modern contractors for a railway or a loan7 let off to sub-contractors several portions of the undertaking4 ,he was perhaps not illiberal in the terms of his contracts4 ,at least ,i know of people now-a-days 7much better artists7 that would execute such contracts1 and enter into any penalties for keeping time at thirty per cent4 less4 ,but navies and billbrokers1 that are in excess now1 then were scarce4 ,still the affair1 though not mercenary1 was illiberal in a higher sense of art2 and no anecdote shows more pointedly ,pope's sense of the mechanic fashion1 in which his own previous share of the ,homeric labor had been executed4 ,it was disgraceful enough1 and needs no exaggeration4 ,let it1 therefore1 be reported truly3 ,pope personally translated one-half of the ',odyssey'--a dozen books he turned out of his own oven3 and1 if you add the ,batrachomyomachia1 his dozen was a baker's dozen4 ,the journeyman did the other twelve2 were regularly paid2 regularly turned off when the job was out of hand2 and never once had to 'strike for wages4' ,how much beer was allowed1 ,i cannot say4 ,this is the truth of the matter4 ,so no more fibbing1 ,schlosser1 if you please4 ,but there remains behind all these labors of ,pope1 the ',dunciad1' which is by far his greatest4 ,i shall not1 within the narrow bounds assigned to me1 enter upon a theme so exacting2 for1 in this instance1 ,i should have to fight not against ,schlosser only1 but against ,dr4 ,johnson1 who has thoroughly misrepresented the nature of the ',dunciad1' and1 consequently1 could not measure its merits4 ,neither he1 nor ,schlosser1 in fact1 ever read more than a few passages of this admirable poem4 ,but the villany is too great for a brief exposure4 ,one thing only ,i will notice of ,schlosser's misrepresentations4 ,he asserts 7not when directly speaking of ,pope1 but afterwards1 under the head of ,voltaire7 that the ,french author's trivial and random ,temple de ,gout 'shows the superiority in this species of poetry to have been greatly on the side of the ,frenchman4' ,let's hear a reason1 though but a ,schlosser reason1 for this opinion3 know1 then1 all men whom it concerns1 that 'the ,englishman's satire only hit such people as would never have been known without his mention of them1 whilst ,voltaire selected those who were still called great1 and their respective schools4' ,pope's men1 it seems1 never had been famous--,voltaire's might cease to be so1 but as yet they had not ceased2 as yet they commanded interest4 ,now mark how ,i will put three bullets into that plank1 riddle it so that the leak shall not be stopped by all the old hats in ,heidelberg1 and ,schlosser will have to swim for his life4 ,first1 he is forgetting that1 by his own previous confession1 ,voltaire1 not less than ,pope1 had 'immortalized a great many insignificant persons2' consequently1 had it been any fault to do so1 each alike was caught in that fault2 and insignificant as the people might be1 if they could be 'immortalized1' then we have ,schlosser himself confessing to the possibility that poetic splendor should create a secondary interest where originally there had been none4 ,secondly1 the question of merit does not arise from the object of the archer1 but from the style of his archery4 ,not the choice of victims1 but the execution done is what counts4 ,even for continued failures it would plead advantageously1 much more for continued and brilliant successes1 that ,pope fired at an object offering no sufficient breadth of mark4 ,thirdly1 it is the grossest of blunders to say that ,pope's objects of satire were obscure by comparison with ,voltaire's4 ,true1 the ,frenchman's example of a scholar1 viz41 the ,french ,salmasius1 was most accomplished4 ,but so was the ,englishman's scholar1 viz41 the ,english ,bentley4 ,each was absolutely without a rival in his own day4 ,but the day of ,bentley was the very day of ,pope4 ,pope's man had not even faded2 whereas the day of ,salmasius1 as respected ,voltaire had gone by for more than half a century4 ,as to ,dacier1 'which ,dacier1 ,bezonian8' ,the husband was a passable scholar--but madame was a poor sneaking fellow1 fit only for the usher of a boarding- school4 ,all this1 however1 argues ,schlosser's two-fold ignorance--first1 of ,english authors2 second1 of the ',dunciad2'--else he would have known that even ,dennis1 mad ,john ,dennis1 was a much cleverer man than most of those alluded to by ,voltaire4 ,cibber1 though slightly a coxcomb1 was born a brilliant man4 ,aaron ,hill was so lustrous1 that even ,pope's venom fell off spontaneously1 like rain from the plumage of a pheasant1 leaving him to 'mount far upwards with the swans of ,thanes'--and1 finally1 let it not be forgotten1 that ,samuel ,clarke ,burnet1 of the ,charterhouse1 and ,sir ,isaac ,newton1 did not wholly escape tasting the knout2 if that rather impeaches the equity1 and sometimes the judgment of ,pope1 at least it contributes to show the groundlessness of ,schlosser's objection--that the population of the ,dunciad1 the characters that filled its stage1 were inconsiderable4 ,,fox ,,and ,,burke4 ,it is1 or it would be1 if ,mr4 ,schlosser were himself more interesting1 luxurious to pursue his ignorance as to facts1 and the craziness of his judgment as to the valuation of minds1 throughout his comparison of ,burke with ,fox4 ,the force of antithesis brings out into a feeble life of meaning1 what1 in its own insulation1 had been languishing mortally into nonsense4 ,the darkness of his ',burke' becomes visible darkness under the glimmering that steals upon it from the desperate commonplaces of this ',fox4' ,fox is painted exactly as he would have been painted fifty years ago by any pet subaltern of the ,whig club1 enjoying free pasture in ,devonshire ,house4 ,the practised reader knows well what is coming4 ,fox is 'formed after the model of the ancients'--,fox is 'simple'--,fox is 'natural'--,fox is 'chaste'--,fox is 'forcible2' why yes1 in a sense1 ,fox is even 'forcible3' but then1 to feel that he was so1 you must have heard him2 whereas1 for forty years he has been silent4 ,we of #ahdg1 that can only read him1 hearing ,fox described as forcible1 are disposed to recollect ,shakspeare's ,mr4 ,feeble amongst ,falstaff's recruits1 who also is described as forcible1 viz41 as the 'most forcible ,feeble4' ,and1 perhaps1 a better description could not be devised for ,fox himself--so feeble was he in matter1 so forcible in manner2 so powerful for instant effect1 so impotent for posterity4 ,in the ,pythian fury of his gestures--in his screaming voice--in his directness of purpose1 ,fox would now remind you of some demon steam-engine on a railroad1 some ,fire-king or ,salmoneus1 that had counterfeited1 because he could not steal1 ,jove's thunderbolts2 hissing1 bubbling1 snorting1 fuming2 demoniac gas1 you think--gas from ,acheron must feed that dreadful system of convulsions4 ,but pump out the imaginary gas1 and1 behold6 it is ditch-water4 ,fox1 as ,mr4 ,schlosser rightly thinks1 was all of a piece--simple in his manners1 simple in his style1 simple in his thoughts4 ,no waters in him turbid with new crystalizations2 everywhere the eye can see to the bottom4 ,no music in him dark with ,cassandra meanings4 ,fox1 indeed1 disturb decent gentlemen by 'allusions to all the sciences1 from the integral calculus and metaphysics to navigation6' ,fox would have seen you hanged first4 ,burke1 on the other hand1 did all that1 and other wickedness besides1 which fills an #hvo page in ,schlosser2 and ,schlosser crowns his enormities by charging him1 the said ,burke 7p4 #ii71 with 'wearisome tediousness4' ,among my own acquaintances are several old women1 who think on this point precisely as ,schlosser thinks2 and they go further1 for they even charge ,burke with 'tedious wearisomeness4' ,oh1 sorrowful woe1 and also woeful sorrow1 when an ,edmund ,burke arises1 like a cheeta or hunting leopard coupled in a tiger-chase with a ,german poodle4 ,to think1 in a merciful spirit1 of the jungle--barely to contemplate1 in a temper of humanity1 the incomprehensible cane-thickets1 dark and bristly1 into which that bloody cheeta will drag that unoffending poodle6 ,but surely the least philosophic of readers1 who hates philosophy 'as toad or asp1' must yet be aware1 that1 where new growths are not germinating1 it is no sort of praise to be free from the throes of growth4 ,where expansion is hopeless1 it is little glory to have escaped distortion4 ,nor is it any blame that the rich fermentation of grapes should disturb the transparency of their golden fluids4 ,fox had nothing new to tell us1 nor did he hold a position amongst men that required or would even have allowed him to tell anything new4 ,he was helmsman to a party2 what he had to do1 though seeming to give orders1 was simply to repeat their orders--',port your helm1' said the party2 ',port it is1' replied the helmsman4--,but ,burke was no steersman2 he was the ,orpheus that sailed with the ,argonauts2 he was their seer1 seeing more in his visions than he always understood himself2 he was their watcher through the hours of night2 he was their astrological interpreter4 ,who complains of a prophet for being a little darker of speech than a post-office directory8 or of him that reads the stars for being sometimes perplexed8 ,but1 even as to facts1 ,schlosser is always blundering4 ,post-office directories would be of no use to him2 nor link-boys2 nor blazing tar-barrels4 ,he wanders in a fog such as sits upon the banks of ,cocytus4 ,he fancies that ,burke1 in his lifetime1 was popular4 ,of course1 it is so natural to be popular by means of 'wearisome tediousness1' that ,schlosser1 above all people1 should credit such a tale4 ,burke has been dead just fifty years1 come next autumn4 ,i remember the time from this accident--that my own nearest relative stepped on a day of ,october1 #agig1 into that same suite of rooms at ,bath 7,north ,parade7 from which1 six hours before1 the great man had been carried out to die at ,beaconsfield4 ,it is1 therefore1 you see1 fifty years4 ,now1 ever since then1 his collective works have been growing in bulk by the incorporation of juvenile essays 7such as his ',european ,settlements1' his ',essay on the ,sublime1' on ',lord ,bolingbroke1' c47 or 7as more recently7 by the posthumous publication of his ,,mss2 #i and yet1 ever since then1 in spite of growing age and growing bulk1 are more in demand4 ,at this time1 half a century after his last sigh1 ,burke is popular2 a thing1 let me tell you1 ,schlosser1 which never happened before to a writer steeped to his lips in personal politics4 ,what a tilth of intellectual lava must that man have interfused amongst the refuse and scoria of such mouldering party rubbish1 to force up a new verdure and laughing harvests1 annually increasing for new generations6 ,popular he is now1 but popular he was not in his own generation4 ,and how could ,schlosser have the face to say that he was8 ,did he never hear the notorious anecdote1 that at one period ,burke obtained the sobriquet of 'dinner-bell8' ,and why8 ,not as one who invited men to a banquet by his gorgeous eloquence1 but as one that gave a signal to shoals in the ,house of ,commons1 for seeking refuge in a literal dinner from the oppression of his philosophy4 ,this was1 perhaps1 in part a scoff of his opponents4 ,yet there must have been some foundation for the scoff1 since1 at an earlier stage of ,burke's career1 ,goldsmith had independently said1 that this great orator --------'went on refining1 ,and thought of convincing1 whilst they thought of dining4' ,i blame neither party4 ,it ought not to be expected of any popular body that it should be patient of abstractions amongst the intensities of party-strife1 and the immediate necessities of voting4 ,no deliberative body would less have tolerated such philosophic exorbitations from public business than the agora of ,athens1 or the ,roman senate4 ,so far the error was in ,burke1 not in the ,house of ,commons4 ,yet1 also1 on the other side1 it must be remembered1 that an intellect of ,burke's combining power and enormous compass1 could not1 from necessity of nature1 abstain from such speculations4 ,for a man to reach a remote posterity1 it is sometimes necessary that he should throw his voice over to them in a vast arch--it must sweep a parabola--which1 therefore1 rises high above the heads of those next to him1 and is heard by the bystanders but indistinctly1 like bees swarming in the upper air before they settle on the spot fit for hiving4 ,see1 therefore1 the immeasurableness of misconception4 ,of all public men1 that stand confessedly in the first rank as to splendor of intellect1 ,burke was the least popular at the time when our blind friend ,schlosser assumes him to have run off with the lion's share of popularity4 ,fox1 on the other hand1 as the leader of opposition1 was at that time a household term of love or reproach1 from one end of the island to the other4 ,to the very children playing in the streets1 ,pitt and ,fox1 throughout ,burke's generation1 were pretty nearly as broad distinctions1 and as much a war- cry1 as ,english and ,french1 ,roman and ,punic4 ,now1 however1 all this is altered4 ,as regards the relations between the two ,whigs whom ,schlosser so steadfastly delighteth to misrepresent1 ',now is the winter of our discontent ,made glorious summer' for that intellectual potentate1 ,edmund ,burke1 the man whose true mode of power has never yet been truly investigated2 whilst ,charles ,fox is known only as an echo is known1 and for any real effect of intellect upon this generation1 for anything but the 'whistling of a name1' the ,fox of #aghj-ahjg sleeps where the carols of the larks are sleeping1 that gladdened the spring-tides of those years--sleeps with the roses that glorified the beauty of their summers4 #aj ,,junius ,schlosser talks of ,junius1 who is to him1 as to many people1 more than entirely the enigma of an enigma1 ,hermes ,trismegistus1 or the mediaeval ,prester ,john4 ,not only are most people unable to solve the enigma1 but they have no idea of what it is that they are to solve4 ,i have to inform ,schlosser that there are three separate questions about ,junius1 of which he has evidently no distinct knowledge1 and cannot1 therefore1 have many chances to spare for settling them4 ,the three questions are these3--,a4 ,who was ,junius8 ,b4 ,what was it that armed ,junius with a power so unaccountable at this day over the public mind8 ,c4 ,why1 having actually exercised this power1 and gained under his masque far more than he ever hoped to gain1 did this ,junius not come forward in his own person1 when all the legal danger had long passed away1 to claim a distinction that for him 7among the vainest of men7 must have been more precious than his heart's blood8 ,the two questions1 ,b and ,c1 ,i have examined in past times1 and ,i will not here repeat my explanations further than to say1 with respect to the last1 that the reason for the author not claiming his own property was this1 because he dared not2 because it would have been infamy for him to avow himself as ,junius2 because it would have revealed a crime and published a crime in his own earlier life1 for which many a man is transported in our days1 and for less than which many a man has been in past days hanged1 broken on the wheel1 burned1 gibbeted1 or impaled4 ,to say that he watched and listened at his master's key-holes1 is nothing4 ,it was not key-holes only that he made free with1 but keys2 he tampered with his master's seals2 he committed larcenies2 not1 like a brave man1 risking his life on the highway1 but petty larcenies--larcenies in a dwelling-house--larcenies under the opportunities of a confidential situation--crimes which formerly1 in the days of ,junius1 our bloody code never pardoned in villains of low degree4 ,junius was in the situation of ,lord ,byron's ,lara1 or1 because ,lara is a plagiarism1 of ,harriet ,lee's ,kraitzrer4 ,but this man1 because he had money1 friends1 and talents1 instead of going to prison1 took himself off for a jaunt to the continent4 ,from the continent1 in full security and in possession of the otium cum dignitate1 he negotiated with the government1 whom he had alarmed by publishing the secrets which he had stolen4 ,he succeeded4 ,he sold himself to great advantage4 ,bought and sold he was2 and of course it is understood that1 if you buy a knave1 and expressly in consideration of his knaveries1 you secretly undertake not to hang him4 ',honor bright6' ,lord ,barrington might certainly have indicted ,junius at the ,old ,bailey1 and had a reason for wishing to do so2 but ,george ,,iii41 who was a party to the negotiation1 and all his ministers1 would have said1 with fits of laughter--',oh1 come now1 my lord1 you must not do that4 ,for1 since we have bargained for a price to send him out as a member of council to ,bengal1 you see clearly that we could not possibly hang him before we had fulfilled our bargain4 ,then it is true we might hang him after he comes back4 ,but1 since the man 7being a clever man7 has a fair chance in the interim of rising to be ,governor-,general1 we put it to your candor1 ,lord ,barrington1 whether it would be for the public service to hang his excellency8' ,in fact1 he might probably have been ,governor-,general1 had his bad temper not overmastered him4 ,had he not quarrelled so viciously with ,mr4 ,hastings1 it is ten to one that he might1 by playing his cards well1 have succeeded him4 ,as it was1 after enjoying an enormous salary1 he returned to ,england--not ,governor-,general1 certainly1 but still in no fear of being hanged4 ,instead of hanging him1 on second thoughts1 ,government gave him a red ribbon4 ,he represented a borough in ,parliament4 ,he was an authority upon ,indian affairs4 ,he was caressed by the ,whig party4 ,he sat at good men's tables4 ,he gave for toasts--,joseph ,surface sentiments at dinner parties-- ',the man that betrays' something or other--'the man that sneaks into' other men's portfolios1 perhaps--'is'--ay1 what is he8 ,why he is1 perhaps1 a ,knight of the ,bath1 has a sumptuous mansion in ,st4 ,james's ,square1 dies full of years and honor1 has a pompous funeral1 and fears only some such epitaph as this--',here lies1 in a red ribbon1 the man who built a great prosperity on the basis of a great knavery4' ,i complain heavily of ,mr4 ,taylor1 the very able unmasker of ,junius1 for blinking the whole questions ,b and ,c4 ,he it is that has settled the question ,a1 so that it will never be re-opened by a man of sense4 ,a man who doubts1 after really reading ,mr4 ,taylor's work1 is not only a blockhead1 but an irreclaimable blockhead4 ,it is true that several men1 among them ,lord ,brougham1 whom ,schlosser 7though hating him1 and kicking him7 cites1 still profess scepticism4 ,but the reason is evident3 they have not read the book1 they have only heard of it4 ,they are unacquainted with the strongest arguments1 and even with the nature of the evidence4 #aa ,lord ,brougham1 indeed1 is generally reputed to have reviewed ,mr4 ,taylor's book4 ,that may be3 it is probable enough3 what ,i am denying is not at all that ,lord ,brougham reviewed ,mr4 ,taylor1 but that ,lord ,brougham read ,mr4 ,taylor4 ,and there is not much wonder in that1 when we see professed writers on the subject--bulky writers--writers of ,answers and ,refutations1 dispensing with the whole of ,mr4 ,taylor's book1 single paragraphs of which would have forced them to cancel their own4 ,the possibility of scepticism1 after really reading ,mr4 ,taylor's book1 would be the strongest exemplification upon record of ,sancho's proverbial reproach1 that a man 'wanted better bread than was made of wheat--' would be the old case renewed from the scholastic grumblers 'that some men do not know when they are answered4' ,they have got their quietus1 and they still continue to 'maunder' on with objections long since disposed of4 ,in fact1 it is not too strong a thing to say--and ,chief ,justice ,dallas did say something like it--that if ,mr4 ,taylor is not right1 if ,sir ,philip ,francis is not ,junius1 then was no man ever yet hanged on sufficient evidence4 ,even confession is no absolute proof4 ,even confessing to a crime1 the man may be mad4 ,well1 but at least seeing is believing3 if the court sees a man commit an assault1 will not that suffice8 ,not at all3 ocular delusions on the largest scale are common4 ,what's a court8 ,lawyers have no better eyes than other people4 ,their physics are often out of repair1 and whole cities have been known to see things that could have no existence4 ,now1 all other evidence is held to be short of this blank seeing or blank confessing4 ,but ,i am not at all sure of that4 ,circumstantial evidence1 that multiplies indefinitely its points of internexus with known admitted facts1 is more impressive than direct testimony4 ,if you detect a fellow with a large sheet of lead that by many 7to wit seventy7 salient angles1 that by tedious 7to wit thirty7 reentrant angles1 fits into and owns its sisterly relationship to all that is left of the lead upon your roof--this tight fit will weigh more with a jury than even if my lord chief justice should jump into the witness-box1 swearing that1 with judicial eyes1 he saw the vagabond cutting the lead whilst he himself sat at breakfast2 or even than if the vagabond should protest before this honorable court that he did cut the lead1 in order that he 7the said vagabond7 might have hot rolls and coffee as well as my lord1 the witness4 ,if ,mr4 ,taylor's body of evidence does not hold water1 then is there no evidence extant upon any question1 judicial or not judicial1 that will4 ,but ,i blame ,mr4 ,taylor heavily for throwing away the whole argument applicable to ,b and ,c2 not as any debt that rested particularly upon him to public justice2 but as a debt to the integrity of his own book4 ,that book is now a fragment2 admirable as regards ,a2 but 7by omitting ,b and ,c7 not sweeping the whole area of the problem4 ,there yet remains1 therefore1 the dissatisfaction which is always likely to arise-- not from the smallest allegatio falsi1 but from the large suppressio veri4 ,b1 which1 on any other solution than the one ,i have proposed1 is perfectly unintelligible1 now becomes plain enough4 ,to imagine a heavy1 coarse1 hard-working government1 seriously affected by such a bauble as they would consider performances on the tight rope of style1 is mere midsummer madness4 ',hold your absurd tongue1' would any of the ministers have said to a friend descanting on ,junius as a powerful artist of style-- 'do you dream1 dotard1 that this baby's rattle is the thing that keeps us from sleeping8 ,our eyes are fixed on something else3 that fellow1 whoever he is1 knows what he ought not to know2 he has had his hand in some of our pockets3 he's a good locksmith1 is that ,junius2 and before he reaches ,tyburn1 who knows what amount of mischief he may do to self and partners8' ,the rumor that ministers were themselves alarmed 7which was the naked truth7 travelled downwards2 but the why did not travel2 and the innumerable blockheads of lower circles1 not understanding the real cause of fear1 sought a false one in the supposed thunderbolts of the rhetoric4 ,opera-house thunderbolts they were3 and strange it is1 that grave men should fancy newspapers1 teeming 7as they have always done7 with ,publicolas1 with ,catos1 with ,algernon ,sidneys1 able by such trivial small shot to gain a moment's attention from the potentates of ,downing ,street4 ,those who have despatches to write1 councils to attend1 and votes of the ,commons to manage1 think little of ,junius ,brutus4 ,a ,junius ,brutus1 that dares not sign by his own honest name1 is presumably skulking from his creditors4 ,a ,timoleon1 who hints at assassination in a newspaper1 one may take it for granted1 is a manufacturer of begging letters4 ,and it is a conceivable case that a twenty pound note1 enclosed to ,timoleon's address1 through the newspaper office1 might go far to soothe that great patriot's feelings1 and even to turn aside his avenging dagger4 ,these sort of people were not the sort to frighten a ,british ,ministry4 ,one laughs at the probable conversation between an old hunting squire coming up to comfort the ,first ,lord of the ,treasury1 on the rumor that he was panic-struck4 ',what1 surely1 my dear old friend1 you're not afraid of ,timoleon8' ,first ,lord4--',yes1 ,i am4' ,c4 ,gent4--',what1 afraid of an anonymous fellow in the papers8' ,f4 ,l4--',yes1 dreadfully4' ,c4 ,gent4--',why1 ,i always understood that these people were a sort of shams--living in ,grub ,street--or where was it that ,pope used to tell us they lived8 ,surely you're not afraid of ,timoleon1 because some people think he's a patriot8' ,f4 ,l4--',no1 not at all2 but ,i am afraid because some people think he's a housebreaker6' ,in that character only could ,timoleon become formidable to a ,cabinet ,minister2 and in some such character must our friend1 ,junius ,brutus1 have made himself alarming to ,government4 ,from the moment that ,b is properly explained1 it throws light upon ,c4 ,the ,government was alarmed--not at such moonshine as patriotism1 or at a soap-bubble of rhetoric--but because treachery was lurking amongst their own households3 and1 if the thing went on1 the consequences might be appalling4 ,but this domestic treachery1 which accounts for ,b1 accounts at the same time for ,c4 ,the very same treachery that frightened its objects at the time by the consequences it might breed1 would frighten its author afterwards from claiming its literary honors by the remembrances it might awaken4 ,the mysterious disclosures of official secrets1 which had once roused so much consternation within a limited circle1 and 7like the ,french affair of the diamond necklace7 had sunk into neglect only when all clue seemed lost for perfectly unravelling its would revive in all its interest when a discovery came before the public1 viz41 a claim on the part of ,francis to have written the famous letters1 which must at the same time point a strong light upon the true origin of the treacherous disclosures4 ,some astonishment had always existed as to ,francis--how he rose so suddenly into rank and station3 some astonishment always existed as to ,junius1 how he should so suddenly have fallen asleep as a writer in the journals4 ,the coincidence of this sudden and unaccountable silence with the sudden and unaccountable ,indian appointment of ,francis2 the extraordinary familiarity of ,junius1 which had not altogether escaped notice1 with the secrets of one particular office1 viz41 the ,war ,office2 the sudden recollection1 sure to flash upon all who remembered ,francis1 if again he should become revived into suspicion1 that he had held a situation of trust in that particular ,war ,office2 all these little recollections would begin to take up their places in a connected story3 this and that1 laid together1 would become clear as day-light2 and to the keen eyes of still surviving enemies--,horne ,tooke1 'little ,chamier1' ,ellis1 the ,fitzroy1 ,russell1 and ,murray houses--the whole progress and catastrophe of the scoundrelism1 the perfidy and the profits of the perfidy1 would soon become as intelligible as any tale of midnight burglary from without1 in concert with a wicked butler within1 that was ever sifted by judge and jury at the ,old ,bailey1 or critically reviewed by ,mr4 ,john ,ketch at ,tyburn4 ,francis was the man4 ,francis was the wicked butler within1 whom ,pharaoh ought to have hanged1 but whom he clothed in royal apparel1 and mounted upon a horse that carried him to a curule chair of honor4 ,so far his burglary prospered4 ,but1 as generally happens in such cases1 this prosperous crime subsequently avenged itself4 ,by a just retribution1 the success of ,junius1 in two senses so monstrously exaggerated--exaggerated by a romantic over-estimate of its intellectual power through an error of the public1 not admitted to the secret--and equally exaggerated as to its political power by the government in the hush-money for its future suppression1 became the heaviest curse of the successful criminal4 ,this criminal thirsted for literary distinction above all other distinction1 with a childish eagerness1 as for the amrecta cup of immortality4 ,and1 behold6 there the brilliant bauble lay1 glittering in the sands of a solitude1 unclaimed by any man2 disputed with him 7if he chose to claim it7 by nobody2 and yet for his life he durst not touch it4 ,he stood--he knew that he stood--in the situation of a murderer who has dropt an inestimable jewel upon the murdered body in the death-struggle with his victim4 ,the jewel is his6 ,nobody will deny it4 ,he may have it for asking4 ,but to ask is his death-warrant4 ',oh yes6' would be the answer1 'here's your jewel1 wrapt up safely in tissue paper4 ,but here's another lot that goes along with it--no bidder can take them apart--viz4 a halter1 also wrapt up in tissue paper4' ,francis1 in relation to ,junius1 was in that exact predicament4 ',you are ,junius8 ,you are that famous man who has been missing since #aggb8 ,and you can prove it8 ,god bless me6 sir2 what a long time you've been sleeping3 every body's gone to bed4 ,well1 then1 you are an exceedingly clever fellow1 that have had the luck to be thought ten times more clever than really you were4 ,and also1 you are the greatest scoundrel that at this hour rests in ,europe unhanged6'--,francis died1 and made no sign4 ,peace of mind he had parted with for a peacock's feather1 which feather1 living or dying1 he durst not mount in the plumage of his cap4 ,,footnotes #a ,even ,pope1 with all his natural and reasonable interest in aristocratic society1 could not shut his eyes to the fact that a jest in his mouth became twice a jest in a lord's4 ,but still he failed to perceive what ,i am here contending for1 that if the jest happened to miss fire1 through the misfortune of bursting its barrel1 the consequences would be far worse for the lord than the commoner4 ,there is1 you see1 a blind sort of compensation4 #b ,mr4 ,schlosser1 who speaks ,english1 who has read rather too much ,english for any good that he has turned it to1 and who ought to have a keen eye for the ,english version of his own book1 after so much reading and study of it1 has1 however1 overlooked several manifest errors4 ,i do not mean to tax ,mr4 ,davison with1 general inaccuracy4 ,on the contrary1 he seems wary1 and in most cases successful as a dealer with the peculiarities of the ,german4 ,but several cases of error ,i detect without needing the original3 they tell their own story4 ,and one of these ,i here notice1 not only for its own importance1 but out of love to ,schlosser1 and by way of nailing his guarantee to the counter--not altogether as a bad shilling1 but as a light one4 ,at p4 #e of vol4 #b1 in a foot-note1 which is speaking of ,kant1 we read of his attempt to introduce the notion of negative greatness into ,philosophy4 ,negative greatness6 ,what strange bird may that be8 ,is it the ornithorynchus paradoxus8 ,mr4 ,schlosser was not wide awake there4 ,the reference is evidently to ,kant's essay upon the advantages of introducing into philosophy the algebraic idea of negative quantities4 ,it is one of ,kant's grandest gleams into hidden truth4 ,were it only for the merits of this most masterly essay in reconstituting the algebraic meaning of a negative quantity so generally misunderstood as a negation of quantity1 and which even ,sir ,isaac ,newton misconstrued as regarded its metaphysics1 great would have been the service rendered to logic by ,kant4 ,but there is a greater4 ,from this little brochure ,i am satisfied was derived originally the ,german regeneration of the ,dynamic philosophy1 its expansion through the idea of polarity1 indifference1 c4 ,oh1 ,mr4 ,schlosser1 you had not gepruft p4 #e of vol4 #b4 ,you skipped the notes4 #c ',little nurse3'--the word ,glumdalclitch1 in ,brobdingnagian1 absolutely means little nurse1 and nothing else4 ,it may seem odd that the captain should call any nurse of ,brobdingnag1 however kind to him1 by such an epithet as little2 and the reader may fancy that ,sherwood forest had put it into his head1 where ,robin ,hood always called his right hand man ',little ,john1' not although1 but expressly because ,john stood seven feet high in his stockings4 ,but the truth is--that ,glumdalclitch was little2 and literally so2 she was only nine years old1 and 7says the captain7 'little of her age1' being barely forty feet high4 ,she had time to grow certainly1 but as she had so much to do before she could overtake other women1 it is probable that she would turn out what1 in ,westmoreland1 they call a1 little stiffenger--very little1 if at all1 higher than a common ,english church steeple4 #d4 ',activity1'--,it is some sign of this1 as well as of the more thoroughly ,english taste in literature which distinguished ,steele1 that hardly twice throughout the ',spectator' is ,shakspeare quoted or alluded to by ,addison4 ,even these quotations he had from the theatre1 or the breath of popular talk4 ,generally1 if you see a line from ,shakspeare1 it is safe to bet largely that the paper is ,steele's2 sometimes1 indeed1 of casual contributors2 but1 almost to a certainty1 not a paper of ,addison's4 ,another mark of ,steele's superiority in vigor of intellect is1 that much oftener in him than in other contributors strong thoughts came forward2 harsh and disproportioned1 perhaps1 to the case1 and never harmoniously developed with the genial grace of ,addison1 but original1 and pregnant with promise and suggestion4 #e ',letters of ,joseph ,mede1' published more than twenty years ago by ,sir ,henry ,ellis4 #f ,it is an idea of many people1 and erroneously sanctioned by ,wordsworth1 that ,lord ,somers gave a powerful lift to the ',paradise ,lost4' ,he was a subscriber to the sixth edition1 the first that had plates2 but this was some years before the ,revolution of #afhh1 and when he was simply ,mr4 ,somers1 a barrister1 with no effectual power of patronage4 #g ',milton1 ,mr4 ,john3'--,dr4 ,johnson expressed his wrath1 in an amusing way1 at some bookseller's hack who1 when employed to make an index1 introduced ,milton's name among the ,m's1 under the civil title of-- ',milton1 ,mr4 ,john4' #h ',louis ,baboon3'--,as people read nothing in these days that is more than forty-eight hours old1 ,i am daily admonished that allusions the most obvious to anything in the rear of our own time1 needs explanation4 ,louis ,baboon is ,swift's jesting name for ,louis ,bourbon1 i4e41 ,louis ,,xiv4 #i ',of his ,,mss43'--,and1 if all that ,i have heard be true1 much has somebody to answer for1 that so little has been yet published4 ,the two executors of ,burke were ,dr4 ,lawrence1 of ,doctors' ,commons1 a well-known ,m4 ,p4 in forgotten days1 and ,windham1 a man too like ,burke in elasticity of mind ever to be spoken of in connection with forgotten things4 ,which of them was to blame1 ,i know not4 ,but ,mr4 ,r4 ,sharpe1 ,m4 ,p41 twenty-five years ago1 well known as ,river ,sharpe1 from the ,greek3 aperantologia of his conversation1 used to say1 that one or both of the executors had offered him 7the river7 a huge travelling trunk1 perhaps an ,imperial or a ,salisbury boot 7equal to the wardrobe of a family71 filled with ,burke's ,,mss41 on the simple condition of editing them with proper annotations4 ,an ,oxford man1 and also the celebrated ,mr4 ,christian ,curwen1 then member for ,cumberland1 made1 in my hearing1 the same report4 ,the ,oxford man1 in particular1 being questioned as to the probable amount of ,,ms41 deposed1 that he could not speak upon oath to the cubical contents2 but this he could say1 that1 having stripped up his coat sleeve1 he had endeavored1 by such poor machinery as nature had allowed him1 to take the soundings of the trunk1 but apparently there were none2 with his middle finger he could find no bottom2 for it was stopped by a dense stratum of ,,ms42 below which1 you know1 other strata might lie ad infinitum4 ,for anything proved to the contrary1 the trunk might be bottomless4 #aj ,a man in ,fox's situation is sure1 whilst living1 to draw after him trains of sycophants2 and it is the evil necessity of newspapers the most independent1 that they must swell the mob of sycophants4 ,the public compels them to exaggerate the true proportions of such people as we see every hour in our own day4 ,those who1 for the moment1 modify1 or may modify the national condition1 become preposterous idols in the eyes of the gaping public2 but with the sad necessity of being too utterly trodden under foot after they are shelved1 unless they live in men's memory by something better than speeches in ,parliament4 ,having the usual fate1 ,fox was complimented1 whilst living1 on his knowledge of ,homeric ,greek1 which was a jest3 he knew neither more nor less of ,homer1 than1 fortunately1 most ,english gentlemen of his rank2 quite enough that is to read the ',iliad' with unaffected pleasure1 far too little to revise the text of any three lines1 without making himself ridiculous4 ,the excessive slenderness of his general literature1 ,english and ,french1 may be seen in the letters published by his ,secretary1 ,trotter4 ,but his fragment of a ,history1 published by ,lord ,holland1 at two guineas1 and currently sold for two shillings 7not two pence1 or else ,i have been defrauded of #as4 #aj;d471 most of all proclaims the tenuity of his knowledge4 ,he looks upon ,malcolm ,laing as a huge oracle2 and1 having read even less than ,hume1 a thing not very easy1 with great naivete1 cannot guess where ,hume picked up his facts4 #aa ,even in ,dr4 ,francis's ,translation of ,select ,speeches from ,demosthenes1 which ,lord ,brougham naturally used a little in his own labors on that theme1 there may be traced several peculiarities of diction that startle us in ,junius4 ,sir ,p4 had them from his father4 ,and ,lord ,brougham ought not to have overlooked them4 ,the same thing may be seen in the notes to ,dr4 ,francis's translation of ,horace4 ,these points1 though not independently of much importance1 become far more so in combination with others4 ,the reply made to me once by a publisher of some eminence upon this question1 was the best fitted to lower ,mr4 ,taylor's investigation with a stranger to the long history of the dispute4 ',i feel1' he said1 'the impregnability of the case made out by ,mr4 ,taylor4 ,but the misfortune is1 that ,i have seen so many previous impregnable cases made out for other claimants4' ,ay1 that would be unfortunate4 ,but the misfortune for this repartee was1 that ,i1 for whose use it was intended1 not being in the predicament of a stranger to the dispute1 having seen every page of the pleadings1 knew all 7except ,mr4 ,taylor's7 to be false in their statements2 after which their arguments signified nothing4 ,,the ,,antigone ,,of ,,sophocles1 ,,as ,,represented ,,on ,,the ,,edinburgh ,,stage4 ,every thing in our days is new4 ,roads1 for instance1 which1 being formerly 'of the earth earthy1' and therefore perishable1 are now iron1 and next door to being immortal2 tragedies1 which are so entirely new1 that neither we nor our fathers1 through eighteen hundred and ninety odd years1 gone by1 since ,caesar did our little island the honor to sit upon its skirts1 have ever seen the like to this ',antigone2' and1 finally1 even more new are readers1 who1 being once an obedient race of men1 most humble and deferential in the presence of a ,greek scholar1 are now become intractably mutinous2 keep their hats on whilst he is addressing them2 and listen to him or not1 as he seems to talk sense or nonsense4 ,some there are1 however1 who look upon all these new things as being intensely old4 ,yet1 surely the railroads are new8 ,no2 not at all4 ,talus1 the iron man in ,spenser1 who continually ran round the island of ,crete1 administering gentle warning and correction to offenders1 by flooring them with an iron flail1 was a very ancient personage in ,greek fable2 and the received opinion is1 that he must have been a ,cretan railroad1 called ,the ,great ,circular ,coast-,line1 that carried my lords the judges on their circuits of jail-delivery4 ,the ',antigone1' again1 that wears the freshness of morning dew1 and is so fresh and dewy in the beautiful person of ,miss ,faucit1 had really begun to look faded on the ,athenian stage1 and even 'of a certain age1' about the death of ,pericles1 whose meridian year was the year #ddd before ,christ4 ,lastly1 these modern readers1 that are so obstinately rebellious to the once ,papal authority of ,greek1 they--,no2 on consideration1 they are new4 ,antiquity produced many monsters1 but none like them4 ,the truth is1 that this vast multiplication of readers1 within the last twenty-five years1 has changed the prevailing character of readers4 ,the minority has become the overwhelming majority3 the quantity has disturbed the quality4 ,formerly1 out of every five readers1 at least four were1 in some degree1 classical scholars3 or1 if that would be saying too much1 if two of the four had 'small ,latin and less ,greek1' they were generally connected with those who had more1 or at the worst1 who had much reverence for ,latin1 and more reverence for ,greek4 ,if they did not all share in the services of the temple1 all1 at least1 shared in the superstition4 ,but1 now-a-days1 the readers come chiefly from a class of busy people who care very little for ancestral crazes4 ,latin they have heard of1 and some of them know it as a good sort of industrious language1 that even1 in modern times1 has turned out many useful books1 astronomical1 medical1 philosophical1 and 7as ,mrs4 ,malaprop observes7 diabolical2 but1 as to ,greek1 they think of it as of an ancient mummy3 you spend an infinity of time in unswathing it from its old dusty wrappers1 and1 when you have come to the end1 what do you find for your pains8 ,a woman's face1 or a baby's1 that certainly is not the better for being three thousand years old2 and perhaps a few ears of wheat1 stolen from ,pharaoh's granary2 which wheat1 when sown #a in ,norfolk or ,mid-,lothian1 reaped1 thrashed1 ground1 baked1 and hunted through all sorts of tortures1 yields a breakfast roll that 7as a ,scottish baker observed to me7 is 'not just that bad4' ,certainly not3 not exactly 'that bad2' not worse than the worst of our own2 but still1 much fitter for ,pharaoh's breakfast-table than for ours4 ,i1 for my own part1 stand upon an isthmus1 connecting me1 at one terminus1 with the rebels against ,greek1 and1 at the other1 with those against whom they are in rebellion4 ,on the one hand1 it seems shocking to me1 who am steeped to the lips in antique prejudices1 that ,greek1 in unlimited quantities1 should not secure a limited privilege of talking nonsense4 ,is all reverence extinct for old1 and ivy-mantled1 and worm-eaten things8 ,surely1 if your own grandmother lectures on morals1 which perhaps now and then she does1 she will command that reverence from you1 by means of her grandmotherhood1 which by means of her ethics she might not4 ,to be a good ,grecian1 is now to be a faded potentate2 a sort of phantom ,mogul1 sitting at ,delhi1 with an ,english sepoy bestriding his shoulders4 ,matched against the master of ologies1 in our days1 the most accomplished of ,grecians is becoming what the 'master of sentences' had become long since1 in competition with the political economist4 ,yet1 be assured1 reader1 that all the 'ologies' hitherto christened oology1 ichthyology1 ornithology1 conchology1 palaeodontology1 c41 do not furnish such mines of labor as does the ,greek language when thoroughly searched4 ,the ',mithridates' of ,adelung1 improved by the commentaries of ,vater and of subsequent authors1 numbers up about four thousand languages and jargons on our polyglot earth2 not including the chuckling of poultry1 nor caterwauling1 nor barking1 howling1 braying1 lowing1 nor other respectable and ancient dialects1 that perhaps have their elegant and their vulgar varieties1 as well as prouder forms of communication4 ,but my impression is1 that the ,greek1 taken by itself1 this one exquisite language1 considered as a quarry of intellectual labor1 has more work in it1 is more truly a piece de resistance1 than all the remaining three thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine1 with caterwauling thrown into the bargain4 ,so far ,i side with the ,grecian1 and think that he ought to be honored with a little genuflexion4 ,yet1 on the other hand1 the finest sound on this earth1 and which rises like an orchestra above all the uproars of earth1 and the ,babels of earthly languages1 is truth--absolute truth2 and the hatefulest is conscious falsehood4 ,now1 there is falsehood1 nay 7which seems strange71 even sycophancy1 in the old undistinguishing homage to all that is called classical4 ,yet why should men be sycophants in cases where they must be disinterested8 ,sycophancy grows out of fear1 or out of mercenary self-interest4 ,but what can there exist of either pointing to an old ,greek poet8 ,cannot a man give his free opinion upon ,homer1 without fearing to be waylaid by his ghost8 ,but it is not that which startles him from publishing the secret demur which his heart prompts1 upon hearing false praises of a ,greek poet1 or praises which1 if not false1 are extravagant4 ,what he fears1 is the scorn of his contemporaries4 ,let once a party have formed itself considerable enough to protect a man from the charge of presumption in throwing off the yoke of servile allegiance to all that is called classical1--let it be a party ever so small numerically1 and the rebels will soon be many4 ,what a man fears is1 to affront the whole storm of indignation1 real and affected1 in his own solitary person4 ',goth6' ',vandal6' he hears from every side4 ,break that storm by dividing it1 and he will face its anger4 ',let me be a ,goth1' he mutters to himself1 'but let me not dishonor myself by affecting an enthusiasm which my heart rejects6' ,ever since the restoration of letters there has been a cabal1 an academic interest1 a factious league amongst universities1 and learned bodies1 and individual scholars1 for exalting as something superterrestrial1 and quite unapproachable by moderns1 the monuments of ,greek literature4 ,france1 in the time of ,louis ,,xiv41 ,england1 in the latter part of that time2 in fact1 each country as it grew polished at some cost of strength1 carried this craze to a dangerous excess--dangerous as all things false are dangerous1 and depressing to the aspirations of genius4 ,boileau1 for instance1 and ,addison1 though neither #b of them accomplished in scholarship1 nor either of them extensively read in any department of the classic literature1 speak every where of the classics as having notoriously1 and by the general confession of polished nations1 carried the functions of poetry and eloquence to that sort of faultless beauty which probably does really exist in the ,greek sculpture4 ,there are few things perfect in this world of frailty4 ,even lightning is sometimes a failure3 ,niagara has horrible faults2 and ,mont ,blanc might be improved by a century of chiselling from judicious artists4 ,such are the works of blind elements1 which 7poor things67 cannot improve by experience4 ,as to man who does1 the sculpture of the ,greeks in their marbles and sometimes in their gems1 seems the only act of his workmanship which has hit the bull's eye in the target at which we are all aiming4 ,not so1 with permission from ,messrs4 ,boileau and ,addison1 the ,greek literature4 ,the faults in this are often conspicuous2 nor are they likely to be hidden for the coming century1 as they have been for the three last4 ,the idolatry will be shaken3 as idols1 some of the classic models are destined to totter3 and ,i foresee1 without gifts of prophecy1 that many laborers will soon be in this field--many idoloclasts1 who will expose the signs of disease1 which zealots had interpreted as power2 and of weakness1 which is not the less real because scholars had fancied it health1 nor the less injurious to the total effect because it was inevitable under the accidents of the ,grecian position4 ,meantime1 ,i repeat1 that to disparage any thing whatever1 or to turn the eye upon blemishes1 is no part of my present purpose4 ,nor could it be3 since the one sole section of the ,greek literature1 as to which ,i profess myself an enthusiast1 happens to be the tragic drama2 and here1 only1 ,i myself am liable to be challenged as an idolater4 ,as regards the ,antigone in particular1 so profoundly do ,i feel the impassioned beauty of her situation in connection with her character1 that long ago1 in a work of my own 7yet unpublished71 having occasion 7by way of overture introducing one of the sections7 to cite before the reader's eye the chief pomps of the ,grecian theatre1 after invoking 'the magnificent witch' ,medea1 ,i call up ,antigone to this shadowy stage by the apostrophe1 ,holy heathen1 daughter of ,god1 before ,god was known1 #c flower from ,paradise after ,paradise was closed2 that quitting all things for which flesh languishes1 safety and honor1 a palace and a home1 didst make thyself a houseless pariah1 lest the poor pariah king1 thy outcast father1 should want a hand to lead him in his darkness1 or a voice to whisper comfort in his misery2 angel1 that badst depart for ever the glories of thy own bridal day1 lest he that had shared thy nursery in childhood1 should want the honors of a funeral2 idolatrous1 yet ,christian ,lady1 that in the spirit of martyrdom trodst alone the yawning billows of the grave1 flying from earthly hopes1 lest everlasting despair should settle upon the grave of thy brother1' c4 ,in fact1 though all the groupings1 and what ,i would call permanent attitudes of the ,grecian stage1 are majestic1 there is none that1 to my mind1 towers into such affecting grandeur1 as this final revelation1 through ,antigone herself1 and through her own dreadful death1 of the tremendous wo that destiny had suspended over her house4 ,if therefore my business had been chiefly with the individual drama1 ,i should have found little room for any sentiment but that of profound admiration4 ,but my present business is different3 it concerns the ,greek drama generally1 and the attempt to revive it2 and its object is to elucidate1 rather than to praise or to blame4 ,to explain this better1 ,i will describe two things3--#ast1 ,the sort of audience that ,i suppose myself to be addressing2 and1 #b;dly1 ,as growing out of that1 the particular quality of the explanations which ,i wish to make4 #ast1 ,as to the audience3 in order to excuse the tone 7which occasionally ,i may be obliged to assume7 of one speaking as from a station of knowledge1 to others having no knowledge1 ,i beg it to be understood1 that ,i take that station deliberately1 on no conceit of superiority to my readers1 but as a companion adapting my services to the wants of those who need them4 ,i am not addressing those already familiar with the ,greek drama1 but those who frankly confess1 and 7according to their conjectural appreciation of it7 who regret their non-familiarity with that drama4 ,it is a thing well known to publishers1 through remarkable results1 and is now showing itself on a scale continually widening1 that a new literary public has arisen1 very different from any which existed at the beginning of this century4 ,the aristocracy of the land have always been1 in a moderate degree1 literary2 less1 however1 in connection with the current literature1 than with literature generally--past as well as present4 ,and this is a tendency naturally favored and strengthened in them1 by the fine collections of books1 carried forward through successive generations1 which are so often found as a sort of hereditary foundation in the country mansions of our nobility4 ,but a class of readers1 prodigiously more extensive1 has formed itself within the commercial orders of our great cities and manufacturing districts4 ,these orders range through a large scale4 ,the highest classes amongst them were always literary4 ,but the interest of literature has now swept downwards through a vast compass of descents3 and this large body1 though the busiest in the nation1 yet1 by having under their undisturbed command such leisure time as they have at all under their command1 are eventually able to read more than those even who seem to have nothing else but leisure4 ,in justice1 however1 to the nobility of our land1 it should be remembered1 that their stations in society1 and their wealth1 their territorial duties1 and their various public duties in ,london1 as at court1 at public meetings1 in parliament1 c41 bring crowded claims upon their time2 whilst even sacrifices of time to the graceful courtesies of life1 are in reference to their stations1 a sort of secondary duties4 ,these allowances made1 it still remains true that the busier classes are the main reading classes2 whilst from their immense numbers1 they are becoming effectually the body that will more and more impress upon the moving literature its main impulse and direction4 ,one other feature of difference there is amongst this commercial class of readers3 amongst the aristocracy all are thoroughly educated1 excepting those who go at an early age into the army2 of the commercial body1 none receive an elaborate1 and what is meant by a liberal education1 except those standing by their connections in the richest classes4 ,thus it happens that1 amongst those who have not inherited but achieved their stations1 many men of fine and powerful understandings1 accomplished in manners1 and admirably informed1 not having had the benefits when young of a regular classical education1 find 7upon any accident bringing up such subjects7 a deficiency which they do not find on other subjects4 ,they are too honorable to undervalue advantages1 which they feel to be considerable1 simply because they were denied to themselves4 ,they regret their loss4 ,and yet it seems hardly worth while1 on a simple prospect of contingencies that may never be realized1 to undertake an entirely new course of study for redressing this loss4 ,but they would be glad to avail themselves of any useful information not exacting study4 ,these are the persons1 this is the class1 to which ,i address my remarks on the ',antigone2' and out of their particular situation1 suggesting upon all elevated subjects a corresponding tone of liberal curiosity1 will arise the particular nature and direction of these remarks4 ,accordingly1 ,i presume1 secondly1 that this curiosity will take the following course3--these persons will naturally wish to know1 at starting1 what there is differentially interesting in a ,grecian tragedy1 as contrasted with one of ,shakspeare's or of ,schiller's3 in what respect1 and by what agencies1 a ,greek tragedy affects us1 or is meant to affect us1 otherwise than as they do2 and how far the ,antigone of ,sophocles was judiciously chosen as the particular medium for conveying to ,british minds a first impression1 and a representative impression1 of ,greek tragedy4 ,so far1 in relation to the ends proposed1 and the means selected4 ,finally1 these persons will be curious to know the issue of such an experiment4 ,let the purposes and the means have been bad or good1 what was the actual success8 ,and not merely success1 in the sense of the momentary acceptance by half a dozen audiences1 whom the mere decencies of justice must have compelled to acknowledge the manager's trouble and expense on their behalf2 but what was the degree of satisfaction felt by students of the ,athenian #d tragedy1 in relation to their long-cherished ideal8 ,did the representation succeed in realizing1 for a moment1 the awful pageant of the ,athenian stage8 ,did ,tragedy1 in ,milton's immortal expression1 ------come sweeping by ,in sceptred pall8 ,or was the whole1 though successful in relation to the thing attempted1 a failure in relation to what ought to have been attempted8 ,such are the questions to be answered4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the first elementary idea of a ,greek tragedy1 is to be sought in a serious ,italian opera4 ,the ,greek dialogue is represented by the recitative1 and the tumultuous lyrical parts assigned chiefly1 though not exclusively1 to the chorus on the ,greek stage1 are represented by the impassioned airs1 duos1 trios1 choruses1 c4 on the ,italian4 ,and there1 at the very outset1 occurs a question which lies at the threshold of a ,fine ,art1--that is of any ,fine ,art3 for had the views of ,addison upon the ,italian opera had the least foundation in truth1 there could have been no room or opening for any mode of imitation except such as belongs to a mechanic art4 ,the reason for at all connecting ,addison with this case is1 that he chiefly was the person occupied in assailing the ,italian opera2 and this hostility arose1 probably1 in his want of sensibility to good 7that is1 to ,italian7 music4 ,but whatever might be his motive for the hostility1 the single argument by which he supported it was this1--that a hero ought not to sing upon the stage1 because no hero known to history ever summoned a garrison in a song1 or changed a battery in a semichorus4 ,in this argument lies an ignorance of the very first principle concern in every ,fine ,art4 ,in all alike1 more or less directly1 the object is to reproduce in mind some great effect1 through the agency of idem in alio4 ,the idem1 the same impression1 is to be restored2 but in alio1 in a different material1--by means of some different instrument4 ,for instance1 on the ,roman stage there was an art1 now entirely lost1 of narrating1 and1 in part of dramatically representing an impassioned tale1 by means of dancing1 of musical accompaniment in the orchestra1 and of elaborate pantomime in the performer4 ,saltavit ,hypermnestram1 he danced 7that is1 he represented by dancing and pantomime the story of7 ,hypermnestra4 ,now1 suppose a man to object1 that young ladies1 when saving their youthful husbands at midnight from assassination1 could not be capable of waltzing or quadrilling1 how wide is this of the whole problem6 ,this is still seeking for the mechanic imitation1 some imitation founded in the very fact2 whereas the object is to seek the imitation in the sameness of the impression drawn from a different1 or even from an impossible fact4 ,if a man1 taking a hint from the ,roman ',saltatio' 7saltavit ,andromachen71 should say that he would 'whistle ,waterloo1' that is1 by whistling connected with pantomime1 would express the passion and the changes of ,waterloo1 it would be monstrous to refuse him his postulate on the pretence that 'people did not whistle at ,waterloo4' ,precisely so3 neither are most people made of marble1 but of a material as different as can well be imagined1 viz4 of elastic flesh1 with warm blood coursing along its tubes2 and yet1 for all that1 a sculptor will draw tears from you1 by exhibiting1 in pure statuary marble1 on a sepulchral monument1 two young children with their little heads on a pillow1 sleeping in each other's arms2 whereas1 if he had presented them in wax-work1 which yet is far more like to flesh1 you would have felt little more pathos in the scene than if they had been shown baked in gilt gingerbread4 ,he has expressed the idem1 the identical thing expressed in the real children2 the sleep that masks death1 the rest1 the peace1 the purity1 the innocence2 but in alio1 in a substance the most different2 rigid1 non-elastic1 and as unlike to flesh1 if tried by touch1 or eye1 or by experience of life1 as can well be imagined4 ,so of the whistling4 ,it is the very worst objection in the world to say1 that the strife of ,waterloo did not reveal itself through whistling3 undoubtedly it did not2 but that is the very ground of the man's art4 ,he will reproduce the fury and the movement as to the only point which concerns you1 viz4 the effect1 upon your own sympathies1 through a language that seems without any relation to it3 he will set before you what was at ,waterloo through that which was not at ,waterloo4 ,whereas any direct factual imitation1 resting upon painted figures drest up in regimentals1 and worked by watchwork through the whole movements of the battle1 would have been no art whatsoever in the sense of a ,fine ,art1 but a base mechanic mimicry4 ,this principle of the idem in alio1 so widely diffused through all the higher revelations of art1 it is peculiarly requisite to bear in mind when looking at ,grecian tragedy1 because no form of human composition employs it in so much complexity4 ,how confounding it would have been to ,addison1 if somebody had told him1 that1 substantially1 he had himself committed the offence 7as he fancied it7 which he charged so bitterly upon the ,italian opera2 and that1 if the opera had gone farther upon that road than himself1 the ,greek tragedy1 which he presumed to be so prodigiously exalted beyond modern approaches1 had gone farther even than the opera4 ,addison himself1 when writing a tragedy1 made this violation 7as he would have said7 of nature1 made this concession 7as ,i should say7 to a higher nature1 that he compelled his characters to talk in metre4 ,it is true this metre was the common iambic1 which 7as ,aristotle remarks7 is the most natural and spontaneous of all metres2 and1 for a sufficient reason1 in all languages4 ,certainly2 but ,aristotle never meant to say that it was natural for a gentleman in a passion to talk threescore and ten iambics consecutively3 a chance line might escape him once and away2 as we know that ,tacitus opened one of his works by a regular dactylic hexameter in full curl1 without ever discovering it to his dying day 7a fact which is clear from his never having corrected it72 and this being a very artificial metre1 a fortiori ,tacitus might have slipped into a simple iambic4 ,but that was an accident1 whilst ,addison had deliberately and uniformly made his characters talk in verse4 ,according to the common and false meaning which was his own meaning of the word nature1 he had as undeniably violated the principle of the natural1 by this metrical dialogue1 as the ,italian opera by musical dialogue4 ,if it is hard and trying for men to sing their emotions1 not less so it must be to deliver them in verse4 ,but1 if this were shocking1 how much more shocking would it have seemed to ,addison1 had he been introduced to parts which really exist in the ,grecian drama8 ,even ,sophocles1 who1 of the three tragic poets surviving from the wrecks of the ,athenian stage1 is reputed the supreme artist #e if not the most impassioned poet1 with what horror he would have overwhelmed ,addison1 when read by the light of those principles which he had himself so scornfully applied to the opera6 ,in the very monsoon of his raving misery1 from calamities as sudden as they were irredeemable1 a king is introduced1 not only conversing1 but conversing in metre2 not only in metre1 but in the most elaborate of choral metres2 not only under the torture of these lyric difficulties1 but also chanting2 not only chanting1 but also in all probability dancing4 ,what do you think of that1 ,mr4 ,addison8 ,there is1 in fact1 a scale of graduated ascents in these artifices for unrealizing the effects of dramatic situations3 #a4 ,we may see1 even in novels and prose comedies1 a keen attention paid to the inspiriting and dressing of the dialogue3 it is meant to be life- like1 but still it is a little raised1 pointed1 colored1 and idealized4 #b4 ,in comedy of a higher and more poetic cast1 we find the dialogue metrical4 #c4 ,in comedy or in tragedy alike1 which is meant to be still further removed from ordinary life1 we find the dialogue fettered not only by metre1 but by rhyme4 ,we need not go to ,dryden1 and others1 of our own middle stage1 or to the ,french stage for this3 even in ,shakspeare1 as for example1 in parts of ,romeo and ,juliet 7and for no capricious purpose71 we may see effects sought from the use of rhyme4 ,there is another illustration of the idealizing effect to be obtained from a particular treatment of the dialogue1 seen in the ,hamlet of ,shakspeare4 ,in that drama there arises a necessity for exhibiting a play within a play4 ,this interior drama is to be further removed from the spectator than the principal drama2 it is a deep below a deep2 and1 to produce that effect1 the poet relies chiefly upon the stiffening the dialogue1 and removing it still farther1 than the general dialogue of the including or outside drama1 from the standard of ordinary life4 #d4 ,we find1 superadded to these artifices for idealizing the situations1 even music of an intermitting character1 sometimes less1 sometimes more impassioned--recitatives1 airs1 choruses4 ,here we have reached the ,italian opera4 #e4 ,and1 finally1 besides all these resources of art1 we find dancing introduced2 but dancing of a solemn1 mystical1 and symbolic character4 ,here1 at last1 we have reached the ,greek tragedy4 ,probably the best exemplification of a ,grecian tragedy that ever will be given to a modern reader is found in the ,samson ,agonistes of ,milton4 ,now1 in the choral or lyric parts of this fine drama1 ,samson not only talks1 #ast1 metrically 7 as he does every where1 and in the most level parts of the scenic business71 but1 #b;d1 in very intricate metres1 and1 #c;d1 occasionally in rhymed metres 7though the rhymes are too sparingly and too capriciously scattered by ,milton71 and1 #dth1 singing or chanting these metres 7for1 as the chorus sang1 it was impossible that he could be allowed to talk in his ordinary voice1 else he would have put them out1 and ruined the music74 ,finally1 #eth1 ,i am satisfied that ,milton meant him to dance4 ,the office of the chorus was imperfectly defined upon the ,greek stage4 ,they are generally understood to be the moralizers of the scene4 ,but this is liable to exceptions4 ,some of them have been known to do very bad things on the stage1 and to come within a trifle of felony3 as to misprision of felony1 if there is such a crime1 a ,greek chorus thinks nothing of it4 ,but that is no business of mine4 ,what ,i was going to say is1 that1 as the chorus sometimes intermingles too much in the action1 so the actors sometimes intermingle in the business of the chorus4 ,now1 when you are at ,rome1 you must do as they do at ,rome4 ,and that the actor1 who mixed with the chorus1 was compelled to sing1 is a clear case2 for his part in the choral ode is always in the nature of an echo1 or answer1 or like an antiphony in cathedral services4 ,but nothing could be more absurd than that one of these antiphonies should be sung1 and another said4 ,that he was also compelled to dance1 ,i am satisfied4 ,the chorus only sometimes moralized1 but it always danced3 and any actor1 mingling with the chorus1 must dance also4 ,a little incident occurs to my remembrance1 from the ,moscow expedition of #ahab1 which may here be used as an illustration3 ,one day ,king ,murat1 flourishing his plumage as usual1 made a gesture of invitation to some squadrons of cavalry that they should charge the enemy3 upon which the cavalry advanced1 but maliciously contrived to envelope the king of dandies1 before he had time to execute his ordinary manoeuvre of riding off to the left and becoming a spectator of their prowess4 ,the cavalry resolved that his majesty should for once ride down at their head to the melee1 and taste what fighting was like2 and he1 finding that the thing must be1 though horribly vexed1 made a merit of his necessity1 and afterwards pretended that he liked it very much4 ,sometimes1 in the darkness1 in default of other misanthropic visions1 the wickedness of this cavalry1 their mechancete1 causes me to laugh immoderately4 ,now ,i conceive that any interloper into the ,greek chorus must have danced when they danced1 or he would have been swept away by their impetus3 nolens volens1 he must have rode along with the orchestral charge1 he must have rode on the crest of the choral billows1 or he would have been rode down by their impassioned sweep4 ,samson1 and ,oedipus1 and others1 must have danced1 if they sang2 and they certainly did sing1 by notoriously intermingling in the choral business4#f ',but now1' says the plain ,english reader1 'what was the object of all these elaborate devices8 ,and how came it that the ,english tragedy1 which surely is as good as the ,greek1' 7and at this point a devil of defiance whispers to him1 like the quarrelsome servant of the ,capulets or the ,montagus1 'say better1'7 'that the ,english tragedy contented itself with fewer of these artful resources than the ,athenian8' ,i reply1 that the object of all these things was--to unrealize the scene4 ,the ,english drama1 by its metrical dress1 and by other arts more disguised1 unrealized itself1 liberated itself from the oppression of life in its ordinary standards1 up to a certain height4 ,why it did not rise still higher1 and why the ,grecian did1 ,i will endeavor to explain4 ,it was not that the ,english tragedy was less impassioned2 on the contrary1 it was far more so2 the ,greek being awful rather than impassioned2 but the passion of each is in a different key4 ,it is not again that the ,greek drama sought a lower object than the ,english3 it sought a different object4 ,it is not imparity1 but disparity1 that divides the two magnificent theatres4 ,suffer me1 reader1 at this point1 to borrow from my-self1 and do not betray me to the authorities that rule in this journal1 if you happen to know which is not likely that ,i am taking an idea from a paper which years ago ,i wrote for an eminent literary journal4 ,as ,i have no copy of that paper before me1 it is impossible that ,i should save myself any labor of writing4 ,the words at any rate ,i must invent afresh3 and1 as to the idea1 you never can be such a churlish man as1 by insisting on a new one1 in effect to insist upon my writing a false one4 ,in the following paragraph1 therefore1 ,i give the substance of a thought suggested by myself some years ago4 ,that kind of feeling1 which broods over the ,grecian tragedy1 and to court which feeling the tragic poets of ,greece naturally spread all their canvas1 was more nearly allied to the atmosphere of death than that of life4 ,this expresses rudely the character of awe and religious horror investing the ,greek theatre4 ,but to my own feeling the different principle of passion which governs the ,grecian conception of tragedy1 as compared with the ,english1 is best conveyed by saying that the ,grecian is a breathing from the world of sculpture1 the ,english a breathing from the world of painting4 ,what we read in sculpture is not absolutely death1 but still less is it the fulness of life4 ,we read there the abstraction of a life that reposes1 the sublimity of a life that aspires1 the solemnity of a life that is thrown to an infinite distance4 ,this last is the feature of sculpture which seems most characteristic3 the form which presides in the most commanding groups1 'is not dead but sleepeth3' true1 but it is the sleep of a life sequestrated1 solemn1 liberated from the bonds of space and time1 and 7as to both alike7 thrown 7,i repeat the words7 to a distance which is infinite4 ,it affects us profoundly1 but not by agitation4 ,now1 on the other hand1 the breathing life--life kindling1 trembling1 palpitating--that life which speaks to us in painting1 this is also the life that speaks to us in ,english tragedy4 ,into an ,english tragedy even festivals of joy may enter2 marriages1 and baptisms1 or commemorations of national trophies3 which1 or any thing like which1 is incompatible with the very being of the ,greek4 ,in that tragedy what uniformity of gloom2 in the ,english what light alternating with depths of darkness6 ,the ,greek1 how mournful2 the ,english1 how tumultuous6 ,even the catastrophes how different6 ,in the ,greek we see a breathless waiting for a doom that cannot be evaded2 a waiting1 as it were1 for the last shock of an earthquake1 or the inexorable rising of a deluge3 in the ,english it is like a midnight of shipwreck1 from which up to the last and till the final ruin comes1 there still survives the sort of hope that clings to human energies4 ,connected with this original awfulness of the ,greek tragedy1 and possibly in part its cause1 or at least lending strength to its cause1 we may next remark the grand dimensions of the ancient theatres4 ,every citizen had a right to accommodation4 ,there at once was a pledge of grandeur4 ,out of this original standard grew the magnificence of many a future amphitheatre1 circus1 hippodrome4 ,had the original theatre been merely a speculation of private interest1 then1 exactly as demand arose1 a corresponding supply would have provided for it through its ordinary vulgar channels2 and this supply would have taken place through rival theatres4 ,but the crushing exaction of 'room for every citizen1' put an end to that process of subdivision4 ,drury ,lane1 as ,i read 7or think that ,i read7 thirty years ago1 allowed sitting room for three thousand eight hundred people4 ,multiply that by ten2 imagine thirty-eight thousand instead of thirty-eight hundred1 and then you have an idea of the ,athenian theatre4 #g ,next1 out of that grandeur in the architectural proportions arose1 as by necessity1 other grandeurs4 ,you are aware of the cothurnus1 or buskin1 which raised the actor's heel by two and a half inches2 and you think that this must have caused a deformity in the general figure as incommensurate to this height4 ,not at all4 ,the flowing dress of ,greece healed all that4 ,but1 besides the cothurnus1 you have heard of the mask4 ,so far as it was fitted to swell the intonations of the voice1 you are of opinion that this mask would be a happy contrivance2 for what1 you say1 could a common human voice avail against the vast radiation from the actor's centre of more than three myriads8 ,if1 indeed 7like the ,homeric ,stentor71 an actor spoke in point of loudness1 7,greek ,text71 as much as other fifty1 then he might become audible to the assembled ,athenians without aid4 ,but this being impossible1 art must be invoked2 and well if the mask1 together with contrivances of another class1 could correct it4 ,yet if it could1 still you think that this mask would bring along with it an overbalancing evil4 ,for the expression1 the fluctuating expression1 of the features1 the play of the muscles1 the music of the eye and of the lips1--aids to acting that1 in our times1 have given immortality to scores1 whither would those have vanished8 ,reader1 it mortifies me that all which ,i said to you upon the peculiar and separate grandeur investing the ,greek theatre is forgotten4 ,for1 you must consider1 that where a theatre is built for receiving upwards of thirty thousand spectators1 the curve described by what in modern times you would call the tiers of boxes1 must be so vast as to make the ordinary scale of human features almost ridiculous by disproportion4 ,seat yourself at this day in the amphitheatre at ,verona1 and judge for yourself4 ,in an amphitheatre1 the stage1 or properly the arena1 occupying1 in fact1 the place of our modern pit1 was much nearer than in a scenic theatre to the surrounding spectators4 ,allow for this1 and placing some adult in a station expressing the distance of the ,athenian stage1 then judge by his appearance if the delicate pencilling of ,grecian features could have told at the ,grecian distance4 ,but even if it could1 then ,i say that this circumstantiality would have been hostile to the general tendencies 7as already indicated7 of the ,grecian drama4 ,the sweeping movement of the ,attic tragedy ought not to admit of interruption from distinct human features2 the expression of an eye1 the loveliness of a smile1 ought to be lost amongst effects so colossal4 ,the mask aggrandized the features3 even so far it acted favorably4 ,then figure to yourself this mask presenting an idealized face of the noblest ,grecian outline1 moulded by some skilful artist ,phidiaca manu1 so as to have the effect of a marble bust2 this accorded with the aspiring cothurnus2 and the motionless character impressed upon the features1 the marble tranquillity1 would 7,i contend7 suit the solemn processional character of ,athenian tragedy1 far better than the most expressive and flexible countenance on its natural scale4 ',yes1' you say1 on considering the character of the ,greek drama1 'generally it might2 in forty-nine cases suppose out of fifty3 but what shall be done in the fiftieth1 where some dreadful discovery or anagnorisis 7i4e4 recognition of identity7 takes place within the compass of a single line or two2 as1 for instance1 in the ,oedipus ,tyrannus1 at the moment when ,oedipus by a final question of his own1 extorts his first fatal discovery1 viz4 that he had been himself unconsciously the murderer of ,laius8' ,true1 he has no reason as yet to suspect that ,laius was his own father2 which discovery1 when made further on1 will draw with it another still more dreadful1 viz4 that by this parricide he had opened his road to a throne1 and to a marriage with his father's widow1 who was also his own natural mother4 ,he does not yet know the worst3 and to have killed an arrogant prince1 would not in those days have seemed a very deep offence3 but then he believes that the pestilence had been sent as a secret vengeance for this assassination1 which is thus invested with a mysterious character of horror4 ,just at this point1 ,jocasta1 his mother and his wife1 says1 #h on witnessing the sudden revulsion of feeling in his face1 ',i shudder1 oh king1 when looking on thy countenance4' ,now1 in what way could this passing spasm of horror be reconciled with the unchanging expression in the marble-looking mask8 ,this1 and similar cases to this1 must surely be felt to argue a defect in the scenic apparatus4 ,but ,i say1 no3 first1 ,because the general indistinctiveness from distance is a benefit that applies equally to the fugitive changes of the features and to their permanent expression4 ,you need not regret the loss through absence1 of an appearance that would equally1 though present1 have been lost through distance4 ,secondly1 ,the ,greek actor had always the resource1 under such difficulties1 of averting his face a resource sanctioned in similar cases by the greatest of the ,greek painters4 ,thirdly1 ,the voluminous draperies of the scenic dresses1 and generally of the ,greek costume1 made it an easy thing to muffle the features altogether by a gesture most natural to sudden horror4 ,fourthly1 ,we must consider that there were no stage lights3 but1 on the contrary that the general light of day was specially mitigated for that particular part of the theatre2 just as various architectural devices were employed to swell the volume of sound4 ,finally4 ,i repeat my sincere opinion1 that the general indistinctness of the expression was1 on principles of taste1 an advantage1 as harmonizing with the stately and sullen monotony of the ,greek tragedy4 ,grandeur in the attitudes1 in the gestures1 in the groups1 in the processions--all this was indispensable3 but1 on so vast a scale as the mighty cartoons of the ,greek stage1 an ,attic artist as little regarded the details of physiognomy1 as a great architect would regard1 on the frontispiece of a temple1 the miniature enrichments that might be suitable in a drawing-room4 ,with these views upon the ,grecian theatre1 and other views that it might oppress the reader to dwell upon in this place1 suddenly in ,december last an opportunity dawned--a golden opportunity1 gleaming for a moment amongst thick clouds of impossibility that had gathered through three-and-twenty centuries--for seeing a ,grecian tragedy presented on a ,british stage1 and with the nearest approach possible to the beauty of those ,athenian pomps which ,sophocles1 which ,phidias1 which ,pericles created1 beautified1 promoted4 ,i protest1 when seeing the ,edinburgh theatre's programme1 that a note dated from the ,vatican would not have startled me more1 though sealed with the seal of the fisherman1 and requesting the favor of my company to take coffee with the ,pope4 ,nay1 less3 for channels there were through which ,i might have compassed a presentation to his ,holiness2 but the daughter of ,oedipus1 the holy ,antigone1 could ,i have hoped to see her 'in the flesh8' ,this tragedy in an ,english version1 #i and with ,german music1 had first been placed before the eyes and ears of our countrymen at ,convent ,garden during the winter of #ahdd--e4 ,it was said to have succeeded4 ,and soon after a report sprang up1 from nobody knew where1 that ,mr4 ,murray meant to reproduce it in ,edinburgh4 ,what more natural8 ,connected so nearly with the noblest house of scenic artists that ever shook the hearts of nations1 nobler than ever raised undying echoes amidst the mighty walls of ,athens1 of ,rome1 of ,paris1 of ,london1--himself a man of talents almost unparalleled for versatility1-- why should not ,mr4 ,murray1 always so liberal in an age so ungrateful to his profession1 have sacrificed something to this occasion8 ,he1 that sacrifices so much1 why not sacrifice to the grandeur of the ,antique8 ,i was then in ,edinburgh1 or in its neighborhood2 and one morning1 at a casual assembly of some literary friends1 present ,professor ,wilson1 ,messrs4 ,j4 ,f41 ,c4 ,n41 ,l4 ,c41 and others1 advocates1 scholars1 lovers of classical literature1 we proposed two resolutions1 of which the first was1 that the news was too good to be true4 ,that passed nem4 con42 and the second resolution was nearly passing1 viz4 that a judgment would certainly fall upon ,mr4 ,murray1 had a second report proved true1 viz4 that not the ,antigone1 but a burlesque on the ,antigone1 was what he meditated to introduce4 ,this turned out false2 l#j the original report was suddenly revived eight or ten months after4 ,immediately on the heels of the promise the execution followed2 and on the last 7which ,i believe was the seventh7 representation of the ,antigone1 ,i prepared myself to attend4 ,it had been generally reported as characteristic of myself1 that in respect to all coaches1 steamboats1 railroads1 wedding-parties1 baptisms1 and so forth1 there was a fatal necessity of my being a trifle too late4 ,some malicious fairy1 not invited to my own baptism1 was supposed to have endowed me with this infirmity4 ,it occurred to me that for once in my life ,i would show the scandalousness of such a belief by being a trifle too soon1 say1 three minutes4 ,and no name more lovely for inaugurating such a change1 no memory with which ,i could more willingly connect any reformation1 than thine1 dear1 noble ,antigone6 ,accordingly1 because a certain man 7whose name is down in my pocket-book for no good7 had told me that the doors of the theatre opened at half-past six1 whereas1 in fact1 they opened at seven1 there was ,i1 if you please1 freezing in the little colonnade of the theatre precisely as it wanted six-and-a-half minutes to seven1--six-and-a-half minutes observe too soon4 ,upon which this son of absurdity coolly remarked1 that1 if he had not set me half-an-hour forward1 by my own showing1 ,i should have been twenty-three-and-a-half minutes too late4 ,what sophistry6 ,but thus it happened 7namely1 through the wickedness of this man71 that1 upon entering the theatre1 ,i found myself like ,alexander ,selkirk1 in a frightful solitude1 or like a single family of ,arabs gathering at sunset about a solitary coffee-pot in the boundless desert4 ,was there an echo raised8 it was from my own steps4 ,did any body cough8 it was too evidently myself4 ,i was the audience2 ,i was the public4 ,and1 if any accident happened to the theatre1 such as being burned down1 ,mr4 ,murray would certainly lay the blame upon me4 ,my business meantime1 as a critic1 was--to find out the most malicious seat1 i4e4 the seat from which all things would take the most unfavorable aspect4 ,i could not suit myself in this respect2 however bad a situation might seem1 ,i still fancied some other as promising to be worse4 ,and ,i was not sorry when an audience1 by mustering in strength through all parts of the house1 began to divide my responsibility as to burning down the building1 and1 at the same time1 to limit the caprices of my distracted choice4 ,at last1 and precisely at half-past seven1 the curtain drew up2 a thing not strictly correct on a ,grecian stage4 ,but in theatres1 as in other places1 one must forget and forgive4 ,then the music began1 of which in a moment4 ,the overture slipped out at one ear1 as it entered the other1 which1 with submission to ,mr4 ,mendelssohn1 is a proof that it must be horribly bad2 for1 if ever there lived a man that in music can neither forget nor forgive1 that man is myself4 ,whatever is very good never perishes from my remembrance1--that is1 sounds in my ears by intervals for ever1--and for whatever is bad1 ,i consign the author1 in my wrath1 to his own conscience1 and to the tortures of his own discords4 ,the most villanous things1 however1 have one merit2 they are transitory as the best things2 and that was true of the overture3 it perished4 ,then1 suddenly1 --oh1 heavens6 what a revelation of beauty6--forth stepped1 walking in brightness1 the most faultless of ,grecian marbles1 ,miss ,helen ,faucit as ,antigone4 ,what perfection of ,athenian sculpture6 the noble figure1 the lovely arms1 the fluent drapery6 ,what an unveiling of the ideal statuesque6 ,is it ,hebe8 is it ,aurora8 is it a goddess that moves before us8 ,perfect she is in form2 perfect in attitude2 ',beautiful exceedingly1 ,like a ladie from a far countrie4' ,here was the redeeming jewel of the performance4 ,it flattered one's patriotic feelings1 to see this noble young countrywoman realizing so exquisitely1 and restoring to our imaginations1 the noblest of ,grecian girls4 ,we critics1 dispersed through the house1 in the very teeth of duty and conscience1 all at one moment unanimously fell in love with ,miss ,faucit4 ,we felt in our remorse1 and did not pretend to deny1 that our duty was--to be savage4 ,but when was the voice of duty listened to in the first uproars of passion8 ,one thing ,i regretted1 viz4 that from the indistinctness of my sight for distant faces1 ,i could not accurately discriminate ,miss ,faucit's features2 but ,i was told by my next neighbor that they were as true to the antique as her figure4 ,miss ,faucit's voice is fine and impassioned1 being deep for a female voice2 but in this organ lay also the only blemish of her personation4 ,in her last scene1 which is injudiciously managed by the ,greek poet1--too long by much1 and perhaps misconceived in the modern way of understanding it1--her voice grew too husky to execute the cadences of the intonations3 yet1 even in this scene1 her fall to the ground1 under the burden of her farewell anguish1 was in a high degree sculpturesque through the whole succession of its stages4 ,antigone in the written drama1 and still more in the personated drama1 draws all thoughts so entirely to herself1 as to leave little leisure for examining the other parts2 and1 under such circumstances1 the first impulse of a critic's mind is1 that he ought to massacre all the rest indiscriminately2 it being clearly his duty to presume every thing bad which he is not unwillingly forced to confess good1 or concerning which he retains no distinct recollection4 ,but ,i1 after the first glory of ,antigone's avatar had subsided1 applied myself to consider the general 'setting' of this ,theban jewel4 ,creon1 whom the ,greek tragic poets take delight in describing as a villain1 has very little more to do 7until his own turn comes for grieving71 than to tell ,antigone1 by minute-guns1 that die she must4 ',well1 uncle1 don't say that so often1' is the answer which1 secretly1 the audience whispers to ,antigone4 ,our uncle grows tedious2 and one wishes at last that he himself could be 'put up the spout4' ,mr4 ,glover1 from the sepulchral depth of his voice1 gave effect to the odious ,creontic menaces2 and1 in the final lamentations over the dead body of ,haemon1 being a man of considerable intellectual power1 ,mr4 ,glover drew the part into a prominence which it is the fault of ,sophocles to have authorized in that situation2 for the closing sympathies of the spectator ought not to be diverted1 for a moment1 from ,antigone4 ,but the chorus1 how did they play their part8 ,mainly their part must have always depended on the character of the music3 even at ,athens1 that must have been very much the case1 and at ,edinburgh altogether1 because dancing on the ,edinburgh stage there was none4 ,how came that about8 ,for the very word1 'orchestral1' suggests to a ,greek ear dancing1 as the leading element in the choral functions4 ,was it because dancing with us is never used mystically and symbolically never used in our religious services8 ,still it would have been possible to invent solemn and intricate dances1 that might have appeared abundantly significant1 if expounded by impassioned music4 ,but that music of ,mendelssohn6--like it ,i cannot4 ,say not that ,mendelssohn is a great composer4 ,he is so4 ,but here he was voluntarily abandoning the resources of his own genius1 and the support of his divine art1 in quest of a chimera3 that is1 in quest of a thing called ,greek music1 which for us seems far more irrecoverable than the ',greek fire4' ,i myself1 from an early date1 was a student of this subject4 ,i read book after book upon it2 and each successive book sank me lower into darkness1 until ,i had so vastly improved in ignorance1 that ,i could myself have written a quarto upon it1 which all the world should not have found it possible to understand4 ,it should have taken three men to construe one sentence4 ,i confess1 however1 to not having yet seen the writings upon this impracticable theme of ,colonel ,perronet ,thompson4 ,to write experimental music for choruses that are to support the else meagre outline of a ,greek tragedy1 will not do4 ,let experiments be tried upon worthless subjects2 and if this of ,mendelssohn's be ,greek music1 the sooner it takes itself off the better4 ,sophocles will be delivered from an incubus1 and we from an affliction of the auditory nerves4 ,it strikes me that ,i see the source of this music4 ,we1 that were learning ,german some thirty years ago1 must remember the noise made at that time about ,mendelssohn1 the ,platonic philosopher4 ,and why8 ,was there any thing particular in ',der ,phaedon1' on the immortality of the soul8 ,not at all2 it left us quite as mortal as it found us2 and it has long since been found mortal itself4 ,its venerable remains are still to be met with in many worm-eaten trunks1 pasted on the lids of which ,i have myself perused a matter of thirty pages1 except for a part that had been too closely perused by worms4 ,but the key to all the popularity of the ,platonic ,mendelssohn1 is to be sought in the whimsical nature of ,german liberality1 which1 in those days1 forced ,jews into paying toll at the gates of cities1 under the title of 'swine1' but caressed their infidel philosophers4 ,now1 in this category of ,jew and infidel1 stood the author of ',phaedon4' ,he was certainly liable to toll as a hog2 but1 on the other hand1 he was much admired as one who despised the ,pentateuch4 ,now that ,mendelssohn1 whose learned labors lined our trunks1 was the father of this ,mendelssohn1 whose ,greek music afflicts our ears4 ,naturally1 then1 it strikes me1 that as 'papa' ,mendelssohn attended the synagogue to save appearances1 the filial ,mendelssohn would also attend it4 ,i likewise attended the synagogue now and then at ,liverpool1 and elsewhere4 ,we all three have been cruising in the same latitudes2 and1 trusting to my own remembrances1 ,i should pronounce that ,mendelssohn has stolen his ,greek music from the synagogue4 ,there was1 in the first chorus of the ',antigone1' one sublime ascent 7and once repeated7 that rang to heaven3 it might have entered into the music of ,jubal's lyre1 or have glorified the timbrel of ,miriam4 ,all the rest1 tried by the deep standard of my own feeling1 that clamors for the impassioned in music1 even as the daughter of the horse-leech says1 ',give1 give1' is as much without meaning as most of the ,hebrew chanting that ,i heard at the ,liverpool synagogue4 ,i advise ,mr4 ,murray1 in the event of his ever reviving the ',antigone1' to make the chorus sing the ,hundredth ,psalm1 rather than ,mendelssohn's music2 or1 which would be better still1 to import from ,lancashire the ,handel chorus- singers4 ,but then1 again1 whatever change in the music were made1 so as to 'better the condition' of the poor audience1 something should really be done to 'better the condition' of the poor chorus4 ,think of these worthy men1 in their white and skyblue liveries1 kept standing the whole evening2 no seats allowed1 no dancing2 no tobacco2 nothing to console them but ,antigone's beauty2 and all this in our climate1 latitude fifty-five degrees1 #cjth of ,december1 and ,fahrenheit groping about1 ,i don't pretend to know where1 but clearly on his road down to the wine cellar4 ,mr4 ,murray1 ,i am perfectly sure1 is too liberal to have grudged the expense1 if he could have found any classic precedent for treating the chorus to a barrel of ale4 ,ale1 he may object1 is an unclassical tipple2 but perhaps not4 ,xenophon1 the most ,attic of prose writers1 mentions pointedly in his ,anabasis1 that the ,ten ,thousand1 when retreating through snowy mountains1 and in circumstances very like our ,general ,elphinstone's retreat from ,cabul1 came upon a considerable stock of bottled ale4 ,to be sure1 the poor ignorant man calls it barley wine1 ,greek3 oitos chrithinos3 but the flavor was found so perfectly classical that not one man of the ten thousand1 not even the ,attic bee himself1 is reported to have left any protest against it1 or indeed to have left much of the ale4 ,but stop3 perhaps ,i am intruding upon other men's space4 ,speaking1 therefore1 now finally to the principal question1 ,how far did this memorable experiment succeed8 ,i reply1 that1 in the sense of realizing all that the joint revivers proposed to realize1 it succeeded2 and failed only where these revivers had themselves failed to comprehend the magnificent tendencies of ,greek tragedy1 or where the limitations of our theatres1 arising out of our habits and social differences1 had made it impossible to succeed4 ,in ,london1 ,i believe that there are nearly thirty theatres1 and many more1 if every place of amusement 7not bearing the technical name of theatre7 were included4 ,all these must be united to compose a building such as that which received the vast audiences1 and consequently the vast spectacles1 of some ancient cities4 ,and yet1 from a great mistake in our ,london and ,edinburgh attempts to imitate the stage of the ,greek theatres1 little use was made of such advantages as really were at our disposal4 ,the possible depth of the ,edinburgh stage was not laid open4 ,instead of a regal hall in ,thebes1 ,i protest ,i took it for the boudoir of ,antigone4 ,it was painted in light colors1 an error which was abominable1 though possibly meant by the artist 7but quite unnecessarily7 as a proper ground for relieving the sumptuous dresses of the leading performers4 ,the doors of entrance and exit were most unhappily managed4 ,as to the dresses1 those of ,creon1 of his queen1 and of the two loyal sisters1 were good3 chaste1 and yet princely4 ,the dress of the chorus was as bad as bad as could be3 a few surplices borrowed from ,episcopal chapels1 or rather the ornamented albes1 c4 from any rich ,roman ,catholic establishment1 would have been more effective4 ,the ,coryphaeus himself seemed1 to my eyes1 no better than a railway laborer1 fresh from tunnelling or boring1 and wearing a blouse to hide his working dress4 ,these ill- used men ought to 'strike' for better clothes1 in case ,antigone should again revisit the glimpses of an ,edinburgh moon2 and at the same time they might mutter a hint about the ale4 ,but the great hindrances to a perfect restoration of a ,greek tragedy1 lie in peculiarities of our theatres that cannot be removed1 because bound up with their purposes4 ,i suppose that ,salisbury ,plain would seem too vast a theatre3 but at least a cathedral would be required in dimensions1 ,york ,minster or ,cologne4 ,lamp-light gives to us some advantages which the ancients had not4 ,but much art would be required to train and organize the lights and the masses of superincumbent gloom1 that should be such as to allow no calculation of the dimensions overhead4 ,aboriginal night should brood over the scene1 and the sweeping movements of the scenic groups3 bodily expression should be given to the obscure feeling of that dark power which moved in ancient tragedy3 and we should be made to know why it is that1 with the one exception of the ,persae1 founded on the second ,persian invasion1 #aa in which ,aeschylus1 the author1 was personally a combatant1 and therefore a contemporary1 not one of the thirty-four ,greek tragedies surviving1 but recedes into the dusky shades of the heroic1 or even fabulous times4 ,a failure1 therefore1 ,i think the ',antigone1' in relation to an object that for us is unattainable2 but a failure worth more than many ordinary successes4 ,we are all deeply indebted to ,mr4 ,murray's liberality1 in two senses2 to his liberal interest in the noblest section of ancient literature1 and to his liberal disregard of expense4 ,to have seen a ,grecian play is a great remembrance4 ,to have seen ,miss ,helen ,faucit's ,antigone1 were that all1 with her bust1 ,greek3 os agalmatos #ab and her uplifted arm 'pleading against unjust tribunals1' is worth--what is it worth8 ,worth the money8 ,how mean a thought6 ,to see ,helen1 to see ,helen of ,greece1 was the chief prayer of ,marlow's ,dr4 ,faustus2 the chief gift which he exacted from the fiend4 ,to see ,helen of ,greece8 ,dr4 ,faustus1 we have seen her3 ,mr4 ,murray is the ,mephistopheles that showed her to us4 ,it was cheap at the price of a journey to ,siberia1 and is the next best thing to having seen ,waterloo at sunset on the #ahth of ,june1 #ahae4 #ac ,,footnotes #a ',when sown2' as it has been repeatedly2 a fact which some readers may not be aware of4 #b ,boileau1 it is true1 translated ,longinus4 ,but there goes little ,greek to that4 ,it is in dealing with ,attic ,greek1 and ,attic poets1 that a man can manifest his ,grecian skill4 #c ',before ,god was known2'--i4e4 known in ,greece4 #d ,at times1 ,i say pointedly1 the ,athenian rather than the ,grecian tragedy1 in order to keep the reader's attention awake to a remark made by ,paterculus1--viz4 ,that although ,greece coquettishly welcomed homage to herself1 as generally concerned in the ,greek literature1 in reality ,athens only had any original share in the drama1 or in the oratory of ,greece4 #e ',the supreme artist3'--,it is chiefly by comparison with ,euripides1 that ,sophocles is usually crowned with the laurels of art4 ,but there is some danger of doing wrong to the truth in too blindly adhering to these old rulings of critical courts4 ,the judgments would sometimes be reversed1 if the pleadings were before us4 ,there were blockheads in those days4 ,undoubtedly it is past denying that ,euripides at times betrays marks of carelessness in the structure of his plots1 as if writing too much in a hurry3 the original cast of the fable is sometimes not happy1 and the evolution or disentangling is too precipitate4 ,it is easy to see that he would have remoulded them in a revised edition1 or diaskeue ,greek4 ,on the other hand1 ,i remember nothing in the ,greek drama more worthy of a great artist than parts in his ,phoenissae4 ,neither is he the effeminately tender1 or merely pathetic poet that some people imagine4 ,he was able to sweep all the chords of the impassioned spirit4 ,but the whole of this subject is in arrear3 it is in fact res integra1 almost unbroken ground4 #f ,i see a possible screw loose at this point3 if you see it1 reader1 have the goodness to hold your tongue4 #g ',athenian ,theatre3'--,many corrections remain to be made4 ,athens1 in her bloom1 was about as big as ,calcutta1 which contained1 forty years ago1 more than half a million of people2 or as ,naples1 which 7being long rated at three hundred thousand71 is now known to contain at least two hundred thousand more4 ,the well known census of ,demetrius ,phalereus gave twenty- one thousand citizens4 ,multiply this by #e1 or #d-c_/d1 and you have their families4 ,add ten thousand1 multiplied by #d-a_/b1 for the ,inquilini4 ,then add four hundred thousand for the slaves3 total1 about five hundred and fifty thousand4 ,but upon the fluctuations of the ,athenian population there is much room for speculation4 ,and1 quaere1 was not the population of ,athens greater two centuries before ,demetrius1 in the days of ,pericles8 #h ,having no ,sophocles at hand1 ,i quote from memory1 not pretending therefore to exactness3 but the sense is what ,i state4 #i ,whose version1 ,i do not know4 ,but one unaccountable error was forced on one's notice4 ,thebes1 which1 by ,milton and by every scholar is made a monosyllable1 is here made a dissyllable4 ,but ,thebez1 the dissyllable1 is a ,syrian city4 ,it is true that ,causabon deduces from a ,syriac word meaning a case or enclosure 7a theca71 the name of ,thebes1 whether ,boeotian or ,egyptian4 ,it is probable1 therefore1 that ,thebes the hundred-gated of ,upper ,egypt1 ,thebes the seven-gated of ,greece1 and ,thebes of ,syria1 had all one origin as regards the name4 ,but this matters not2 it is the ,english name that we are concerned with4 #aj ',false3' or rather inaccurate4 ,the burlesque was not on the ,antigone1 but on the ,medea of ,euripides2 and very amusing4 #aa ,but in this instance1 perhaps1 distance of space1 combined with the unrivalled grandeur of the war1 was felt to equiponderate the distance of time1 ,susa1 the ,persian capital1 being fourteen hundred miles from ,athens4 #ab ,greek3 ,sterna th'os agalmatos1 her bosom as the bosom of a statue2 an expression of ,euripides1 and applied1 ,i think1 to ,polyxena at the moment of her sacrifice on the tomb of ,achilles1 as the bride that was being married to him at the moment of his death4 #ac ,amongst the questions which occurred to me as requiring an answer1 in connection with this revival1 was one with regard to the comparative fitness of the ,antigone for giving a representative idea of the ,greek stage4 ,i am of opinion that it was the worst choice which could have been made2 and for the very reason which no doubt governed that choice1 viz4-- because the austerity of the tragic passion is disfigured by a love episode4 ,rousseau in his letter to ,d',alembert upon his article ,geneve1 in the ,french ,encyclopedie1 asks1--',qui est-ce qui doute que1 sur nos theatres1 la meilleure piece de ,sophocle ne tombat tout-a-plat8' ,and his reason 7as collected from other passages7 is--because an interest derived from the passion of sexual love can rarely be found on the ,greek stage1 and yet cannot be dispensed with on that of ,paris4 ,but why was it so rare on the ,greek stage8 ,not from accident1 but because it did not harmonize with the principle of that stage1 and its vast overhanging gloom4 ,it is the great infirmity of the ,french1 and connected constitutionally with the gayety of their temperament1 that they cannot sympathize with this terrific mode of grandeur4 ,we can4 ,and for us the choice should have been more purely and severely ,grecian2 whilst the slenderness of the plot in any ,greek tragedy1 would require a far more effective support from tumultuous movement in the chorus4 ,even the ,french are not uniformly insensible to this ,grecian grandeur4 ,i remember that ,voltaire1 amongst many just remarks on the ,electra of ,sophocles1 mixed with others that are not just1 bitterly condemns this demand for a love fable on the ,french stage1 and illustrates its extravagance by the ,french tragedy on the same subject1 of ,crebillon4 ,he 7in default of any more suitable resource7 has actually made ,electra1 whose character on the ,greek stage is painfully vindictive1 in love with an imaginary son of ,aegisthus1 her father's murderer4 ,something should also have been said of ,mrs4 ,leigh ,murray's ,ismene1 which was very effective in supporting and in relieving the magnificent impression of ,antigone4 ,i ought also to have added a note on the scenic mask1 and the common notion 7not authorized1 ,i am satisfied1 by the practice in the supreme era of ,pericles71 that it exhibited a ,janus face1 the windward side expressing grief or horror1 the leeward expressing tranquillity4 ,believe it not1 reader4 ,but on this and other points1 it will be better to speak circumstantially1 in a separate paper on the ,greek drama1 as a majestic but very exclusive and almost1 if one may say so1 bigoted form of the scenic art4 ,,the ,,marquess ,,wellesley4 #a ,it sounds like the tolling of funeral bells1 as the annunciation is made of one death after another amongst those who supported our canopy of empire through the last most memorable generation4 ,the eldest of the ,wellesleys is gone3 he is gathered to his fathers2 and here we have his life circumstantially written4 ,who1 and of what origin are the ,wellesleys8 ,there is an impression current amongst the public1 or there was an impression1 that the true name of the ,wellesley family is ,wesley4 ,this is a case very much resembling some of those imagined by the old scholastic logicians1 where it was impossible either to deny or to affirm3 saying yes1 or saying no1 equally you told a falsehood4 ,the facts are these3 the family was originally ,english2 and in ,england1 at the earliest era1 there is no doubt at all that its name was ,de ,welles leigh1 which was pronounced in the eldest times just as it is now1 viz4 as a dissyllable1 #b the first syllable sounding exactly like the cathedral city ,wells1 in ,somersetshire1 and the second like lea1 7a field lying fallow47 ,it is plain enough1 from various records1 that the true historical genesis of the name1 was precisely through that composition of words1 which here1 for the moment1 ,i had imagined merely to illustrate its pronunciation4 ,lands in the diocese of ,bath and ,wells lying by the pleasant river ,perret1 and almost up to the gates of ,bristol1 constituted the earliest possessions of the ,de ,wellesleighs4 ,they1 seven centuries before ,assay1 and ,waterloo1 were 'seised' of certain rich leas belonging to ,wells4 ,and from these ,saxon elements of the name1 some have supposed the ,wellesleys a ,saxon race4 ,they could not possibly have better blood3 but still the thing does not follow from the premises4 ,neither does it follow from the de that they were ,norman4 ,the first ,de ,wellesley known to history1 the very tip-top man of the pedigree1 is ,avenant de ,wellesleigh4 ,about a hundred years nearer to our own times1 viz4 in #abci1 came ,michael de ,wellesleigh2 of whom the important fact is recorded1 that he was the father of ,wellerand de ,wellesley4 ,and what did young ,mr4 ,wellerand perform in this wicked world1 that the proud muse of history should condescend to notice his rather singular name8 ,reader1 he was--'killed3' that is all2 and in company with ,sir ,robert de ,percival2 which again argues his ,somersetshire descent3 for the family of ,lord ,egmont1 the head of all ,percivals1 ever was1 and ever will be1 in ,somersetshire4 ,but how was he killed8 ,the time when1 viz4 #acjc1 the place where1 are known3 but the manner how1 is not exactly stated2 it was in skirmish with rascally ,irish 'kernes1' fellows that 7when presented at the font of ,christ for baptism7 had their right arms covered up from the baptismal waters1 in order that1 still remaining consecrated to the devil1 those arms might inflict a devilish blow4 ,such a blow1 with such an unbaptized arm1 the ,irish villain struck2 and there was an end of ,wellerand de ,wellesleigh4 ,strange that history should make an end of a man1 before it had made a beginning of him4 ,these1 however1 are the facts2 which1 in writing a romance about ,sir ,wellerand and ,sir ,percival1 ,i shall have great pleasure in falsifying4 ,but how1 says the too curious reader1 did the ,de ,wellesleighs find themselves amongst ,irish kernes8 ,had these scamps the presumption to invade ,somersetshire8 ,did they dare to intrude into ,wells8 ,not at all3 but the pugnacious ,de ,wellesleys had dared to intrude into ,ireland4 ,some say in the train of ,henry ,,ii4 ,some say--but no matter3 there they were3 and there they stuck like limpets4 ,they soon engrafted themselves into the county of ,kildare2 from which1 by means of a fortunate marriage1 they leaped into the county of ,meath2 and in that county1 as if to refute the pretended mutability of human things1 they have roosted ever since4 ,there was once a famous copy of verses floating about ,europe1 which asserted that1 whilst other princes were destined to fight for thrones1 ,austria--the handsome house of ,hapsburgh--should obtain them by marriage3 ',pugnabunt alii3 tu1 felix ,austria1 nube4' ,so of the ,wellesleys3 ,sir ,wellerand took quite the wrong way3 not cudgelling1 but courting1 was the correct way for succeeding in ,kildare4 ,two great estates1 by two separate marriages1 the ,de ,wellesleighs obtained in ,kildare2 and1 by a third marriage in a third generation1 they obtained in the county of ,meath1 ,castle ,dengan 7otherwise ,dangan7 with lordships as plentiful as blackberries4 ,castle ,dangan came to them in the year of our ,lord1 #adaa1 i4e4 before ,agincourt3 and1 in ,castle ,dangan did ,field- marshal1 the man of ,waterloo1 draw his first breath1 shed his first tears1 and perpetrate his earliest trespasses4 ,that is what one might call a pretty long spell for one family3 four hundred and thirty-five years has ,castle ,dangan furnished a nursery for the ,wellesley piccaninnies4 ,amongst the lordships attached to ,castle ,dangan was ,mornington1 which more than three centuries afterwards supplied an earldom for the grandfather of ,waterloo4 ,any further memorabilia of the ,castle ,dangan family are not recorded1 except that in #adhe 7which sure was the year of ,bosworth field87 they began to omit the de and to write themselves ,wellesley tout court4 ,from indolence1 ,i presume3 for a certain lady ,di4 le ,fl41 whom once ,i knew1 a ,howard by birth1 of the house of ,suffolk1 told me as her reason for omitting the ,le1 that it caused her too much additional trouble4 ,so far the evidence seems in favor of ,wellesley and against ,wesley4 ,but1 on the other hand1 during the last three centuries the ,wellesleys wrote the name ,wesley4 ,they1 however1 were only the maternal ancestors of the present ,wellesleys4 ,garret ,wellesley1 the last male heir of the direct line1 in the year #agde1 left his whole estate to one of the ,cowleys1 a ,staffordshire family who had emigrated to ,ireland in ,queen ,elizabeth's time1 but who were1 however1 descended from the ,wellesleys4 ,this ,cowley or ,colley1 taking1 in #agde1 the name of ,wesley1 received from ,george ,,ii4 the title of ,earl ,mornington3 and ,colley's grandson1 the ,marquess ,wellesley of our age1 was recorded in the ,irish peerage as ,wesley1 ,earl of ,mornington2 was uniformly so described up to the end of the eighteenth century2 and even ,arthur of ,waterloo1 whom most of us ,europeans know pretty well1 on going to ,india a little before his brother1 was thus introduced by ,lord ,cornwallis to ,sir ,john ,shore 7,lord ,teignmouth1 the ,governor-general71 ',dear sir1 ,i beg leave to introduce to you ,colonel ,wesley1 who is a lieutenant-colonel of my regiment4 ,he is a sensible man1 and a good officer4' ,posterity1 for we are posterity in respect of ,lord ,cornwallis1 have been very much of his opinion4 ,colonel ,wesley really is a sensible man2 and the sensible man1 soon after his arrival in ,bengal1 under the instigation of his brother1 resumed the old name of ,wellesley4 ,in reality1 the name of ,wesley was merely the abbreviation of indolence1 as ,chumley for ,cholmondeley1 ,pomfret for ,pontefract1 ,cicester for ,cirencester2 or1 in ,scotland1 ,marchbanks for ,majoribanks1 ,chatorow for the ,duke of ,hamilton's ,french title of ,chatelherault4 ,i remember myself1 in childhood1 to have met a niece of ,john ,wesley the ,proto-,methodist1 who always spoke of the1 second ,lord ,mornington 7author of the well-known glees7 as a cousin1 and as intimately connected with her brother the great foudroyant performer on the organ4 ,southey1 in his ,life of ,john ,wesley1 tells us that ,charles ,wesley1 the brother of ,john1 and father of the great organist1 had the offer from ,garret ,wellesley of those same estates which eventually were left to ,richard ,cowley4 ,this argues a recognition of near consanguinity4 ,why the offer was declined1 is not distinctly explained4 ,but if it had been accepted1 ,southey thinks that then we should have had no storming of ,seringapatam1 no ,waterloo1 and no ,arminian ,methodists4 ,all that is not quite clear4 ,tippoo was booked for a desperate ,british vengeance by his own desperate enmity to our name1 though no ,lord ,wellesley had been ,governor-,general4 ,napoleon1 by the same fury of hatred to us1 was booked for the same fate1 though the scene of it might not have been ,waterloo4 ,and1 as to ,john ,wesley1 why should he not have made the same schism with the ,english ,church1 because his brother ,charles had become unexpectedly rich8 ,the ,marquess ,wellesley was of the same standing1 as to age1 or nearly so1 as ,mr4 ,pitt2 though he outlived ,pitt by almost forty years4 ,born in #agfj1 three or four months before the accession of ,george ,,iii41 he was sent to ,eton1 at the age of eleven2 and from ,eton1 in his eighteenth year1 he was sent to ,christ ,church1 ,oxford1 where he matriculated as a nobleman4 ,he then bore the courtesy title of ,viscount ,wellesley2 but in #agha1 when he had reached his twenty-first year1 he was summoned away from ,oxford by the death of his father1 the second ,earl of ,mornington4 ,it is interesting1 at this moment1 to look back on the family group of children collected at ,dangan ,castle4 ,the young earl was within a month of his majority3 his younger brothers and sisters were1 ,william ,wellesley ,pole 7since dead1 under the title of ,lord ,maryborough71 then aged eighteen2 ,anne1 since married to ,henry1 son of ,lord ,southampton1 aged thirteen2 ,arthur1 aged twelve2 ,gerald ,valerian1 now in the church1 aged ten2 ,mary ,elizabeth 7since ,lady ,culling ,smith71 aged nine2 ,henry1 since ,lord ,cowley1 and ,british ambassador to ,spain1 ,france1 c4 aged eight4 ,the new ,lord ,mornington showed his conscientious nature1 by assuming his father's debts1 and by superintending the education of his brothers4 ,he had distinguished himself at ,oxford as a scholar2 but he returned thither no more1 and took no degree4 ,as ,earl of ,mornington1 he sat in the ,irish ,house of ,lords2 but not being a ,british peer1 he was able to sit also in the ,english ,house of ,commons2 and of this opening for a more national career1 he availed himself at the age of twenty-four4 ,except that he favored the claims of the ,irish ,catholics1 his policy was pretty uniformly that of ,mr4 ,pitt4 ,he supported that minister throughout the contests on the ,french ,revolution2 and a little earlier1 on the ,regency question4 ,this came forward in #aghh1 on occasion of the first insanity which attacked ,george ,,iii4 ,the reader1 who is likely to have been born since that era1 will perhaps not be acquainted with the constitutional question then at issue4 ,it was this3 ,mr4 ,fox held that1 upon any incapacity arising in the sovereign1 the regency would then settle 7ipso facto of that incapacity7 upon the ,prince of ,wales2 overlooking altogether the case in which there should be no ,prince of ,wales1 and the case in which such a ,prince might be as incapable1 from youth1 of exercising the powers attached to the office1 as his father from disease4 ,mr4 ,pitt denied that a ,prince of ,wales simply as such1 and apart from any moral fitness which he might possess1 had more title to the office of regent than any lamp-lighter or scavenger4 ,it was the province of ,parliament exclusively to legislate for the particular case4 ,the practical decision of the question was not called for1 from the accident of the king's sudden recovery3 but in ,ireland1 from the independence asserted by the two houses of the ,british council1 the question grew still more complex4 ,the ,lord ,lieutenant refused to transmit their address1 #c and ,lord ,mornington supported him powerfully in his refusal4 ,ten years after this hot collision of parties1 ,lord ,mornington was appointed ,governor-,general of ,india1 and now first he entered upon a stage worthy of his powers4 ,i cannot myself agree with ,mr4 ,pearce1 that 'the wisdom of his policy is now universally recognized2' because the same false views of our ,indian position1 which at that time caused his splendid services to be slighted in many quarters1 still preponderates4 ,all administrations alike have been intensely ignorant of ,indian politics2 and for the natural reason1 that the business of home politics leaves them no disposable energies for affairs so distant1 and with which each man's chance of any durable connection is so exceedingly small4 ,what ,lord ,mornington did was this3 he looked our prospects in the face4 ,two great enemies were then looming upon the horizon1 both ignorant of our real resources1 and both deluded by our imperfect use of such resources1 as1 even in a previous war1 we had possessed4 ,one of these enemies was ,tippoo1 the ,sultan of ,mysore3 him1 by the crushing energy of his arrangements1 ,lord ,mornington was able utterly to destroy1 and to distribute his dominions with equity and moderation1 yet so as to prevent any new coalition arising in that quarter against the ,british power4 ,there is a portrait of ,tippoo1 of this very ger1 in the second volume of ,mr4 ,pearce's work1 which expresses sufficiently the unparalleled ferocity of his nature2 and it is guaranteed1 by its origin1 as authentic4 ,tippoo1 from the personal interest investing him1 has more fixed the attention of ,europe than a much more formidable enemy3 that enemy was the ,mahratta confederacy1 chiefly existing in the persons of the ,peishwah1 of ,scindia1 of ,holkar1 and the ,rajah of ,berar4 ,had these four princes been less profoundly ignorant1 had they been less inveterately treacherous1 they would have cost us the only dreadful struggle which in ,india we have stood4 ,as it was1 ,lord ,mornington's government reduced and crippled the ,maharattas to such an extent1 that in #ahag1 ,lord ,hastings found it possible to crush them for ever4 ,three services of a profounder nature1 ,lord ,wellesley was enabled to do for ,india2 first1 to pave the way for the propagation of ,christianity1--mighty service1 stretching to the clouds1 and which1 in the hour of death1 must have given him consolation2 secondly1 to enter upon the abolition of such ,hindoo superstitions as are most shocking to humanity1 particularly the practice of ,suttee1 and the barbarous exposure of dying persons1 or of first-born infants at ,sangor on the ,ganges2 finally1 to promote an enlarged system of education1 which 7if his splendid scheme had been adopted7 would have diffused its benefits all over ,india4 ,it ought also to be mentioned that the expedition by way of the ,red ,sea against the ,french in ,egypt1 was so entirely of his suggestion and his preparation1 that1 to the great dishonor of ,messrs4 ,pitt and ,dundas1 whose administration was the worst1 as a war administration1 thus ever misapplied1 or non-applied1 the resources of a mighty empire1 it languished for eighteen months purely through their neglect4 ,in #ahje1 having staid about seven years in ,india1 ,lord ,mornington was recalled1 was created ,marquess of ,wellesley1 was sent1 in #ahba1 as ,viceroy to ,ireland1 where there was little to do2 having previously1 in #ahji1 been sent ,ambassador to the ,spanish ,cortes1 where there was an affinity to do1 but no means of doing it4 ,the last great political act of ,lord ,wellesley1 was the smashing of the ,peel ministry in #ahcd viz4 by the famous resolution 7which he personally drew up7 for appropriating to general education in ,ireland any surplus arising from the revenues of the ,irish ,church4 ,full of honors1 he retired from public life at the age of seventy- five1 and1 for seven years more of life1 dedicated his time to such literary pursuits as he had found most interesting in early youth4 ,mr4 ,pearce1 who is so capable of writing vigorously and sagaciously1 has too much allowed himself to rely upon public journals4 ,for example1 he reprints the whole of the attorney-general's official information against eleven obscure persons1 who1 from the gallery of the ,dublin theatre1 did 'wickedly1 riotously1 and routously' hiss1 groan1 insult1 and assault 7to say nothing of their having caused and procured to be hissed1 groaned1 c47 the ,marquess ,wellesley1 ,lord-,lieutenant ,general1 and ,general ,governor of ,ireland4 ,this document covers more than nine pages2 and1 after all1 omits the only fact of the least consequence1 viz41 that several missiles were thrown by the rioters into the vice-regal box1 and amongst them a quart-bottle1 which barely missed his excellency's temples4 ,considering the impetus acquired by the descent from the gallery1 there is little doubt that such a weapon would have killed ,lord ,wellesley on the spot4 ,in default however1 of this weighty fact1 the attorney-general favors us with memorializing the very best piece of doggerel that ,i remember to have read2 viz41 that upon divers1 to wit1 three thousand papers1 the rioters had wickedly and maliciously written and printed1 besides1 observe1 causing to be written and printed1 ',no ,popery1' as also the following traitorous couplet-- ',the ,protestants want ,talbot1 ,as the ,papists have got all but2' ,meaning 'all but' that which they got some years later by means of the ,clare election4 ,yet if1 in some instances like this1 ,mr4 ,pearce has too largely drawn upon official papers1 which he should rather have abstracted and condensed1 on the other hand1 his work has a specific value in bringing forward private documents1 to which his opportunities have gained him a confidential access4 ,two portraits of ,lord ,wellesley1 one in middle life1 and one in old age1 from a sketch by the ,comte d',orsay1 are felicitously executed4 ,something remains to be said of ,lord ,wellesley as a literary man2 and towards such a judgment ,mr4 ,pearce has contributed some very pleasing materials4 ,as a public speaker1 ,lord ,wellesley had that degree of brilliancy and effectual vigor1 which might have been expected in a man of great talents1 possessing much native sensibility to the charms of style1 but not led by any personal accidents of life into a separate cultivation of oratory1 or into any profound investigation of its duties and its powers on the arena of a ,british senate4 ,there is less call for speaking of ,lord ,wellesley in this character1 where he did not seek for any eminent distinction1 than in the more general character of an elegant litterateur1 which furnished to him much of his recreation in all stages of his life1 and much of his consolation in the last4 ,it is interesting to see this accomplished nobleman1 in advanced age1 when other resources were one by one decaying1 and the lights of life were successively fading into darkness1 still cheering his languid hours by the culture of classical literature1 and in his eighty-second year drawing solace from those same pursuits which had given grace and distinction to his twentieth4 ,one or two remarks ,i will make upon ,lord ,wellesley's verses--,greek as well as ,latin4 ,the ,latin lines upon ,chantrey's success at ,holkham in killing two woodcocks at the first shot1 which subsequently he sculptured in marble and presented to ,lord ,leicester1 are perhaps the most felicitous amongst the whole4 ,masquerading1 in ,lord ,wellesley's verses1 as ,praxiteles1 who could not well be represented with a ,manon having a percussion lock1 ,chantrey is armed with a bow and arrows3 ',en6 trajecit aves una sagitta duas4' ,in the ,greek translation of ,parthenopaeus1 there are as few faults as could reasonably be expected4 ,but1 first1 one word as to the original ,latin poem3 to whom does it belong8 ,it is traced first to ,lord ,grenville1 who received it from his tutor 7afterwards ,bishop of ,london71 who had taken it as an anonymous poem from the ',censor's book2' and with very little probability1 it is doubtfully assigned to ',lewis of the ,war ,office1' meaning1 no doubt1 the father of ,monk ,lewis4 ,by this anxiety in tracing its pedigree1 the reader is led to exaggerate the pretensions of the little poem2 these are inconsiderable3 and there is a conspicuous fault1 which it is worth while noticing1 because it is one peculiarly besetting those who write modern verses with the help of a gradus1 viz4 that the ,pentameter is often a mere reverberation of the preceding ,hexameter4 ,thus1 for instance-- ',parthenios inter saltus non amplius erro1 ,non repeto ,dryadum pascua laeta choris2' and so of others1 where the second line is but a variation of the first4 ,even ,ovid1 with all his fertility1 and partly in consequence of his fertility1 too often commits this fault4 ,where indeed the thought is effectually varied1 so that the second line acts as a musical minor1 succeeding to the major1 in the first1 there may happen to arise a peculiar beauty4 ,but ,i speak of the ordinary case1 where the second is merely the rebound of the first1 presenting the same thought in a diluted form4 ,this is the commonest resource of feeble thinking1 and is also a standing temptation or snare for feeble thinking4 ,lord ,wellesley1 however1 is not answerable for these faults in the original1 which indeed he notices slightly as 'repetitions2' and his own ,greek version is spirited and good4 ,there1 are1 however1 some mistakes4 ,the second line is altogether faulty2 ,greek3 ,choria ,mainaliph pant erateina theph ,achnumenos leipon does not express the sense intended4 ,construed correctly1 this clause of the sentence would mean--',i1 sorrowfully leaving all places gracious to the ,maenalian god3' but that is not what ,lord ,wellesley designed3 ',i leaving the woods of ,cyllene1 and the snowy summits of ,pholoe1 places that are all of them dear to ,pan'--that is what was meant3 that is to say1 not leaving all places dear to ,pan1 far from it2 but leaving a few places1 every one of which is dear to ,pan4 ,in the line beginning ,greek3 ,kan eth uph aelikias where the meaning is--and if as yet1 by reason of my immature age1 there is a metrical error2 and ,greek3 aelikia will not express immaturity of age4 ,i doubt whether in the next line1 ,greek3 ,maed alkae thalloi gounasin aeitheos ,greek3 gounasin could convey the meaning without the preposition ,greek3 eth4 ,and in ,greek3 ,spherchomai ou kaleousi theoi4 ,i hasten whither the gods summon me--,greek3 ou is not the right word4 ,it is1 however1 almost impossible to write ,greek verses which shall be liable to no verbal objections2 and the fluent movement of these verses sufficiently argues the off-hand ease with which ,lord ,wellesley must have read ,greek1 writing it so elegantly and with so little of apparent constraint4 ,meantime the most interesting 7from its circumstances7 of ,lord ,wellesley's verses1 is one to which his own ,english interpretation of it has done less than justice4 ,it is a ,latin epitaph on the daughter 7an only child7 of ,lord and ,lady ,brougham4 ,she died1 and 7as was generally known at the time7 of an organic affection disturbing the action of the heart1 at the early age of eighteen4 ,and the peculiar interest of the case lies in the suppression by this pious daughter 7so far as it was possible7 of her own bodily anguish1 in order to beguile the mental anguish of her parents4 ,the ,latin epitaph is this3 ',blanda anima1 e cunis heu6 longo exercita morbo1 ,inter maternas heu lachrymasque patris1 ,quas risu lenire tuo jucunda solebas1 ,et levis1 et proprii vix memor ipsa mali2 ,i1 pete calestes1 ubi nulla est cura1 recessus3 ,et tibi sit nullo mista dolore quies6' ,the ,english version is this3 ',doom'd to long suffering from earliest years1 ,amidst your parents' grief and pain alone ,cheerful and gay1 you smiled to soothe their tears2 ,and in their agonies forgot your own4 ,go1 gentle spirit2 and among the blest ,from grief and pain eternal be thy rest6' ,in the ,latin1 the phrase e cunis does not express from your cradle upwards4 ,the second line is faulty in the opposition of maternas to patris4 ,and in the fourth line levis conveys a false meaning3 levis must mean either physically light1 i4e4 not heavy1 which is not the sense1 or else tainted with levity1 which is still less the sense4 ,what ,lord ,wellesley wished to say--was light-hearted3 this he has not said3 but neither is it easy to say it in good ,latin4 ,i complain1 however1 of the whole as not bringing out ,lord ,wellesley's own feeling--which feeling is partly expressed in his verses1 and partly in his accompanying prose note on ,miss ,brougham's mournful destiny 7'her life was a continual illness'7 contrasted with her fortitude1 her innocent gaiety1 and the pious motives with which she supported this gaiety to the last4 ,not as a direct version1 but as filling up the outline of ,lord ,wellesley1 sufficiently indicated by himself1 ,i propose this3-- ',child1 that for thirteen years hast fought with pain1 ,prompted by joy and depth of natural love1-- ,rest now at ,god's command3 oh6 not in vain ,his angel ofttimes watch'd thee1--oft1 above ,all pangs1 that else had dimm'd thy parents' eyes1 ,saw thy young heart victoriously rise4 ,rise now for ever1 self-forgetting child1 ,rise to those choirs1 where love like thine is blest1 ,from pains of flesh--from filial tears assoil'd1 ,love which ,god's hand shall crown with ,god's own rest4' ,,footnotes #a ,memoirs and ,correspondence4 #b ',as a dissyllable3'--just as the ,annesley family1 of which ,lord ,valentia is the present head1 do not pronounce their name trisyllabically 7as strangers often suppose71 but as the two syllables ,anns lea1 accent on the first4 #c ,which adopted neither view2 for by offering the regency of ,ireland to the ,prince of ,wales1 they negatived ,mr4 ,fox's view1 who held it to be the ,prince's by inherent right2 and1 on the other hand1 they still more openly opposed ,mr4 ,pitt4 ,,milton ,,versus ,,southey ,,and ,,landor4 ,this conversation is doubly interesting3 interesting by its subject1 interesting by its interlocutors2 for the subject is ,milton1 whilst the interlocutors are ,southey and ,landor4 ,if a ,british gentleman1 when taking his pleasure in his well-armed yacht1 descries1 in some foreign waters1 a noble vessel1 from the ,thames or the ,clyde1 riding peaceably at anchor--and soon after1 two smart-looking clippers1 with rakish masts1 bearing down upon her in company--he slackens sail3 his suspicions are slightly raised2 they have not shown their teeth as yet1 and perhaps all is right2 but there can be no harm in looking a little closer2 and1 assuredly1 if he finds any mischief in the wind against his countryman1 he will show his teeth also2 and1 please the wind1 will take up such a position as to rake both of these pirates by turns4 ,the two dialogists are introduced walking out after breakfast1 'each his ,milton in his pocket2' and says ,southey1 ',let us collect all the graver faults we can lay our hands upon1 without a too minute and troublesome research2'--just so2 there would be danger in that--help might put off from shore2--'not1' says he1 'in the spirit of ,johnson1 but in our own4' ,johnson we may suppose1 is some old ruffian well known upon that coast2 and 'faults' may be a flash term for what the ,americans call 'notions4' ,a part of the cargo it clearly is2 and one is not surprised to hear ,landor1 whilst assenting to the general plan of attack1 suggesting in a whisper 'that they should abase their eyes in reverence to so great a man1 without absolutely closing them2' which ,i take to mean--that1 without trusting entirely to their boarders1 or absolutely closing their ports1 they should depress their guns and fire down into the hold1 in respect of the vessel attacked standing so high out of the water4 ,after such plain speaking1 nobody can wonder much at the junior pirate 7,landor7 muttering1 ',it will be difficult for us always to refrain4' ,of course it will3 refraining was no part of the business1 ,i should fancy1 taught by that same buccaneer1 ,johnson4 ,there is mischief1 you see1 reader1 singing in the air--'miching malhecho'--and it is our business to watch it4 ,but1 before coming to the main attack1 ,i must suffer myself to be detained for a few moments by what ,mr4 ,l4 premises upon the 'moral' of any great fable1 and the relation which it bears1 or should bear1 to the solution of such a fable4 ,philosophic criticism is so far improved1 that1 at this day1 few people1 who have reflected at all upon such subjects1 but are agreed as to one point3 viz41 that in metaphysical language the moral of an epos or a drama should be immanent1 not transient2 or1 otherwise1 that it should be vitally distributed through the whole organization of the tree1 not gathered or secreted into a sort of red berry or racemus1 pendent at the end of its boughs4 ,this view ,mr4 ,landor himself takes1 as a general view2 but1 strange to say1 by some ,landorian perverseness1 where there occurs a memorable exception to this rule 7as in the ',paradise ,lost'71 in that case he insists upon the rule in its rigor-- the rule1 and nothing but the rule4 ,where1 on the contrary1 the rule does really and obviously take effect 7as in the ',iliad' and ',odyssey'71 there he insists upon an exceptional case4 ,there is a moral1 in his opinion1 hanging like a tassel of gold bullion from the ',iliad2'--and what is it8 ,something so fantastic1 that ,i decline to repeat it4 ,as well might he have said1 that the moral of ',othello' was--',try ,warren's ,blacking6' ,there is no moral1 little or big1 foul or fair1 to the ',iliad4' ,up to the #agth book1 the moral might seem dimly to be this--',gentlemen1 keep the peace3 you see what comes of quarrelling4' ,but there this moral ceases2 --there is now a break of guage3 the narrow guage takes place after this2 whilst up to this point1 the broad guage--viz41 the wrath of ,achilles1 growing out of his turn-up with ,agamemnon--had carried us smoothly along without need to shift our luggage4 ,there is no more quarrelling after ,book #ag1 how then can there be any more moral from quarrelling8 ,if you insist on my telling you what is the moral of the ',iliad1' ,i insist upon your telling me what is the moral of a rattlesnake or the moral of a ,niagara4 ,i suppose the moral is--that you must get out of their way1 if you mean to moralize much longer4 ,the going-up 7or anabasis7 of the ,greeks against ,troy1 was a fact2 and a pretty dense fact2 and1 by accident1 the very first in which all ,greece had a common interest4 ,it was a joint-stock concern--a representative expedition--whereas1 previously there had been none2 for even the ,argonautic expedition1 which is rather of the darkest1 implied no confederation except amongst individuals4 ,how could it8 ,for the ,argo is supposed to have measured only twenty-seven tons3 how she would have been classed at ,lloyd's is hard to say1 but certainly not as ,a #a4 ,there was no state-cabin2 everybody1 demi-gods and all1 pigged in the steerage amongst beans and bacon4 ,greece was naturally proud of having crossed the herring-pond1 small as it was1 in search of an entrenched enemy2 proud also of having licked him 'into ,almighty smash2' this was sufficient2 or if an impertinent moralist sought for something more1 doubtless the moral must have lain in the booty4 ,a peach is the moral of a peach1 and moral enough2 but if a man will have something better--a moral within a moral--why1 there is the peach-stone1 and its kernel1 out of which he may make ratafia1 which seems to be the ultimate morality that can be extracted from a peach4 ,mr4 ,archdeacon ,williams1 indeed1 of the ,edinburgh ,academy1 has published an octavo opinion upon the case1 which asserts that the moral of the ,trojan war was 7to borrow a phrase from children7 tit for tat4 ,it was a case of retaliation for crimes against ,hellas1 committed by ,troy in an earlier generation4 ,it may be so2 ,nemesis knows best4 ,but this moral1 if it concerns the total expedition to the ,troad1 cannot concern the ',iliad1' which does not take up matters from so early a period1 nor go on to the final catastrophe of ,ilium4 ,now1 as to the ',paradise ,lost1' it happens that there is--whether there ought to be or not--a pure golden moral1 distinctly announced1 separately contemplated1 and the very weightiest ever uttered by man or realized by fable4 ,it is a moral rather for the drama of a world than for a human poem4 ,and this moral is made the more prominent and memorable by the grandeur of its annunciation4 ,the jewel is not more splendid in itself than in its setting4 ,excepting the well-known passage on ,athenian oratory in the ',paradise ,regained1' there is none even in ,milton where the metrical pomp is made so effectually to aid the pomp of the sentiment4 ,hearken to the way in which a roll of dactyles is made to settle1 like the swell of the advancing tide1 into the long thunder of billows breaking for leagues against the shore3 ',that to the height of this great argument ,i may assert eternal ,providence4'-- ,hear what a motion1 what a tumult1 is given by the dactylic close to each of the introductory lines6 ,and how massily is the whole locked up into the peace of heaven1 as the aerial arch of a viaduct is locked up into tranquil stability by its key-stone1 through the deep spondaic close1 ',and justify the ways of ,god to man4' ,that is the moral of the ,miltonic epos2 and as much grander than any other moral formally illustrated by poets1 as heaven is higher than earth4 ,but the most singular moral1 which ,mr4 ,landor anywhere discovers1 is in his own poem of ',gebir4' ,whether he still adheres to it1 does not appear from the present edition4 ,but ,i remember distinctly1 in the original edition1 a ,preface 7now withdrawn7 in which he made his acknowledgments to some book read at a ,welsh ,inn for the outline of the story2 and as to the moral1 he declared it to be an exposition of that most mysterious offence1 ,over-,colonization4 ,much ,i mused1 in my youthful simplicity1 upon this criminal novelty4 ,what might it be8 ,could ,i1 by mistake1 have committed it myself8 ,was it a felony1 or a misdemeanor8--liable to transportation1 or only to fine and imprisonment8 ,neither in the ,decemviral ,tables1 nor in the ,code of ,justinian1 nor the maritime ,code of ,oleron1 nor in the ,canon ,law1 nor the ,code ,napoleon1 nor our own ,statutes at large1 nor in ,jeremy ,bentham1 had ,i read of such a crime as a possibility4 ,undoubtedly the vermin1 locally called ,squatters1 #a both in the wilds of ,america and ,australia1 who pre- occupy other men's estates1 have latterly illustrated the logical possibility of such an offence2 but they were quite unknown at the era of ,gebir4 ,even ,dalica1 who knew as much wickedness as most people1 would have stared at this unheard of villany1 and have asked1 as eagerly as ,i did--',what is it now8 ,let's have a shy at it in ,egypt4' ,i1 indeed1 knew a case1 but ,dalica did not1 of shocking over-colonization4 ,it was the case1 which even yet occurs on out-of-the-way roads1 where a man1 unjustly big1 mounts into the inside of a stage-coach already sufficiently crowded4 ,in streets and squares1 where men could give him a wide berth1 they had tolerated the injustice of his person2 but now1 in a chamber so confined1 the length and breadth of his wickedness shines revealed to every eye4 ,and if the coach should upset1 which it would not be the less likely to do for having him on board1 somebody or other 7perhaps myself7 must lie beneath this monster1 like ,enceladus under ,mount ,etna1 calling upon ,jove to come quickly with a few thunderbolts and destroy both man and mountain1 both succubus and incubus1 if no other relief offered4 ,meantime1 the only case of over-colonization notorious to all ,europe1 is that which some ,german traveller 7,riedesel1 ,i think7 has reported so eagerly1 in ridicule of our supposed ,english credulity2 viz4--the case of the foreign swindler1 who advertised that he would get into a quart bottle1 filled ,drury ,lane1 pocketed the admission money1 and decamped1 protesting 7in his adieus to the spectators7 that' it lacerated his heart to disappoint so many noble islanders2 but that on his next visit he would make full reparation by getting into a vinegar cruet4' ,now1 here certainly was a case of over- colonization1 not perpetrated1 but meditated4 ,yet1 when one examines this case1 the crime consisted by no means in doing it1 but in not doing it2 by no means in getting into the bottle1 but in not getting into it4 ,the foreign contractor would have been probably a very unhappy man1 had he fulfilled his contract by over-colonizing the bottle1 but he would have been decidedly a more virtuous man4 ,he would have redeemed his pledge2 and1 if he had even died in the bottle1 we should have honored him as a 'vir bonus1 cum mala fortuna compositus2' as a man of honor matched in single duel with calamity1 and also as the best of conjurers4 ,over- colonization1 therefore1 except in the one case of the stage-coach1 is apparently no crime2 and the offence of ,king ,gebir1 in my eyes1 remains a mystery to this day4 ,what next solicits notice is in the nature of a digression3 it is a kind of parenthesis on ,wordsworth4 ',landor4--,when it was a matter of wonder how ,keats1 who was ignorant of ,greek1 could have written his ,hyperion1 ,shelley1 whom envy never touched1 gave as a reason--because he was a ,greek4 ,wordsworth1 being asked his opinion of the same poem1 called it1 scoffingly1 a pretty piece of paganism2 yet he himself1 in the best verses he ever wrote--and beautiful ones they are--reverts to the powerful influence of the pagan creed4' ,here are nine lines exactly in the original type4 ,now1 nine tailors are ranked1 by great masters of algebra1 as one man2 such is the received equation2 or1 as it is expressed1 with more liveliness1 in an old ,english drama1 by a man who meets and quarrels with eighteen tailors--',come1 hang it6 ,i'll fight you both4' ,but1 whatever be the algebraic ratio of tailors to men1 it is clear that nine ,landorian lines are not always equal to the delivery of one accurate truth1 or to a successful conflict with three or four signal errors4 ,firstly--,shelley's reason1 if it ever was assigned1 is irrelevant as regards any question that must have been intended4 ,it could not have been meant to ask--,why was the ',hyperion' so ,grecian in its spirit8 for it is anything but ,grecian4 ,we should praise it falsely to call it so2 for the feeble1 though elegant1 mythology of ,greece was incapable of breeding anything so deep as the mysterious portents that1 in the ',hyperion1' run before and accompany the passing away of divine immemorial dynasties4 ,nothing can be more impressive than the picture of ,saturn in his palsy of affliction1 and of the mighty goddess his grand-daughter1 or than the secret signs of coming woe in the palace of ,hyperion4 ,these things grew from darker creeds than ,greece had ever known since the elder traditions of ,prometheus--creeds that sent down their sounding plummets into far deeper wells within the human spirit4 ,what had been meant1 by the question proposed to ,shelley1 was no doubt-- ,how so young a man as ,keats1 not having had the advantage of a regular classical education1 could have been so much at home in the details of the elder mythology8 ,tooke's ',pantheon' might have been obtained by favor of any ,english schoolboy1 and ,dumoustier's ',lettres a ,emile sur la ,mythologie' by favor of very many young ladies2 but these1 according to my recollection of them1 would hardly have sufficed4 ,spence's ',polymetis1' however1 might have been had by favor of any good library2 and the ',bibliotheca' of ,apollodorus1 who is the cock of the walk on this subject1 might have been read by favor of a ,latin translation1 supposing ,keats really unequal to the easy ,greek text4 ,there is no wonder in the case2 nor1 if there had been1 would ,shelley's kind remark have solved it4 ,the treatment of the facts must1 in any case1 have been due to ,keats's genius1 so as to be the same whether he had studied ,greek or not3 the facts1 apart from the treatment1 must in any case have been had from a book4 ,secondly--,let ,mr4 ,landor rely upon it --that ,wordsworth never said the thing ascribed to him here as any formal judgment1 or what ,scottish law would call deliverance1 upon the ',hyperion4' ,as to what he might have said incidentally and collaterally2 the meaning of words is so entirely affected by their position in a conversation--what followed1 what went before--that five words dislocated from their context never would be received as evidence in the ,queen's ,bench4 ,the court which1 of all others1 least strictly weighs its rules of evidence1 is the female tea-table2 yet even that tribunal would require the deponent to strengthen his evidence1 if he had only five detached words to produce4 ,wordsworth is a very proud man as he has good reason to be2 and perhaps it was ,i myself1 who once said in print of him--that it is not the correct way of speaking1 to say that ,wordsworth is as proud as ,lucifer2 but1 inversely1 to say of ,lucifer that some people have conceived him to be as proud as ,wordsworth4 ,but1 if proud1 ,wordsworth is not haughty1 is not ostentatious1 is not anxious for display1 is not arrogant1 and1 least of all1 is he capable of descending to envy4 ,who or what is it that he should be envious of8 ,does anybody suppose that ,wordsworth would be jealous of ,archimedes if he now walked upon earth1 or ,michael ,angelo1 or ,milton8 ,nature does not repeat herself4 ,be assured she will never make a second ,wordsworth4 ,any of us would be jealous of his own duplicate2 and1 if ,i had a doppelganger1 who went about personating me1 copying me1 and pirating me1 philosopher as ,i am1 ,i might 7if the ,court of ,chancery would not grant an injunction against him7 be so far carried away by jealousy as to attempt the crime of murder upon his carcass2 and no great matter as regards ,,him4 ,but it would be a sad thing for me to find myself hanged2 and for what1 ,i beseech you8 for murdering a sham1 that was either nobody at all1 or oneself repeated once too often4 ,but if you show to ,wordsworth a man as great as himself1 still that great man will not be much like ,wordsworth--the great man will not be ,wordsworth's doppelganger4 ,if not impar 7as you say7 he will be dispar2 and why1 then1 should ,wordsworth be jealous of him1 unless he is jealous of the sun1 and of ,abd el ,kader1 and of ,mr4 ,waghorn--all of whom carry off a great deal of any spare admiration which ,europe has to dispose of4 ,but suddenly it strikes me that we are all proud1 every man of us2 and ,i daresay with some reason for it1 'be the same more or less4' ,for ,i never came to know any man in my whole life intimately1 who could not do something or other better than anybody else4 ,the only man amongst us that is thoroughly free from pride1 that you may at all seasons rely on as a pattern of humility1 is the pickpocket4 ,that man is so admirable in his temper1 and so used to pocketing anything whatever which ,providence sends in his way1 that he will even pocket a kicking1 or anything in that line of favors which you are pleased to bestow4 ,the smallest donations are by him thankfully received1 provided only that you1 whilst half-blind with anger in kicking him round a figure of eight1 like a dexterous skater1 will but allow him 7which is no more than fair7 to have a second 'shy' at your pretty ,indian pocket-handkerchief1 so as to convince you1 on cooler reflection1 that he does not always miss4 ,thirdly--,mr4 ,landor leaves it doubtful what verses those are of ,wordsworth's which celebrate the power 'of the ,pagan creed2' whether that sonnet in which ,wordsworth wishes to exchange for glimpses of human life1 then and in those circumstances1 'forlorn1' the sight '----,of ,proteus coming from the sea1 ,and hear old ,triton wind his wreathed horn2' whether this1 or the passage on the ,greek mythology in ',the ,excursion4' ,whichever he means1 ,i am the last man to deny that it is beautiful1 and especially if he means the latter4 ,but it is no presumption to deny firmly ,mr4 ,landor's assertion1 that these are 'the best verses ,wordsworth ever wrote4' ,bless the man6 ',there are a thousand such elsewhere1 ,as worthy of your wonder3'-- ,elsewhere1 ,i mean1 in ,wordsworth's poems4 ,in reality it is impossible that these should be the best2 for even if1 in the executive part1 they were so1 which is not the case1 the very nature of the thought1 of the feeling1 and of the relation1 which binds it to the general theme1 and the nature of that theme itself1 forbid the possibility of merits so high4 ,the whole movement of the feeling is fanciful3 it neither appeals to what is deepest in human sensibilities1 nor is meant to do so4 ,the result1 indeed1 serves only to show ,mr4 ,landor's slender acquaintance with ,wordsworth4 ,and what is worse than being slenderly acquainted1 he is erroneously acquainted even with these two short breathings from the ,wordsworthian shell4 ,he mistakes the logic4 ,wordsworth does not celebrate any power at all in ,paganism4 ,old ,triton indeed6 he's little better1 in respect of the terrific1 than a mail-coach guard1 nor half as good1 if you allow the guard his official seat1 a coal-black night1 lamps blazing back upon his royal scarlet1 and his blunderbuss correctly slung4 ,triton would not stay1 ,i engage1 for a second look at the old ,portsmouth mail1 as once ,i knew it4 ,but1 alas6 better things than ever stood on ,triton's pins are now as little able to stand up for themselves1 or to startle the silent fields in darkness1 with the sudden flash of their glory--gone before it had fall come--as ,triton is to play the ,freyschutz chorus on his humbug of a horn4 ,but the logic of ,wordsworth is this--not that the ,greek mythology is potent2 on the contrary1 that it is weaker than cowslip tea1 and would not agitate the nerves of a hen sparrow2 but that1 weak as it is--nay1 by means of that very weakness--it does but the better serve to measure the weakness of something which he thinks yet weaker--viz4 the death-like torpor of ,london society in #ahjh1 benumbed by conventional apathy and worldliness-- ',heavy as frost1 and deep almost as life4' ,this seems a digression from ,milton1 who is properly the subject of this colloquy4 ,but1 luckily1 it is not one of my sins4 ,mr4 ,landor is lord within the house of his own book2 he pays all accounts whatever2 and readers that have either a bill1 or bill of exceptions1 to tender against the concern1 must draw upon him4 ,to ,milton he returns upon a very dangerous topic indeed--viz4 the structure of his blank verse4 ,i know of none that is so trying to a wary man's nerves4 ,you might as well tax ,mozart with harshness in the divinest passages of ',don ,giovanni1' as ,milton with any such offence against metrical science4 ,be assured1 it is yourself that do not read with understanding1 not ,milton that by possibility can be found deaf to the demands of perfect harmony4 ,you are tempted1 after walking round a line threescore times1 to exclaim at last-- ',well1 if the ,fiend himself should rise up before me at this very moment1 in this very study of mine1 and say that no screw was loose in that line1 then would ,i reply--',sir1 with submission1 you are----4' ',what6' suppose the ,fiend suddenly to demand in thunder2 'what am ,i8' ',horribly wrong1' you wish exceedingly to say2 but1 recollecting that some people are choleric in argument1 you confine yourself to the polite answer-',that1 with deference to his better education1 you conceive him to lie2'--that's a bad word to drop your voice upon in talking with a fiend1 and you hasten to add--'under a slight1 a very slight mistake4' ,ay1 you might venture on that opinion with a fiend4 ,but how if an angel should undertake the case8 ,and angelic was the ear of ,milton4 ,many are the prima facie anomalous lines in ,milton2 many are the suspicious lines1 which in many a book ,i have seen many a critic peering into1 with eyes made up for mischief1 yet with a misgiving that all was not quite safe1 very much like an old raven looking down a marrow-bone4 ,in fact1 such is the metrical skill of the man1 and such the perfection of his metrical sensibility1 that1 on any attempt to take liberties with a passage of his1 you feel as when coming1 in a forest1 upon what seems a dead lion2 perhaps he may not be dead1 but only sleeping2 nay1 perhaps he may not be sleeping1 but only shamming4 ,and you have a jealousy1 as to ,milton1 even in the most flagrant case of almost palpable error1 that1 after all1 there may be a plot in it4 ,you may be put down with shame by some man reading the line otherwise1 reading it with a different emphasis1 a different caesura1 or perhaps a different suspension of the voice1 so as to bring out a new and self-justifying effect4 ,it must be added1 that1 in reviewing ,milton's metre1 it is quite necessary to have such books as ',nare's ,english ,orthoepy' 7in a late edition71 and others of that class1 lying on the table2 because the accentuation of ,milton's age was1 in many words1 entirely different from ours4 ,and ,mr4 ,landor is not free from some suspicion of inattention as to this point4 ,over and above his accentual difference1 the practice of our elder dramatists in the resolution of the final tion 7which now is uniformly pronounced shon71 will be found exceedingly important to the appreciation of a writer's verse4 ,contribution1 which now is necessarily pronounced as a word of four syllables1 would then1 in verse1 have five1 being read into con-tri-bu-ce-on4 ,many readers will recollect another word1 which for years brought ,john ,kemble into hot water with the pit of ,drury ,lane4 ,it was the plural of the word ache4 ,this is generally made a dissyllable by the ,elizabethan dramatists2 it occurs in the ',tempest4' ,prospero says-- ',i'll fill thy bones with aches4' ,what follows1 which ,i do not remember literatim1 is such metrically as to require two syllables for aches4 ,but how1 then1 was this to be pronounced8 ,kemble thought akies would sound ludicrous2 aitches therefore he called it3 and always the pit howled like a famished menagerie1 as they did also when he chose 7and he constantly chose7 to pronounce beard like bird4 ,many of these niceties must be known1 before a critic can ever allow himself to believe that he is right in obelizing1 or in marking with so much as a 8 any verse whatever of ,milton's4 ,and there are some of these niceties1 ,i am satisfied1 not even yet fully investigated4 ,it is1 however1 to be borne in mind1 after all allowances and provisional reservations have been made that ,bentley's hypothesis 7injudiciously as it was managed by that great scholar7 has really a truth of fact to stand upon4 ,not only must ,milton have composed his three greatest poems1 the two ',paradises1 and the ',samson1' in a state of blindness--but subsequently1 in the correction of the proofs1 he must have suffered still more from this conflict with darkness and1 consequently1 from this dependence upon careless readers4 ,this is ,bentley's case3 as lawyers say3 ',my lord1 that is my case4' ,it is possible enough to write correctly in the dark1 as ,i myself often do1 when losing or missing my lucifers--which1 like some elder lucifers1 are always rebelliously straying into place where they can have no business4 ,but it is quite impossible to correct a proof in the dark4 ,at least1 if there is such an art1 it must be a section of the black art4 ,bentley gained from ,pope that admirable epithet of slashing1 'the ribbalds--from slashing ,bentley down to piddling ,theobalds1' i4e4 ,tibbulds as it was pronounced1 altogether from his edition of the ',paradise ,lost4' ,this the doctor founded on his own hypothesis as to the advantage taken of ,milton's blindness2 and corresponding was the havoc which he made of the text4 ,in fact1 on the really just allegation that ,milton must have used the services of an amanuensis2 and the plausible one that this amanuensis1 being often weary of his task1 would be likely to neglect punctilious accuracy2 and the most improbable allegation that this weary person would also be very conceited1 and add much rubbish of his own2 ,bentley resigned himself luxuriously1 without the whisper of a scruple1 to his own sense of what was or was not poetic1 which sense happened to be that of the adder for music4 ,the deaf adder heareth not though the musician charm ever so wisely4 ,no scholarship1 which so far beyond other men ,bentley had1 could gain him the imaginative sensibility which1 in a degree so far beyond average men1 he wanted4 ,consequently1 the world never before beheld such a scene of massacre as his ',paradise ,lost' exhibited4 ,he laid himself down to his work of extermination like the brawniest of reapers going in steadily with his sickle1 coat stripped off1 and shirt sleeves tucked up1 to deal with an acre of barley4 ,one duty1 and no other1 rested upon his conscience2 one voice he heard--,slash away1 and hew down the rotten growths of this abominable amanuensis4 ,the carnage was like that after a pitched battle4 ,the very finest passages in every book of the poem were marked by italics1 as dedicated to fire and slaughter4 ',slashing ,dick' went through the whole forest1 like a woodman marking with white paint the giant trees that must all come down in a month or so4 ,and one naturally reverts to a passage in the poem itself1 where ,god the ,father is supposed to say to his ,filial assessor on the heavenly throne1 when marking the desolating progress of ,sin and ,death1-- ',see with what havoc these fell dogs advance ,to ravage this fair world4' ,but still this inhuman extravagance of ,bentley1 in following out his hypothesis1 does not exonerate us from bearing in mind so much truth as that hypothesis really must have had1 from the pitiable difficulties of the great poet's situation4 ,my own opinion1 therefore1 upon the line1 for instance1 from ',paradise ,regained1' which ,mr4 ,landor appears to have indicated for the reader's amazement1 viz43-- ',as well might recommend ,such solitude before choicest society1' is--that it escaped revision from some accident calling off the ear of ,milton whilst in the act of having the proof read to him4 ,mr4 ,landor silently prints it in italics1 without assigning his objection2 but1 of course that objection must be--that the line has one foot too much4 ,it is an ,alexandrine1 such as ,dryden scattered so profusely1 without asking himself why2 but which ,milton never tolerates except in the choruses of the ,samson4 ',not difficult1 if thou hearken to me'-- is one of the lines which ,mr4 ,landor thinks that 'no authority will reconcile' to our ears4 ,i think otherwise4 ,the caesura is meant to fall not with the comma after difficult 1 but after thou2 and there is a most effective and grand suspension intended4 ,it is ,satan who speaks-- ,satan in the wilderness2 and he marks1 as he wishes to mark1 the tremendous opposition of attitude between the two parties to the temptation4 ',not difficult if thou----' there let the reader pause1 as if pulling up suddenly four horses in harness1 and throwing them on their haunches--not difficult if thou 7in some mysterious sense the son of ,god72 and then1 as with a burst of thunder1 again giving the reins to your quadriga1 '----hearken to me3' that is1 to me1 that am the ,prince of the ,air1 and able to perform all my promises for those that hearken to any temptations4 ,two lines are cited under the same ban of irreconcilability to our ears1 but on a very different plea4 ,the first of these lines is-- ',launcelot1 or ,pellias1 or ,pellinore2' ,the other ',quintius1 ,fabricius1 ,curius1 ,regulus4' ,the reader will readily suppose that both are objected to as 'roll-calls of proper names4' ,now1 it is very true that nothing is more offensive to the mind than the practice of mechanically packing into metrical successions1 as if packing a portmanteau1 names without meaning or significance to the feelings4 ,no man ever carried that atrocity so far as ,boileau1 a fact of which ,mr4 ,landor is well aware2 and slight is the sanction or excuse that can be drawn from him4 ,but it must not be forgotten that ,virgil1 so scrupulous in finish of composition1 committed this fault4 ,i remember a passage ending '----,noemonaque ,prytaninque2' but1 having no ,virgil within reach1 ,i cannot at this moment quote it accurately4 ,homer1 with more excuse1 however1 from the rudeness of his age1 is a deadly offender in this way4 ,but the cases from ,milton are very different4 ,milton was incapable of the ,homeric or ,virgilian blemish4 ,the objection to such rolling musketry of names is1 that unless interspersed with epithets1 or broken into irregular groups by brief circumstances of parentage1 country1 or romantic incident1 they stand audaciously perking up their heads like lots in a catalogue1 arrow-headed palisades1 or young larches in a nursery ground1 all occupying the same space1 all drawn up in line1 all mere iterations of each other4 ,but in ',quintius1 ,fabricius1 ,curius1 ,regulus1' though certainly not a good line when insulated 7better1 however1 in its connection with the entire succession of which it forms part71 the apology is1 that the massy weight of the separate characters enables them to stand like granite pillars or pyramids1 proud of their self-supporting independency4 ,mr4 ,landor makes one correction by a simple improvement in the punctuation1 which has a very fine effect4 ,rarely has so large a result been distributed through a sentence by so slight a change4 ,it is in the ',samson4' ,samson says1 speaking of himself 7as elsewhere7 with that profound pathos1 which to all hearts invests ,milton's own situation in the days of his old age1 when he was composing that drama-- ',ask for this great deliverer now1 and find him ,eyeless in ,gaza at the mill with slaves4' ,thus it is usually printed2 that is1 without a comma in the latter line2 but1 says ,landor1 'there ought to be commas after eyeless1 after ,gaza1 after mill4' ,and why8 because thus 'the grief of ,samson is aggravated at every member of the sentence4' ,he 7like ,milton7 was--#a4 blind2 #b4 in a city of triumphant enemies2 #c4 working for daily bread2 #d4 herding with slaves2 ,samson literally1 and ,milton with those whom politically he regarded as such4 ,mr4 ,landor is perfectly wrong1 ,i must take the liberty of saying1 when he demurs to the line in ,paradise ,regained3 ',from that placid aspect and meek regard1' on the ground that2 'meek regard conveys no new idea to placid aspect4' ,but aspect is the countenance of ,christ when passive to the gaze of others3 regard is the same countenance in active contemplation of those others whom he loves or pities4 ,the placid aspect expresses1 therefore1 the divine rest2 the meek regard expresses the divine benignity3 the one is the self-absorption of the total ,godhead1 the other the eternal emanation of the ,filial ,godhead4 ',by what ingenuity1' says ,landor1 'can we erect into a verse-- ,in the bosom of bliss1 and light of light8' ,now really it is by my watch exactly three minutes too late for him to make that objection4 ,the court cannot receive it now2 for the line just this moment cited1 the ink being hardly yet dry1 is of the same identical structure4 ,the usual iambic flow is disturbed in both lines by the very same ripple1 viz41 a trochee in the second foot1 placid in the one line1 bosom in the other4 ,they are a sort of snags1 such as lie in the current of the ,mississippi4 ,there1 they do nothing but mischief4 ,here1 when the lines are read in their entire nexus1 the disturbance stretches forwards and backwards with good effect on the music4 ,besides1 if it did not1 one is willing to take a snag from ,milton1 but one does not altogether like being snagged by the ,mississippi4 ,one sees no particular reason for bearing it1 if one only knew how to be revenged on a river4 ,but1 of these metrical skirmishes1 though full of importance to the impassioned text of a great poet 7for mysterious is the life that connects all modes of passion with rhythmus71 let us suppose the casual reader to have had enough4 ,and now at closing for the sake of change1 let us treat him to a harlequin trick upon another theme4 ,did the reader ever happen to see a sheriff's officer arresting an honest gentleman1 who was doing no manner of harm to gentle or simple1 and immediately afterwards a second sheriff's officer arresting the first--by which means that second officer merits for himself a place in history2 for at the same moment he liberates a deserving creature 7since an arrested officer cannot possibly bag his prisoner71 and he also avenges the insult put upon that worthy man8 ,perhaps the reader did not ever see such a sight2 and1 growing personal1 he asks me1 in return1 if ,i ever saw it4 ,to say the truth1 ,i never did2 except once1 in a too-flattering dream2 and though ,i applauded so loudly as even to waken myself1 and shouted 'encore1' yet all went for nothing2 and ,i am still waiting for that splendid exemplification of retributive justice4 ,but why8 ,why should it be a spectacle so uncommon8 ,for surely those official arresters of men must want arresting at times as well as better people4 ,at least1 however1 en attendant one may luxuriate in the vision of such a thing2 and the reader shall now see such a vision rehearsed4 ,he shall see ,mr4 ,landor arresting ,milton--,milton1 of all men6-- for a flaw in his ,roman erudition2 and then he shall see me instantly stepping up1 tapping ,mr4 ,landor on the shoulder1 and saying1 ',officer1 you're wanted2' whilst to ,milton ,i say1 touching my hat1 ',now1 sir1 be off2 run for your life1 whilst ,i hold his man in custody1 lest he should fasten on you again4' ,what ,milton had said1 speaking of the 'watchful cherubim1' was-- ',four faces each ,had1 like a double ,janus2' ,upon which ,southey--but1 of course1 ,landor1 ventriloquizing through ,southey--says1 ',better left this to the imagination3 double ,januses are queer figures4' ,not at all4 ,on the contrary1 they became so common1 that finally there were no other4 ,rome1 in her days of childhood1 contented herself with a two-faced ,janus2 but1 about the time of the first or second ,caesar1 a very ancient statue of ,janus was exhumed1 which had four faces4 ,ever afterwards1 this sacred resurgent statue became the model for any possible ,janus that could show himself in good company4 ,the quadrifrons ,janus was now the orthodox ,janus2 and it would have been as much a sacrilege to rob him of any single face as to rob a king's statue #b of its horse4 ,one thing may recall this to ,mr4 ,landor's memory4 ,i think it was ,nero1 but certainly it was one of the first six ,caesars1 that built1 or that finished1 a magnificent temple to ,janus2 and each face was so managed as to point down an avenue leading to a separate market-place4 ,now1 that there were four market-places1 ,i will make oath before any ,justice of the ,peace4 ,one was called the ,forum ,julium1 one the ,forum ,augustum1 a third the ,forum ,transitorium3 what the fourth was called is best known to itself1 for really ,i forget4 ,but if anybody says that perhaps it was called the ,forum ,landorium1 ,i am not the man to object2 for few names have deserved such an honor more1 whether from those that then looked forward into futurity with one face1 or from our posterity that will look back into the vanishing past with another4 ,,footnotes #a ,squatters3--,they are a sort of self-elected warming-pans4 ,what we in ,england mean by the political term 'warming-pans1' are men who occupy1 by consent1 some official place1 or ,parliamentary seat1 until the proper claimant is old enough in law to assume his rights4 ,when the true man comes to bed1 the warming-pan respectfully turns out4 ,but these ultra-marine warming-pans wouldn't turn out4 ,they showed fight1 and wouldn't hear of the true man1 even as a bed-fellow4 #b ,a king's statue3--,till very lately the etiquette of ,europe was1 that none but royal persons could have equestrian statues4 ,lord ,hopetoun1 the reader will object1 is allowed to have a horse1 in ,st4 ,andrew's ,square1 ,edinburgh4 ,true1 but observe that he is not allowed to mount him4 ,the first person1 so far as ,i remember1 that1 not being royal1 has1 in our island1 seated himself comfortably in the saddle1 is the ,duke of ,wellington4 ,,falsification ,,of ,,english ,,history4 ,i am myself1 and always have been1 a member of the ,church of ,england1 and am grieved to hear the many attacks against the ,church frequently most illiberal attacks1 which not so much religion as political rancor gives birth to in every third journal that ,i take up4 ,this ,i say to acquit myself of all dishonorable feelings1 such as ,i would abhor to co-operate with1 in bringing a very heavy charge against that great body in its literary capacity4 ,whosoever has reflected on the history of the ,english constitution--must be aware that the most important stage of its development lies within the reign of ,charles ,i4 ,it is true that the judicial execution of that prince has been allowed by many persons to vitiate all that was done by the heroic parliament of ,november1 #afdj3 and the ordinary histories of ,england assume as a matter of course that the whole period of parliamentary history through those times is to be regarded as a period of confusion4 ,our constitution1 say they1 was formed in #afhh-i4 ,meantime it is evident to any reflecting man that the revolution simply re-affirmed the principles developed in the strife between the two great parties which had arisen in the reign of ,james ,i41 and had ripened and come to issue with each other in the reign of his son4 ,our constitution was not a birth of a single instant1 as they would represent it1 but a gradual growth and development through a long tract of time4 ,in particular the doctrine of the king's vicarious responsibility in the person of his ministers1 which first gave a sane and salutary meaning to the doctrine of the king's personal irresponsibility ',the king can do no wrong'1 arose undeniably between #afdj and #afdh4 ,this doctrine is the main pillar of our constitution1 and perhaps the finest discovery that was ever made in the theory of government4 ,hitherto the doctrine that the ,king can do no wrong had been used not to protect the indispensable sanctity of the king's constitutional character1 but to protect the wrong4 ,used in this way1 it was a maxim of ,oriental despotism1 and fit only for a nation where law had no empire4 ,many of the illustrious patriots of the ,great ,parliament saw this2 and felt the necessity of abolishing a maxim so fatal to the just liberties of the people4 ,but some of them fell into the opposite error of supposing that this abolition could be effected only by the direct negation of it2 their maxim accordingly was--',the king can do wrong1' i4e4 is responsible in his own person4 ,in this great error even the illustrious wife of ,colonel ,hutchinson participated2 #a and accordingly she taxes those of her own party who scrupled to accede to the new maxim1 and still adhered to the old one1 with unconscientious dealing4 ,but she misapprehended their meaning1 and failed to see where they laid the emphasis3 the emphasis was not laid1 as it was by the royal party1 on the words 'can do no wrong'--but on ',the king3' that is1 wrong may be done2 and in the king's name2 but it cannot be the king who did it the king cannot constitutionally be supposed the person who did it4 ,by this exquisite political refinement1 the old tyrannical maxim was disarmed of its sting2 and the entire redress of all wrong1 so indispensable to the popular liberty1 was brought into perfect reconciliation with the entire inviolability of the sovereign1 which is no less indispensable to the popular liberty4 ,there is moreover a double wisdom in the new sense3 for not only is one object the redress of wrong secured in conjunction with another object the king's inviolability hitherto held irreconcilable1-- but even with a view to the first object alone a much more effectual means is applied1 because one which leads to no schism in the state1 than could have been applied by the blank negation of the maxim2 i4e4 by lodging the responsibility exactly where the executive power ergo the power of resisting this responsibility was lodged4 ,here then is one example in illustration of my thesis--that the ,english constitution was in a great measure gradually evolved in the contest between the different parties in the reign of ,charles ,i4 ,now1 if this be so1 it follows that for constitutional history no period is so important as that3 and indeed1 though it is true that the ,revolution is the great era for the constitutional historian1 because he there first finds the constitution fully developed as the 'bright consummate flower1' and what is equally important he there first finds the principles of our constitution ratified by a competent authority1--yet1 to trace the root and growth of the constitution1 the three reigns immediately preceding are still more properly the objects of his study4 ,in proportion then as the reign of ,charles ,i4 is ,important to the history of our constitution1 in that proportion are those to be taxed with the most dangerous of all possible falsifications of our history1 who have misrepresented either the facts or the principles of those times4 ,now ,i affirm that the clergy of the ,church of ,england have been in a perpetual conspiracy since the era of the restoration to misrepresent both4 ,as an illustration of what ,i mean ,i refer to the common edition of ,hudibras by ,dr4 ,grey3 for the proof ,i might refer to some thousands of books4 ,dr4 ,grey's is a disgusting case3 for he swallowed with the most anile credulity every story1 the most extravagant that the malice of those times could invent against either the ,presbyterians or the ,independents3 and for this ,i suppose amongst other deformities his notes were deservedly ridiculed by ,warburton4 ,but1 amongst hundreds of illustrations more respectable than ,dr4 ,grey's ,i will refer the reader to a work of our own days1 the ,ecclesiastical ,biography in part a republication of ,walton's ,lives edited by the present master of ,trinity ,college1 ,cambridge1 who is held in the highest esteem wherever he is known1 and is ,i am persuaded perfectly conscientious and as impartial as in such a case it is possible for a high churchman to be4 ,yet so it is that there is scarcely one of the notes having any political reference to the period of #afdj-affj1 which is not disfigured by unjust prejudices3 and the amount of the moral which the learned editor grounds upon the documents before him--is this1 that the young student is to cherish the deepest abhorrence and contempt of all who had any share on the parliamentary side in the 'confusions' of the period from #afdj to #affj3 that is to say of men to whose immortal exertions it was owing that the very revolution of #afhh1 which ,dr4 ,w4 will be the first to applaud1 found us with any such stock of political principles or feelings as could make a beneficial revolution possible4 ,where1 let me ask1 would have been the willingness of some ,tories to construe the flight of ,james ,,ii4 into a virtual act of abdication1 or to consider even the most formal act of abdication binding against the king1-had not the great struggle of ,charles's days gradually substituted in the minds of all parties a rational veneration of the king's office for the old superstition in behalf of the king's person1 which would have protected him from the effects of any acts however solemnly performed which affected injuriously either his own interests or the liberties of his people4 ,tempora mutantur3 nos et mutamur in illis4 ,those whom we find in fierce opposition to the popular party about #afdj we find still in the same personal opposition fifty years after1 but an opposition resting on far different principles3 insensibly the principles of their antagonists had reached even them3 and a courtier of #afhi was willing to concede more than a patriot of #afcj would have ventured to ask4 ,let me not be understood to mean that true patriotism is at all more shown in supporting the rights of the people than those of the king3 as soon as both are defined and limited1 the last are as indispensable to the integrity of the constitution--as the first3 and popular freedom itself would suffer as much1 though indirectly1 from an invasion of ,caesar's rights--as by a more direct attack on itself4 ,but in the #agth century the rights of the people were as yet not defined3 throughout that century they were gradually defining themselves--and1 as happiness to all great practical interests1 defining themselves through a course of fierce and bloody contests4 ,for the kingly rights are almost inevitably carried too high in ages of imperfect civilization3 and the well-known laws of ,henry the ,seventh1 by which he either broke or gradually sapped the power of the aristocracy1 had still more extravagantly exalted them4 ,on this account it is just to look upon democratic or popular politics as identical in the #agth century with patriotic politics4 ,in later periods1 the democrat and the patriot have sometimes been in direct opposition to each other3 at that period they were inevitably in conjunction4 ,all this1 however1 is in general overlooked by those who either write ,english history or comment upon it4 ,most writers of or upon ,english history proceed either upon servile principles1 or upon no principles3 and a good ,spirit of ,english ,history1 that is1 a history which should abstract the tendencies and main results as to laws1 manners1 and constitution from every age of ,english history1 is a work which ,i hardly hope to see executed4 ,for it would require the concurrence of some philosophy1 with a great deal of impartiality4 ,how idly do we say1 in speaking of the events of our own time which affect our party feelings1--',we stand too near to these events for an impartial estimate3 we must leave them to the judgment of posterity6' ,for it is a fact that of the many books of memoirs written by persons who were not merely contemporary with the great civil war1 but actors and even leaders in its principal scenes--there is hardly one which does not exhibit a more impartial picture of that great drama than the histories written at his day4 ,the historian of ,popery does not display half so much zealotry and passionate prejudice in speaking of the many events which have affected the power and splendor of the ,papal ,see for the last thirty years1 and under his own eyes1 as he does when speaking of a reformer who lived three centuries ago--of a translator of the ,bible into a vernacular tongue who lived nearly five centuries ago--of an ,anti-pope--of a ,charlemagne or a ,gregory the ,great still further removed from himself4 ,the recent events he looks upon as accidental and unessential3 but in the great enemies1 or great founders of the ,romish temporal power1 and in the history of their actions and their motives1 he feels that the whole principle of the ,romish cause and its pretensions are at stake4 ,pretty much under the same feeling have modern writers written with a rancorous party spirit of the political struggles in the #agth century3 here they fancy that they can detect the incunabula of the revolutionary spirit3 here some have been so sharpsighted as to read the features of pure jacobinism3 and others #b have gone so far as to assert that all the atrocities of the ,french revolution had their direct parallelisms in acts done or countenanced by the virtuous and august ,senate of ,england in #afdj6 ,strange distortion of the understanding which can thus find a brotherly resemblance between two great historical events1 which of all that ever were put on record stand off from each other in most irreconcilable enmity3 the one originating1 as ,mr4 ,coleridge has observed1 in excess of principle2 the other in the utter defect of all moral principle whatever2 and the progress of each being answerable to its origin6 ,yet so it is4 ,and not a memoir-writer of that age is reprinted in this1 but we have a preface from some red-hot ,anti- jacobin warning us with much vapid common-place from the mischiefs and eventual anarchy of too rash a spirit of reform as displayed in the ,french revolution--not by the example of that ,french revolution1 but by that of our own in the age of ,charles ,i4 ,the following passage from the ,introduction to ,sir ,william ,waller's ,vindication published in #agic1 may serve as a fair instance3 ',he' 7,sir ,w4 ,waller7 'was1 indeed1 at length sensible of the misery which he had contributed to bring on his country2' 7by the way1 it is a suspicious circumstance--that ,sir ,william #c first became sensible that his country was miserable1 when he became sensible that he himself was not likely to be again employed2 and became fully convinced of it1 when his party lost their ascendancy37 'he was convinced1 by fatal experience1 that anarchy was a bad step towards a perfect government2 that the subversion of every establishment was no safe foundation for a permanent and regular constitution3 he found that pretences of reform were held up by the designing to dazzle the eyes of the unwary1 c42 he found in short that reformation1 by popular insurrection1 must end in the destruction and cannot tend to the formation of a regular ,government4' ,after a good deal more of this well-meaning cant1 the ,introduction concludes with the following sentence3--the writer is addressing the reformers of #agic1 amongst whom--'both leaders and followers1' he says1 'may together reflect--that1 upon speculative and visionary reformers1' 7i4e4 those of #afdj7 'the severest punishment which ,god in his vengeance ever yet inflicted--was to curse them with the complete gratification of their own inordinate desires4' ,i quote this passage--not as containing any thing singular1 but for the very reason that it is not singular3 it expresses in fact the universal opinion3 notwithstanding which ,i am happy to say that it is false4 ,what 'complete gratification of their own desires' was ever granted to the 'reformers' in question8 ,on the contrary1 it is well known 7and no book illustrates that particular fact so well as ,sir ,william ,waller's7 that as early as #afdg the army had too effectually subverted the just relations between itself and parliament--not to have suggested fearful anticipations to all discerning patriots of that unhappy issue which did in reality blight their prospects4 ,and1 when ,i speak of an 'unhappy issue1' ,i would be understood only of the immediate issue3 for the remote issue was--the revolution of #afhh1 as ,i have already asserted4 ,neither is it true that even the immediate issue was 'unhappy' to any extent which can justify the ordinary language in which it is described4 ,here again is a world of delusions4 ,we hear of 'anarchy1' of 'confusions1' of 'proscriptions1' of 'bloody and ferocious tyranny4' ,all is romance2 there was no anarchy2 no confusions2 no proscriptions2 no tyranny in the sense designed4 ,the sequestrations1 forfeitures1 and punishments of all sorts which were inflicted by the conquering party on their antagonists--went on by due course of law2 and the summary justice of courts martial was not resorted to in ,england3 except for the short term of the two wars1 and the brief intermediate campaign of #afdh1 the country was in a very tranquil state4 ,nobody was punished without an open trial2 and all trials proceeded in the regular course1 according to the ancient forms1 and in the regular courts of justice4 ,and as to 'tyranny1' which is meant chiefly of the acts of ,cromwell's government1 it should be remembered that the ,protectorate lasted not a quarter of the period in question 7#afdj-affj72 a fact which is constantly forgotten even by very eminent writers1 who speak as though ,cromwell had drawn his sword in ,january #afdi--;cut off the king's head-- instantly mounted his throne--and continued to play the tyrant for the whole remaining period of his life 7nearly ten years74 ,secondly1 as to the kind of tyranny which ,cromwell exercised1 the misconception is ludicrous3 continental writers have a notion1 well justified by the language of ,english writers1 that ,cromwell was a ferocious savage who built his palace of human skulls and desolated his country4 ,meantime1 he was simply a strong-minded--rough-built ,englishman1 with a character thoroughly ,english1 and exceedingly good-natured4 ,gray valued himself upon his critical knowledge of ,english history3 yet how thoughtlessly does he express the abstract of ,cromwell's life in the line on the village ,cromwell--',some ,cromwell1 guiltless of his country's blood6' ,how was ,cromwell guilty of his country's blood8 ,what blood did he cause to be shed8 ,a great deal was shed no doubt in the wars 7though less1 by the way1 than is imagined73 but in those ,cromwell was but a servant of the parliament3 and no one will allege that he had any hand in causing a single war4 ,after he attained the sovereign power1 no more domestic wars arose3 and as to a few persons who were executed for plots and conspiracies against his person1 they were condemned upon evidence openly given and by due course of law4 ,with respect to the general character of his government1 it is evident that in the unsettled and revolutionary state of things which follows a civil war some critical cases will arise to demand an occasional 'vigor beyond the law'--such as the ,roman government allowed of in the dictatorial power4 ,but in general1 ,cromwell's government was limited by law3 and no reign in that century1 prior to the revolution1 furnishes fewer instances of attempts to tamper with the laws --to overrule them--to twist them to private interpretations--or to dispense with them4 ,as to his major-generals of counties1 who figure in most histories of ,england as so many ,ali ,pachas that impaled a few prisoners every morning before breakfast--or rather as so many ogres that ate up good ,christian men1 women and children alive1 they were disagreeable people who were disliked much in the same way as our commissioners of the income-tax were disliked in the memory of us all2 and heartily they would have laughed at the romantic and bloody masquerade in which they are made to figure in the ,english histories4 ,what then was the 'tyranny' of ,cromwell's government1 which is confessedly complained of even in those days8 ,the word 'tyranny' was then applied not so much to the mode in which his power was administered 7except by the prejudiced7--as to its origin4 ,however mercifully a man may reign1--yet1 if he have no right to reign at all1 we may in one sense call him a tyrant2 his power not being justly derived1 and resting upon an unlawful 7i4e4 a military7 basis4 ,as a usurper1 and one who had diverted the current of a grand national movement to selfish and personal objects1 ,cromwell was and will be called a tyrant2 but not in the more obvious sense of the word4 ,such are the misleading statements which disfigure the ,history of ,england in its most important chapter4 ,they mislead by more than a simple error of fact3 those1 which ,i have noticed last1 involve a moral anachronism2 for they convey images of cruelty and barbarism such as could not co-exist with the national civilization at that time2 and whosoever has not corrected this false picture by an acquaintance with the ,english literature of that age1 must necessarily image to himself a state of society as rude and uncultured as that which prevailed during the wars of ,york and ,lancaster--i4e4 about two centuries earlier4 ,but those1 with which ,i introduced this article1 are still worse2 because they involve an erroneous view of constitutional history1 and a most comprehensive act of ingratitude3 the great men of the ,long ,parliament paid a heavy price for their efforts to purchase for their descendants a barrier to irresponsible power and security from the anarchy of undefined regal prerogative3 in these efforts most of them made shipwreck of their own tranquillity and peace2 that such sacrifices were made unavailingly 7as it must have seemed to themselves71 and that few of them lived to see the 'good old cause' finally triumphant1 does not cancel their claims upon our gratitude--but rather strengthen them by the degree in which it aggravated the difficulty of bearing such sacrifices with patience4 ,but whence come these falsifications of history8 ,i believe1 from two causes2 first 7as ,i have already said7 from the erroneous tone impressed upon the national history by the irritated spirit of the clergy of the established church3 to the religious zealotry of those times--the church was the object of especial attack2 and its members were naturally exposed to heavy sufferings3 hence their successors are indisposed to find my good in a cause which could lead to such a result4 ,it is their manifest right to sympathize with their own order in that day2 and in such a case it is almost their duty to be incapable of an entire impartiality4 ,meantime they have carried this much too far3 the literature of ,england must always be in a considerable proportion lodged in their hands2 and the extensive means thus placed at their disposal for injuriously coloring that important part of history they have used with no modesty or forbearance4 ,there is not a page of the national history even in its local subdivisions which they have not stained with the atrabilious hue of their wounded remembrances3 hardly a town in ,england1 which stood a siege for the king or the parliament1 but has some printed memorial of its constancy and its sufferings2 and in nine cases out of ten the editor is a clergyman of the established church1 who has contrived to deepen 'the sorrow of the time' by the harshness of his commentary4 ,surely it is high time that the wounds of the #agth century should close2 that history should take a more commanding and philosophic station2 and that brotherly charity should now lead us to a saner view of constitutional politics2 or a saner view of politics to a more comprehensive charity4 ,the other cause of this falsification springs out of a selfishness which has less claim to any indulgence--viz4 the timidity with which the ,english ,whigs of former days and the party to whom ,they #d succeeded1 constantly shrank from acknowledging any alliance with the great men of the ,long ,parliament under the nervous horror of being confounded with the regicides of #afdi4 ,it was of such urgent importance to them1 for any command over the public support1 that they should acquit themselves of an sentiment of lurking toleration for regicide1 with which their enemies never failed to load them1 that no mode of abjuring it seemed sufficiently emphatic to them hence it was that ,addison1 with a view to the interest of his party1 thought fit when in ,switzerland1 to offer a puny insult to the memory of ,general ,ludlow2 hence it is that even in our own days1 no writers have insulted ,milton with so much bitterness and shameless irreverence as the ,whigs2 though it is true that some few ,whigs1 more however in their literary than in their political character1 have stepped forward in his vindication4 ,at this moment ,i recollect a passage in the writings of a modern ,whig bishop--in which1 for the sake of creating a charge of falsehood against ,milton1 the author has grossly mis-translated a passage in the ,defensio pro ,pop4 ,anglicano3 and1 if that bishop were not dead1 ,i would here take the liberty of rapping his knuckles--were it only for breaking ,priscian's head4 ,to return over to the clerical feud against the ,long ,parliament1--it was a passage in a very pleasing work of this day 7,ecclesiastical ,biography7 which suggested to me the whole of what ,i have now written4 ,its learned editor1 who is incapable of uncandid feelings except in what concerns the interests of his order1 has adopted the usual tone in regard to the men of #afdj throughout his otherwise valuable annotations3 and somewhere or other 7in the ,life of ,hammond1 according to my remembrance7 he has made a statement to this effect--,that the custom prevalent among children in that age of asking their parents' blessing was probably first brought into disuse by the ,puritans4 ,is it possible to imagine a perversity of prejudice more unreasonable8 ,the unamiable side of the patriotic character in the seventeenth century was unquestionably its religious bigotry2 which1 however1 had its ground in a real fervor of religious feeling and a real strength of religious principle somewhat exceeding the ordinary standard of the #aith century4 ,but1 however palliated1 their bigotry is not to be denied2 it was often offensive from its excess2 and ludicrous in its direction4 ,many harmless customs1 many ceremonies and rituals that had a high positive value1 their frantic intolerance quarrelled with3 and for my part ,i heartily join in the sentiment of ,charles ,,ii4--applying it as he did1 but a good deal more extensively1 that their religion 'was not a religion for a gentleman3' indeed all sectarianism1 but especially that which has a modern origin-- arising and growing up within our own memories1 unsupported by a grand traditional history of persecutions--conflicts--and martyrdoms1 lurking moreover in blind alleys1 holes1 corners1 and tabernacles1 must appear spurious and mean in the eyes of him who has been bred up in the grand classic forms of the ,church of ,england or the ,church of ,rome4 ,but1 because the bigotry of the ,puritans was excessive and revolting1 is that a reason for fastening upon them all the stray evils of omission or commission for which no distinct fathers can be found8 ,the learned editor does not pretend that there is any positive evidence1 or presumption even1 for imputing to the ,puritans a dislike to the custom in question3 but1 because he thinks it a good custom1 his inference is that nobody could have abolished it but the ,puritans4 ,now who does not see that1 if this had been amongst the usages discountenanced by the ,puritans1 it would on that account have been the more pertinaciously maintained by their enemies in church and state8 ,or1 even if this usage were of a nature to be prohibited by authority1 as the public use of the liturgy--organs--surplices1 c41 who does not see that with regard to that as well as to other ,puritanical innovations there would have been a reflux of zeal in the restoration of the king which would have established them in more strength than ever8 ,but it is evident to the unprejudiced that the usage in question gradually went out in submission to the altered spirit of the times4 ,it was one feature of a general system of manners1 fitted by its piety and simplicity for a pious and simple age1 and which therefore even the #agth century had already outgrown4 ,it is not to be inferred that filial affection and reverence have decayed amongst us1 because they no longer express themselves in the same way4 ,in an age of imperfect culture1 all passions and emotions are in a more elementary state--'speak a plainer language'--and express themselves externally3 in such an age the frame and constitution of society is more picturesque2 the modes of life rest more undisguisedly upon the basis of the absolute and original relation of things3 the son is considered in his sonship1 the father in his fatherhood3 and the manners take an appropriate coloring4 ,up to the middle of the #agth century there were many families in which the children never presumed to sit down in their parents' presence4 ,but with us1 in an age of more complete intellectual culture1 a thick disguise is spread over the naked foundations of human life2 and the instincts of good taste banish from good company the expression of all the profounder emotions4 ,a son therefore1 who should kneel down in this age to ask his papa's blessing on leaving town for ,brighton or ,bath--would be felt by himself to be making a theatrical display of filial duty1 such as would be painful to him in proportion as his feelings were sincere4 ,all this would have been evident to the learned editor in any case but one which regarded the ,puritans3 they were at any rate to be molested3 in default of any graver matter1 a mere fanciful grievance is searched out4 ,still1 however1 nothing was effected2 fanciful or real1 the grievance must be connected with the ,puritans3 here lies the offence1 there lies the ,puritans3 it would be very agreeable to find some means of connecting the one with the other3 but how shall this be done8 ,why1 in default of all other means1 the learned editor assumes the connection4 ,he leaves the reader with an impression that the ,puritans are chargeable with a serious wound to the manners of the nation in a point affecting the most awful of the household charities3 and he fails to perceive that for this whole charge his sole ground is-- that it would be very agreeable to him if he had a ground4 ,such is the power of the esprit de corps to palliate and recommend as colorable the very weakest logic to a man of acknowledged learning and talent6--,in conclusion ,i must again disclaim any want of veneration and entire affection for the ,established ,church3 the very prejudices and injustice1 with which ,i tax the ,english clergy1 have a generous origin3 but it is right to point the attention of historical students to their strength and the effect which they have had4 ,they have been indulged to excess2 they have disfigured the grandest page in ,english history2 they have hid the true descent and tradition of our constitutional history2 and1 by impressing upon the literature of the country a false conception of the patriotic party in and out of ,parliament1 they have stood in the way of a great work1--a work which1 according to my ideal of it1 would be the most useful that could just now be dedicated to the ,english public--viz4 a philosophic record of the revolutions of ,english ,history4 ,the ,english ,constitution1 as proclaimed and ratified in #afhh-i1 is in its kind1 the noblest work of the human mind working in conjunction with ,time1 and what in such a case we may allowably call ,providence4 ,of this chef d'oeuvre of human wisdom it were desirable that we should have a proportionable history3 for such a history the great positive qualification would be a philosophic mind3 the great negative qualification would be this which to the established clergy may now be recommended as a fit subject for their magnanimity2 viz4 complete conquest over those prejudices which have hitherto discolored the greatest era of patriotic virtue by contemplating the great men of that era under their least happy aspect--namely1 in relation to the ,established ,church4 ,now that ,i am on the subject of ,english ,history1 ,i will notice one of the thousand mis-statements of ,hume's which becomes a memorable one from the stress which he has laid upon it1 and from the manner and situation in which he has introduced it4 ,standing in the current of a narrative1 it would have merited a silent correction in an unpretending note3 but it occupies a much more assuming station2 for it is introduced in a philosophical essay2 and being relied on for a particular purpose with the most unqualified confidence1 and being alleged in opposition to the very highest authority viz4 the authority of an eminent person contemporary with the fact it must be looked on as involving a peremptory defiance to all succeeding critics who might hesitate between the authority of ,mr4 ,hume at the distance of a century from the facts and ,sir ,william ,temple speaking to them as a matter within his personal recollections4 ,sir ,william ,temple had represented himself as urging in a conversation with ,charles ,,ii41 the hopelessness of any attempt on the part of an ,english king to make himself a despotic and absolute monarch1 except indeed through the affections of his people4 #e ,this general thesis he had supported by a variety of arguments2 and1 amongst the rest1 he had described himself as urging this--that even ,cromwell had been unable to establish himself in unlimited power1 though supported by a military force of eighty thousand men4 ,upon this ,hume calls the reader's attention to the extreme improbability which there must beforehand appear to be in supposing that ,sir ,w4 ,temple1--speaking of so recent a case1 with so much official knowledge of that case at his command1 uncontradicted moreover by the king whose side in the argument gave him an interest in contradicting ,sir ,william's statement1 and whose means of information were paramount to those of all others1--could under these circumstances be mistaken4 ,doubtless1 the reader will reply to ,mr4 ,hume1 the improbability is extreme1 and scarcely to be invalidated by any possible authority--which1 at best1 must terminate in leaving an equilibrium of opposing evidence4 ,and yet1 says ,mr4 ,hume1 ,sir ,william was unquestionably wrong1 and grossly wrong3 ,cromwell never had an army at all approaching to the number of eighty thousand4 ,now here is a sufficient proof that ,hume had never read ,lord ,clarendon's account of his own life3 this book is not so common as his ',history of the ,rebellion2' and ,hume had either not met with it1 or had neglected it4 ,for1 in the early part of this work1 ,lord ,clarendon1 speaking of the army which was assembled on ,blackheath to welcome the return of ,charles ,,ii41 says that it amounted to fifty thousand men3 and1 when it is remembered that this army was exclusive of the troops in garrison--of the forces left by ,monk in the ,north--and above all of the entire army in ,ireland1--it cannot be doubted that the whole would amount to the number stated by ,sir ,william ,temple4 ,indeed ,charles ,,ii4 himself1 in the year #afgh i4e4 about four years after this conversation as ,sir ,w4 ,temple elsewhere tells us1 'in six weeks' time raised an army of twenty thousand men1 the completest--and in all appearance the bravest troops that could be any where seen1 and might have raised many more2 and it was confessed by all the ,foreign ,ministers that no king in ,christendom could have made and completed such a levy as this appeared in such a time4' ,william ,,iii4 again1 about eleven years afterwards1 raised twenty- three regiments with the same ease and in the same space of six weeks4 ,it may be objected indeed to such cases1 as in fact it was objected to the case of ,william ,,iii4 by ,howlett in his sensible ,examination of ,dr4 ,price's ,essay on the ,population of ,england1 that1 in an age when manufactures were so little extended1 it could ever have been difficult to make such a levy of men--provided there were funds for paying and equipping them4 ,but1 considering the extraordinary funds which were disposable for this purpose in ,ireland1 c4 during the period of ,cromwell's ,protectorate1 we may very safely allow the combined authority of ,sir ,william ,temple--of the king--and of that very prime minister who disbanded ,cromwell's army1 to outweigh the single authority of ,hume at the distance of a century from the facts4 ,upon any question of fact1 indeed1 ,hume's authority is none at all4 ,,footnotes4 #a ,this is remarked by her editor and descendant ,julius ,hutchinson1 who adds some words to this effect--'that if the patriot of that day were the inventors of the maxim ,the king can do no wrong1 we are much indebted to them4' ,the patriots certainly did not invent the maxim1 for they found it already current3 but they gave it its new and constitutional sense4 ,i refer to the book1 however1 as ,i do to almost all books in these notes1 from memory2 writing most of them in situations where ,i have no access to books4 ,by the way1 ,charles ,i41 who used the maxim in the most odious sense1 furnished the most colorable excuse for his own execution4 ,he constantly maintained the irresponsibility of his ministers3 but1 if that were conceded1 it would then follow that the king must be made responsible in his own person3--and that construction led of necessity to his trial and death4 #b ,amongst these ,mr4 ,d',israeli in one of the latter volumes of his ',curiosities of ,literature' has dedicated a chapter or so to a formal proof of this proposition4 ,a reader who is familiar with the history of that age comes to the chapter with a previous indignation1 knowing what sort of proof he has to expect4 ,this indignation is not likely to be mitigated by what he will there find4 ,because some one madman1 fool1 or scoundrel makes a monstrous proposal--which dies of itself unsupported1 and is in violent contrast to all the acts and the temper of those times1 --this is to sully the character of the parliament and three-fourths of the people of ,england4 ,if this proposal had grown out of the spirit of the age1 that spirit would have produced many more proposals of the same character and acts corresponding to them4 ,yet upon this one infamous proposal1 and two or three scandalous anecdotes from the libels of the day1 does the whole onus of ,mr4 ,d',israeli's parallel depend4 ,tantamne rem tam negligenter8--in the general character of an ,englishman ,i have a right to complain that so heavy an attack upon the honor of ,england and her most virtuous patriots in her most virtuous age should be made with so much levity3 a charge so solemn in its matter should have been prosecuted with a proportionate solemnity of manner4 ,mr4 ,d',israeli refers with just applause to the opinions of ,mr4 ,coleridge3 ,i wish that he would have allowed a little more weight to the striking passage in which that gentleman contrasts the ,french revolution with the ,english revolution of #afdj-h4 ,however1 the general tone of honor and upright principle1 which marks ,mr4 ,d',israeli's' work1 encourages me and others to hope that he will cancel the chapter--and not persist in wounding the honor of a great people for the sake of a parallelism1 which--even if it were true--is a thousand times too slight and feebly supported to satisfy the most accommodating reader4 #c ,sir ,william and his cousin ,sir ,hardress ,waller1 were both remarkable men4 ,sir ,hardress had no conscience at all2 ,sir ,william a very scrupulous one2 which1 however1 he was for ever tampering with--and generally succeeded in reducing into compliance with his immediate interest4 ,he was1 however1 an accomplished gentleman3 and as a man of talents worthy of the highest admiration4 #d ,until after the year #afhh1 ,i do not remember ever to have found the term ,whig applied except to the religious characteristics of that party3 whatever reference it might have to their political distinctions was only secondary and by implication4 #e ,sir ,william had quoted to ,charles a saying from ,gourville 7a ,frenchman whom the king esteemed1 and whom ,sir ,william himself considered the only foreigner he had ever known that understood ,england7 to this effect3 ',that a king of ,england who will be the man of his people1 is the greatest king in the world2 but1 if he will be something more1 by ,g-- he is nothing at all4' ,a ,,peripatetic ,,philosopher4 ,he was a man of very extraordinary genius4 ,he has generally been treated by those who have spoken of him in print as a madman4 ,but this is a mistake and must have been founded chiefly on the titles of his books4 ,he was a man of fervid mind and of sublime aspirations3 but he was no madman2 or1 if he was1 then ,i say that it is so far desirable to be a madman4 ,in #agih or #agii1 when ,i must have been about thirteen years old1 ,walking ,stewart was in ,bath--where my family at that time resided4 ,he frequented the pump-room1 and ,i believe all public places--walking up and down1 and dispersing his philosophic opinions to the right and the left1 like a ,grecian philosopher4 ,the first time ,i saw him was at a concert in the ,upper ,rooms2 he was pointed out to me by one of my party as a very eccentric man who had walked over the habitable globe4 ,i remember that ,madame ,mara was at that moment singing3 and ,walking ,stewart1 who was a true lover of music 7as ,i afterwards came to know71 was hanging upon her notes like a bee upon a jessamine flower4 ,his countenance was striking1 and expressed the union of benignity with philosophic habits of thought4 ,in such health had his pedestrian exercises preserved him1 connected with his abstemious mode of living1 that though he must at that time have been considerably above forty1 he did not look older than twenty-eight2 at least the face which remained upon my recollection for some years was that of a young man4 ,nearly ten years afterwards ,i became acquainted with him4 ,during the interval ,i had picked up one of his works in ,bristol1--viz4 his ,travels to discover the ,source of ,moral ,motion1 the second volume of which is entitled ,the ,apocalypse of ,nature4 ,i had been greatly impressed by the sound and original views which in the first volume he had taken of the national characters throughout ,europe4 ,in particular he was the first1 and so far as ,i know the only writer who had noticed the profound error of ascribing a phlegmatic character to the ,english nation4 ',english phlegm' is the constant expression of authors when contrasting the ,english with the ,french4 ,now the truth is1 that1 beyond that of all other nations1 it has a substratum of profound passion3 and1 if we are to recur to the old doctrine of temperaments1 the ,english character must be classed not under the phlegmatic but under the melancholic temperament2 and the ,french under the sanguine4 ,the character of a nation may be judged of in this particular by examining its idiomatic language4 ,the ,french1 in whom the lower forms of passion are constantly bubbling up from the shallow and superficial character of their feelings1 have appropriated all the phrases of passion to the service of trivial and ordinary life3 and hence they have no language of passion for the service of poetry or of occasions really demanding it3 for it has been already enfeebled by continual association with cases of an unimpassioned order4 ,but a character of deeper passion has a perpetual standard in itself1 by which as by an instinct it tries all cases1 and rejects the language of passion as disproportionate and ludicrous where it is not fully justified4 ',ah ,heavens6' or ',oh my ,god6' are exclamations with us so exclusively reserved for cases of profound interest1--that on hearing a woman even 7i4e4 a person of the sex most easily excited7 utter such words1 we look round expecting to see her child in some situation of danger4 ,but1 in ,france1 ',ciel6' and ',oh mon ,dieu6' are uttered by every woman if a mouse does but run across the floor4 ,the ignorant and the thoughtless1 however1 will continue to class the ,english character under the phlegmatic temperament1 whilst the philosopher will perceive that it is the exact polar antithesis to a phlegmatic character4 ,in this conclusion1 though otherwise expressed and illustrated1 ,walking ,stewart's view of the ,english character will be found to terminate3 and his opinion is especially valuable--first and chiefly1 because he was a philosopher2 secondly1 because his acquaintance with man civilized and uncivilized1 under all national distinctions1 was absolutely unrivalled4 ,meantime1 this and others of his opinions were expressed in language that if literally construed would often appear insane or absurd4 ,the truth is1 his long intercourse with foreign nations had given something of a hybrid tincture to his diction2 in some of his works1 for instance1 he uses the ,french word helas6 uniformly for the ,english alas6 and apparently with no consciousness of his mistake4 ,he had also this singularity about him --that he was everlastingly metaphysicizing against metaphysics4 ,to me1 who was buried in metaphysical reveries from my earliest days1 this was not likely to be an attraction any more than the vicious structure of his diction was likely to please my scholarlike taste4 ,all grounds of disgust1 however1 gave way before my sense of his powerful merits2 and1 as ,i have said1 ,i sought his acquaintance4 ,coming up to ,london from ,oxford about #ahjg or #ahjh ,i made inquiries about him2 and found that he usually read the papers at a coffee-room in ,piccadilly3 understanding that he was poor1 it struck me that he might not wish to receive visits at his lodgings1 and therefore ,i sought him at the coffee-room4 ,here ,i took the liberty of introducing myself to him4 ,he received me courteously1 and invited me to his rooms--which at that time were in ,sherrard-street1 ,golden-square--a street already memorable to me4 ,i was much struck with the eloquence of his conversation2 and afterwards ,i found that ,mr4 ,wordsworth1 himself the most eloquent of men in conversation1 had been equally struck when he had met him at ,paris between the years #agij and #agib1 during the early storms of the ,french revolution4 ,in ,sherrard-street ,i visited him repeatedly1 and took notes of the conversations ,i had with him on various subjects4 ,these ,i must have somewhere or other2 and ,i wish ,i could introduce them here1 as they would interest the reader4 ,occasionally in these conversations1 as in his books1 he introduced a few notices of his private history3 in particular ,i remember his telling me that in the ,east ,indies he had been a prisoner of ,hyder's3 that he had escaped with some difficulty2 and that1 in the service of one of the native princes as secretary or interpreter1 he had accumulated a small fortune4 ,this must have been too small1 ,i fear1 at that time to allow him even a philosopher's comforts3 for some part of it1 invested in the ,french funds1 had been confiscated4 ,i was grieved to see a man of so much ability1 of gentlemanly manners1 and refined habits1 and with the infirmity of deafness1 suffering under such obvious privations2 and ,i once took the liberty1 on a fit occasion presenting itself1 of requesting that he would allow me to send him some books which he had been casually regretting that he did not possess2 for ,i was at that time in the hey-day of my worldly prosperity4 ,this offer1 however1 he declined with firmness and dignity1 though not unkindly4 ,and ,i now mention it1 because ,i have seen him charged in print with a selfish regard to his own pecuniary interest4 ,on the contrary1 he appeared to me a very liberal and generous man3 and ,i well remember that1 whilst he refused to accept of any thing from me1 he compelled me to receive as presents all the books which he published during my acquaintance with him3 two of these1 corrected with his own hand1 viz4 the ,lyre of ,apollo and the ,sophiometer1 ,i have lately found amongst other books left in ,london2 and others he forwarded to me in ,westmoreland4 ,in #ahji ,i saw him often3 in the spring of that year1 ,i happened to be in ,london2 and ,mr4 ,wordsworth's tract on the ,convention of ,cintra being at that time in the printer's hands1 ,i superintended the publication of it2 and1 at ,mr4 ,wordsworth's request1 ,i added a long note on ,spanish affairs which is printed in the ,appendix4 ,the opinions ,i expressed in this note on the ,spanish character at that time much calumniated1 on the retreat to ,corunna then fresh in the public mind1 above all1 the contempt ,i expressed for the superstition in respect to the ,french military prowess which was then universal and at its height1 and which gave way in fact only to the campaigns of #ahad and #ahae1 fell in1 as it happened1 with ,mr4 ,stewart's political creed in those points where at that time it met with most opposition4 ,in #ahab it was1 ,i think1 that ,i saw him for the last time3 and by the way1 on the day of my parting with him1 ,i had an amusing proof in my own experience of that sort of ubiquity ascribed to him by a witty writer in the ,london ,magazine3 ,i met him and shook hands with him under ,somerset-house1 telling him that ,i should leave town that evening for ,westmoreland4 ,thence ,i went by the very shortest road 7i4e4 through ,moor-street1 ,soho--for ,i am learned in many quarters of ,london7 towards a point which necessarily led me through ,tottenham-court-road3 ,i stopped nowhere1 and walked fast3 yet so it was that in ,tottenham-court-road ,i was not overtaken by 7that was comprehensible71 but overtook1 ,walking ,stewart4 ,certainly1 as the above writer alleges1 there must have been three ,walking ,stewarts in ,london4 ,he seemed no ways surprised at this himself1 but explained to me that somewhere or other in the neighborhood of ,tottenham-court-road there was a little theatre1 at which there was dancing and occasionally good singing1 between which and a neighboring coffee-house he sometimes divided his evenings4 ,singing1 it seems1 he could hear in spite of his deafness4 ,in this street ,i took my final leave of him2 it turned out such2 and1 anticipating at the time that it would be so1 ,i looked after his white hat at the moment it was disappearing and exclaimed--',farewell1 thou half- crazy and most eloquent man6 ,i shall never see thy face again4' ,i did not intend1 at that moment1 to visit ,london again for some years3 as it happened1 ,i was there for a short time in #ahad3 and then ,i heard1 to my great satisfaction1 that ,walking ,stewart had recovered a considerable sum 7about #ad1jjj pounds ,i believe7 from the ,east ,india ,company2 and from the abstract given in the ,london ,magazine of the ,memoir by his relation1 ,i have since learned that he applied this money most wisely to the purchase of an annuity1 and that he 'persisted in living' too long for the peace of an annuity office4 ,so fare all companies ,east and ,west1 and all annuity offices1 that stand opposed in interest to philosophers6 ,in #ahad1 however1 to my great regret1 ,i did not see him2 for ,i was then taking a great deal of opium1 and never could contrive to issue to the light of day soon enough for a morning call upon a philosopher of such early hours2 and in the evening ,i concluded that he would be generally abroad1 from what he had formerly communicated to me of his own habits4 ,it seems1 however1 that he afterwards held conversaziones at his own rooms2 and did not stir out to theatres quite so much4 ,from a brother of mine1 who at one time occupied rooms in the same house with him1 ,i learned that in other respects he did not deviate in his prosperity from the philosophic tenor of his former life4 ,he abated nothing of his peripatetic exercises2 and repaired duly in the morning1 as he had done in former years1 to ,st4 ,james's ,park1--where he sate in contemplative ease amongst the cows1 inhaling their balmy breath and pursuing his philosophic reveries4 ,he had also purchased an organ1 or more than one1 with which he solaced his solitude and beguiled himself of uneasy thoughts if he ever had any4 ,the works of ,walking ,stewart must be read with some indulgence2 the titles are generally too lofty and pretending and somewhat extravagant2 the composition is lax and unprecise1 as ,i have before said2 and the doctrines are occasionally very bold1 incautiously stated1 and too hardy and high- toned for the nervous effeminacy of many modern moralists4 ,but ,walking ,stewart was a man who thought nobly of human nature3 he wrote therefore at times in the spirit and with the indignation of an ancient prophet against the oppressors and destroyers of the time4 ,in particular ,i remember that in one or more of the pamphlets which ,i received from him at ,grasmere he expressed himself in such terms on the subject of ,tyrannicide 7distinguishing the cases in which it was and was not lawful7 as seemed to ,mr4 ,wordsworth and myself every way worthy of a philosopher2 but1 from the way in which that subject was treated in the ,house of ,commons1 where it was at that time occasionally introduced1 it was plain that his doctrine was not fitted for the luxurious and relaxed morals of the age4 ,like all men who think nobly of human nature1 ,walking ,stewart thought of it hopefully4 ,in some respects his hopes were wisely grounded2 in others they rested too much upon certain metaphysical speculations which are untenable1 and which satisfied himself only because his researches in that track had been purely self-originated and self-disciplined4 ,he relied upon his own native strength of mind2 but in questions1 which the wisdom and philosophy of every age building successively upon each other have not been able to settle1 no mind1 however strong1 is entitled to build wholly upon itself4 ,in many things he shocked the religious sense--especially as it exists in unphilosophic minds2 he held a sort of rude and unscientific ,spinosism2 and he expressed it coarsely and in the way most likely to give offence4 ,and indeed there can be no stronger proof of the utter obscurity in which his works have slumbered than that they should all have escaped prosecution4 ,he also allowed himself to look too lightly and indulgently on the afflicting spectacle of female prostitution as it exists in ,london and in all great cities4 ,this was the only point on which ,i was disposed to quarrel with him2 for ,i could not but view it as a greater reproach to human nature than the slave-trade or any sight of wretchedness that the sun looks down upon4 ,i often told him so2 and that ,i was at a loss to guess how a philosopher could allow himself to view it simply as part of the equipage of civil life1 and as reasonably making part of the establishment and furniture of a great city as police-offices1 lamp- lighting1 or newspapers4 ,waiving however this one instance of something like compliance with the brutal spirit of the world1 on all other subjects he was eminently unworldly1 child-like1 simple-minded1 and upright4 ,he would flatter no man3 even when addressing nations1 it is almost laughable to see how invariably he prefaces his counsels with such plain truths uttered in a manner so offensive as must have defeated his purpose if it had otherwise any chance of being accomplished4 ,for instance1 in addressing ,america1 he begins thus3--',people of ,america6 since your separation from the mother-country your moral character has degenerated in the energy of thought and sense2 produced by the absence of your association and intercourse with ,british officers and merchants3 you have no moral discernment to distinguish between the protective power of ,england and the destructive power of ,france4' ,and his letter to the ,irish nation opens in this agreeable and conciliatory manner3--',people of ,ireland6 ,i address you as a true philosopher of nature1 foreseeing the perpetual misery your irreflective character and total absence of moral discernment are preparing for' c4 ,the second sentence begins thus--',you are sacrilegiously arresting the arm of your parent kingdom fighting the cause of man and nature1 when the triumph of the fiend of ,french police- terror would be your own instant extirpation--4' ,and the letter closes thus3--',i see but one awful alternative--that ,ireland will be a perpetual moral volcano1 threatening the destruction of the world1 if the education and instruction of thought and sense shall not be able to generate the faculty of moral discernment among a very numerous class of the population1 who detest the civic calm as sailors the natural calm--and make civic rights on which they cannot reason a pretext for feuds which they delight in4' ,as he spoke freely and boldly to others1 so he spoke loftily of himself3 at p4 #cac1 of ',the ,harp of ,apollo1' on making a comparison of himself with ,socrates 7in which he naturally gives the preference to himself7 he styles ',the ,harp1' c41 'this unparalleled work of human energy4' ,at p4 #cae1 he calls it 'this stupendous work2' and lower down on the same page he says--',i was turned out of school at the age of fifteen for a dunce or blockhead1 because ,i would not stuff into my memory all the nonsense of erudition and learning2 and if future ages should discover the unparalleled energies of genius in this work1 it will prove my most important doctrine--that the powers of the human mind must be developed in the education of thought and sense in the study of moral opinion1 not arts and science4' ,again1 at p4 #bbe of his ,sophiometer1 he says3--',the paramount thought that dwells in my mind incessantly is a question ,i put to myself--whether1 in the event of my personal dissolution by death1 ,i have communicated all the discoveries my unique mind possesses in the great master-science of man and nature4' ,in the next page he determines that he has1 with the exception of one truth1--viz4 'the latent energy1 physical and moral1 of human nature as existing in the ,british people4' ,but here he was surely accusing himself without ground3 for to my knowledge he has not failed in any one of his numerous works to insist upon this theme at least a billion of times4 ,another instance of his magnificent self-estimation is--that in the title pages of several of his works he announces himself as ',john ,stewart1 the only man of nature #a that ever appeared in the world4' ,by this time ,i am afraid the reader begins to suspect that he was crazy3 and certainly1 when ,i consider every thing1 he must have been crazy when the wind was at ,,nne2 for who but ,walking ,stewart ever dated his books by a computation drawn--not from the creation1 not from the flood1 not from ,nabonassar1 or ab urbe condita1 not from the ,hegira--but from themselves1 from their own day of publication1 as constituting the one great era in the history of man by the side of which all other eras were frivolous and impertinent8 ,thus1 in a work of his given to me in #ahab and probably published in that year1 ,i find him incidentally recording of himself that he was at that time 'arrived at the age of sixty-three1 with a firm state of health acquired by temperance1 and a peace of mind almost independent of the vices of mankind--because my knowledge of life has enabled me to place my happiness beyond the reach or contact of other men's follies and passions1 by avoiding all family connections1 and all ambitious pursuits of profit1 fame1 or power4' ,on reading this passage ,i was anxious to ascertain its date2 but this1 on turning to the title page1 ,i found thus mysteriously expressed3 'in the #gjjjth year of ,astronomical ,history1 and the first day of ,intellectual ,life or ,moral ,world1 from the era of this work4' ,another slight indication of craziness appeared in a notion which obstinately haunted his mind that all the kings and rulers of the earth would confederate in every age against his works1 and would hunt them out for extermination as keenly as ,herod did the innocents in ,bethlehem4 ,on this consideration1 fearing that they might be intercepted by the long arms of these wicked princes before they could reach that remote ,stewartian man or his precursor to whom they were mainly addressed1 he recommended to all those who might be impressed with a sense of their importance to bury a copy or copies of each work properly secured from damp1 c4 at a depth of seven or eight feet below the surface of the earth2 and on their death-beds to communicate the knowledge of this fact to some confidential friends1 who in their turn were to send down the tradition to some discreet persons of the next generation2 and thus1 if the truth was not to be dispersed for many ages1 yet the knowledge that here and there the truth lay buried on this and that continent1 in secret spots on ,mount ,caucasus--in the sands of ,biledulgerid--and in hiding- places amongst the forests of ,america1 and was to rise again in some distant age and to vegetate and fructify for the universal benefit of man1--this knowledge at least was to be whispered down from generation to generation2 and1 in defiance of a myriad of kings crusading against him1 ,walking ,stewart was to stretch out the influence of his writings through a long series of ,greek3 lampadophoroi to that child of nature whom he saw dimly through a vista of many centuries4 ,if this were madness1 it seemed to me a somewhat sublime madness3 and ,i assured him of my co- operation against the kings1 promising that ,i would bury ',the ,harp of ,apollo' in my own orchard in ,grasmere at the foot of ,mount ,fairfield2 that ,i would bury ',the ,apocalypse of ,nature' in one of the coves of ,helvellyn1 and several other works in several other places best known to myself4 ,he accepted my offer with gratitude2 but he then made known to me that he relied on my assistance for a still more important service--which was this3 in the lapse of that vast number of ages which would probably intervene between the present period and the period at which his works would have reached their destination1 he feared that the ,english language might itself have mouldered away4 ',no6' ,i said1 'that was not probable3 considering its extensive diffusion1 and that it was now transplanted into all the continents of our planet1 ,i would back the ,english language against any other on earth4' ,his own persuasion however was1 that the ,latin was destined to survive all other languages2 it was to be the eternal as well as the universal language2 and his desire was that ,i would translate his works1 or some part of them1 into that language4 #b ,this ,i promised2 and ,i seriously designed at some leisure hour to translate into ,latin a selection of passages which should embody an abstract of his philosophy4 ,this would have been doing a service to all those who might wish to see a digest of his peculiar opinions cleared from the perplexities of his peculiar diction and brought into a narrow compass from the great number of volumes through which they are at present dispersed4 ,however1 like many another plan of mine1 it went unexecuted4 ,on the whole1 if ,walking ,stewart were at all crazy1 he was so in a way which did not affect his natural genius and eloquence--but rather exalted them4 ,the old maxim1 indeed1 that ',great wits to madness sure are near allied1' the maxim of ,dryden and the popular maxim1 ,i have heard disputed by ,mr4 ,coleridge and ,mr4 ,wordsworth1 who maintain that mad people are the dullest and most wearisome of all people4 ,as a body1 ,i believe they are so4 ,but ,i must dissent from the authority of ,messrs4 ,coleridge and ,wordsworth so far as to distinguish4 ,where madness is connected1 as it often is1 with some miserable derangement of the stomach1 liver1 c4 and attacks the principle of pleasurable life1 which is manifestly seated in the central organs of the body 7i4e4 in the stomach and the apparatus connected with it71 there it cannot but lead to perpetual suffering and distraction of thought2 and there the patient will be often tedious and incoherent4 ,people who have not suffered from any great disturbance in those organs are little aware how indispensable to the process of thinking are the momentary influxes of pleasurable feeling from the regular goings on of life in its primary function2 in fact1 until the pleasure is withdrawn or obscured1 most people are not aware that they have any pleasure from the due action of the great central machinery of the system3 proceeding in uninterrupted continuance1 the pleasure as much escapes the consciousness as the act of respiration3 a child1 in the happiest state of its existence1 does not know that it is happy4 ,and generally whatsoever is the level state of the hourly feeling is never put down by the unthinking 7i4e4 by #ii out of #ajj7 to the account of happiness3 it is never put down with the positive sign1 as equal to x2 but simply as #j4 ,and men first become aware that it was a positive quantity1 when they have lost it 7i4e4 fallen into--x74 ,meantime the genial pleasure from the vital processes1 though not represented to the consciousness1 is immanent in every act--impulse--motion--word--and thought3 and a philosopher sees that the idiots are in a state of pleasure1 though they cannot see it themselves4 ,now ,i say that1 where this principle of pleasure is not attached1 madness is often little more than an enthusiasm highly exalted2 the animal spirits are exuberant and in excess2 and the madman becomes1 if he be otherwise a man of ability and information1 all the better as a companion4 ,i have met with several such madmen2 and ,i appeal to my brilliant friend1 ,professor ,w----1 who is not a man to tolerate dulness in any quarter1 and is himself the ideal of a delightful companion1 whether he ever met a more amusing person than that madman who took a post-chaise with us from ---- to ,carlisle1 long years ago1 when he and ,i were hastening with the speed of fugitive felons to catch the ,edinburgh mail4 ,his fancy and his extravagance1 and his furious attacks on ,sir ,isaac ,newton1 like ,plato's suppers1 refreshed us not only for that day but whenever they recurred to us2 and we were both grieved when we heard some time afterwards from a ,cambridge man that he had met our clever friend in a stage coach under the care of a brutal keeper4---- ,such a madness1 if any1 was the madness of ,walking ,stewart3 his health was perfect2 his spirits as light and ebullient as the spirits of a bird in spring-time2 and his mind unagitated by painful thoughts1 and at peace with itself4 ,hence1 if he was not an amusing companion1 it was because the philosophic direction of his thoughts made him something more4 ,of anecdotes and matters of fact he was not communicative3 of all that he had seen in the vast compass of his travels he never availed himself in conversation4 ,i do not remember at this moment that he ever once alluded to his own travels in his intercourse with me except for the purpose of weighing down by a statement grounded on his own great personal experience an opposite statement of many hasty and misjudging travellers which he thought injurious to human nature3 the statement was this1 that in all his countless rencontres with uncivilized tribes1 he had never met with any so ferocious and brutal as to attack an unarmed and defenceless man who was able to make them understand that he threw himself upon their hospitality and forbearance4 ,on the whole1 ,walking ,stewart was a sublime visionary3 he had seen and suffered much amongst men2 yet not too much1 or so as to dull the genial tone of his sympathy with the sufferings of others4 ,his mind was a mirror of the sentient universe4--,the whole mighty vision that had fleeted before his eyes in this world1--the armies of ,hyder-,ali and his son with oriental and barbaric pageantry1--the civic grandeur of ,england1 the great deserts of ,asia and ,america1--the vast capitals of ,europe1--,london with its eternal agitations1 the ceaseless ebb and flow of its 'mighty heart1'-- ,paris shaken by the fierce torments of revolutionary convulsions1 the silence of ,lapland1 and the solitary forests of ,canada1 with the swarming life of the torrid zone1 together with innumerable recollections of individual joy and sorrow1 that he had participated by sympathy--lay like a map beneath him1 as if eternally co-present to his view2 so that1 in the contemplation of the prodigious whole1 he had no leisure to separate the parts1 or occupy his mind with details4 ,hence came the monotony which the frivolous and the desultory would have found in his conversation4 ,i1 however1 who am perhaps the person best qualified to speak of him1 must pronounce him to have been a man of great genius2 and1 with reference to his conversation1 of great eloquence4 ,that these were not better known and acknowledged was owing to two disadvantages2 one grounded in his imperfect education1 the other in the peculiar structure of his mind4 ,the first was this3 like the late ,mr4 ,shelley he had a fine vague enthusiasm and lofty aspirations in connection with human nature generally and its hopes2 and like him he strove to give steadiness1 a uniform direction1 and an intelligible purpose to these feelings1 by fitting to them a scheme of philosophical opinions4 ,but unfortunately the philosophic system of both was so far from supporting their own views and the cravings of their own enthusiasm1 that1 as in some points it was baseless1 incoherent1 or unintelligible1 so in others it tended to moral results1 from which1 if they had foreseen them1 they would have been themselves the first to shrink as contradictory to the very purposes in which their system had originated4 ,hence1 in maintaining their own system they both found themselves painfully entangled at times with tenets pernicious and degrading to human nature4 ,these were the inevitable consequences of the ,greek3 proton pheudos in their speculations2 but were naturally charged upon them by those who looked carelessly into their books as opinions which not only for the sake of consistency they thought themselves bound to endure1 but to which they gave the full weight of their sanction and patronage as to so many moving principles in their system4 ,the other disadvantage under which ,walking ,stewart labored1 was this3 he was a man of genius1 but not a man of talents2 at least his genius was out of all proportion to his talents1 and wanted an organ as it were for manifesting itself2 so that his most original thoughts were delivered in a crude state--imperfect1 obscure1 half developed1 and not producible to a popular audience4 ,he was aware of this himself2 and1 though he claims everywhere the faculty of profound intuition into human nature1 yet with equal candor he accuses himself of asinine stupidity1 dulness1 and want of talent4 ,he was a disproportioned intellect1 and so far a monster3 and he must be added to the long list of original-minded men who have been looked down upon with pity and contempt by commonplace men of talent1 whose powers of mind--though a thousand times inferior-- were yet more manageable1 and ran in channels more suited to common uses and common understandings4 ,,footnotes #a ,in ,bath1 he was surnamed 'the ,child of ,nature2'--which arose from his contrasting on every occasion the existing man of our present experience with the ideal or ,stewartian man that might be expected to emerge in some myriads of ages2 to which latter man he gave the name of the ,child of ,nature4 #b ,i was not aware until the moment of writing this passage that ,walking ,stewart had publicly made this request three years after making it to myself3 opening the ',harp of ,apollo1' ,i have just now accidentally stumbled on the following passage1 ',this ,stupendous work is destined1 ,i fear1 to meet a worse fate than the ,aloe1 which as soon as it blossoms loses its stalk4 ,this first blossom of reason is threatened with the loss of both its stalk and its soil3 for1 if the revolutionary tyrant should triumph1 he would destroy all the ,english books and energies of thought4 ,i conjure my readers to translate this work into ,latin1 and to bury it in the ground1 communicating on their death-beds only its place of concealment to men of nature4' ,from the title page of this work1 by the way1 ,i learn that 'the #gjjjth year of ,astronomical ,history' is taken from the ,chinese tables1 and coincides 7as ,i had supposed7 with the year #ahab of our computation4 ,,on ,,suicide4 ,it is a remarkable proof of the inaccuracy with which most men read--that ,donne's ,biathanatos has been supposed to countenance ,suicide2 and those who reverence his name have thought themselves obliged to apologize for it by urging1 that it was written before he entered the church4 ,but ,donne's purpose in this treatise was a pious one3 many authors had charged the martyrs of the ,christian church with ,suicide--on the principle that if ,i put myself in the way of a mad bull1 knowing that he will kill me--,i am as much chargeable with an act of self-destruction as if ,i fling myself into a river4 ,several casuists had extended this principle even to the case of ,jesus ,christ3 one instance of which1 in a modern author1 the reader may see noticed and condemned by ,kant1 in his ,religion innerhalb die gronzen der blossen ,vernunft2 and another of much earlier date 7as far back as the #acth century1 ,i think71 in a commoner book--,voltaire's notes on the little treatise of ,beccaria1 ,dei delitti e delle pene4 ,these statements tended to one of two results3 either they unsanctified the characters of those who founded and nursed the ,christian church2 or they sanctified suicide4 ,by way of meeting them1 ,donne wrote his book3 and as the whole argument of his opponents turned upon a false definition of suicide 7not explicitly stated1 but assumed71 he endeavored to reconstitute the notion of what is essential to create an act of suicide4 ,simply to kill a man is not murder3 prima facie1 therefore1 there is some sort of presumption that simply for a man to kill himself--may not always be so3 there is such a thing as simple homicide distinct from murder3 there may1 therefore1 possibly be such a thing as self-homicide distinct from self-murder4 ,there may be a ground for such a distinction1 ex analogia4 ,but1 secondly1 on examination1 is there any ground for such a distinction8 ,donne affirms that there is2 and1 reviewing several eminent cases of spontaneous martyrdom1 he endeavors to show that acts so motived and so circumstantiated will not come within the notion of suicide properly defined4 ,meantime1 may not this tend to the encouragement of suicide in general1 and without discrimination of its species8 ,no3 ,donne's arguments have no prospective reference or application2 they are purely retrospective4 ,the circumstances necessary to create an act of mere self- homicide can rarely concur1 except in a state of disordered society1 and during the cardinal revolutions of human history3 where1 however1 they do concur1 there it will not be suicide4 ,in fact1 this is the natural and practical judgment of us all4 ,we do not all agree on the particular cases which will justify self-destruction3 but we all feel and involuntarily acknowledge 7implicitly acknowledge in our admiration1 though not explicitly in our words or in our principles71 that there are such cases4 ,there is no man1 who in his heart would not reverence a woman that chose to die rather than to be dishonored3 and1 if we do not say1 that it is her duty to do so1 that is because the moralist must condescend to the weakness and infirmities of human nature3 mean and ignoble natures must not be taxed up to the level of noble ones4 ,again1 with regard to the other sex1 corporal punishment is its peculiar and sexual degradation2 and if ever the distinction of ,donne can be applied safely to any case1 it will be to the case of him who chooses to die rather than to submit to that ignominy4 ,at present1 however1 there is but a dim and very confined sense1 even amongst enlightened men 7as we may see by the debates of ,parliament71 of the injury which is done to human nature by giving legal sanction to such brutalizing acts2 and therefore most men1 in seeking to escape it1 would be merely shrinking from a personal dishonor4 ,corporal punishment is usually argued with a single reference to the case of him who suffers it2 and so argued1 ,god knows that it is worthy of all abhorrence3 but the weightiest argument against it--is the foul indignity which is offered to our common nature lodged in the person of him on whom it is inflicted4 ,his nature is our nature3 and1 supposing it possible that he were so far degraded as to be unsusceptible of any influences but those which address him through the brutal part of his nature1 yet for the sake of ourselves--,no6 not merely for ourselves1 or for the human race now existing1 but for the sake of human nature1 which trancends all existing participators of that nature-- we should remember that the evil of corporal punishment is not to be measured by the poor transitory criminal1 whose memory and offence are soon to perish3 these1 in the sum of things1 are as nothing3 the injury which can be done him1 and the injury which he can do1 have so momentary an existence that they may be safely neglected3 but the abiding injury is to the most august interest which for the mind of man can have any existence1--viz4 to his own nature3 to raise and dignify which1 ,i am persuaded1 is the first--last--and holiest command #a which the conscience imposes on the philosophic moralist4 ,in countries1 where the traveller has the pain of seeing human creatures performing the labors of brutes1 #b--surely the sorrow which the spectacle moves1 if a wise sorrow1 will not be chiefly directed to the poor degraded individual--too deeply degraded1 probably1 to be sensible of his own degradation1 but to the reflection that man's nature is thus exhibited in a state of miserable abasement2 and1 what is worst of all1 abasement proceeding from man himself4 ,now1 whenever this view of corporal punishment becomes general 7as inevitably it will1 under the influence of advancing civilization71 ,i say1 that ,donne's principle will then become applicable to this case1 and it will be the duty of a man to die rather than to suffer his own nature to be dishonored in that way4 ,but so long as a man is not fully sensible of the dishonor1 to him the dishonor1 except as a personal one1 does not wholly exist4 ,in general1 whenever a paramount interest of human nature is at stake1 a suicide which maintains that interest is self-homicide3 but1 for a personal interest1 it becomes self-murder4 ,and into this principle ,donne's may be resolved4 99 99 99 99 99 ,a doubt has been raised--whether brute animals ever commit suicide3 to me it is obvious that they do not1 and cannot4 ,some years ago1 however1 there was a case reported in all the newspapers of an old ram who committed suicide 7as it was alleged7 in the presence of many witnesses4 ,not having any pistols or razors1 he ran for a short distance1 in order to aid the impetus of his descent1 and leaped over a precipice1 at the foot of which he was dashed to pieces4 ,his motive to the 'rash act1' as the papers called it1 was supposed to be mere taedium vitae4 ,but1 for my part1 ,i doubted the accuracy of the report4 ,not long after a case occurred in ,westmoreland which strengthened my doubts4 ,a fine young blood horse1 who could have no possible reason for making away with himself1 unless it were the high price of oats at that time1 was found one morning dead in his field4 ,the case was certainly a suspicious one3 for he was lying by the side of a stone-wall1 the upper part of which wall his skull had fractured1 and which had returned the compliment by fracturing his skull4 ,it was argued1 therefore1 that in default of ponds1 c4 he had deliberately hammered with his head against the wall2 this1 at first1 seemed the only solution2 and he was generally pronounced felo de se4 ,however1 a day or two brought the truth to light4 ,the field lay upon the side of a hill3 and1 from a mountain which rose above it1 a shepherd had witnessed the whole catastrophe1 and gave evidence which vindicated the character of the horse4 ,the day had been very windy2 and the young creature being in high spirits1 and1 caring evidently as little for the corn question as for the bullion question1 had raced about in all directions2 and at length1 descending too steep a part of the field1 had been unable to check himself1 and was projected by the impetus of his own descent like a battering ram against the wall4 ,of human suicides1 the most affecting ,i have ever seen recorded is one which ,i met with in a ,german book3 the most calm and deliberate is the following1 which is said to have occurred at ,keswick1 in ,cumberland3 but ,i must acknowledge1 that ,i never had an opportunity1 whilst staying at ,keswick1 of verifying the statement4 ,a young man of studious turn1 who is said to have resided near ,penrith1 was anxious to qualify himself for entering the church1 or for any other mode of life which might secure to him a reasonable portion of literary leisure4 ,his family1 however1 thought that under the circumstances of his situation he would have a better chance for success in life as a tradesman2 and they took the necessary steps for placing him as an apprentice at some shopkeeper's in ,penrith4 ,this he looked upon as an indignity1 to which he was determined in no case to submit4 ,and accordingly1 when he had ascertained that all opposition to the choice of his friends was useless1 he walked over to the mountainous district of ,keswick 7about sixteen miles distant7--looked about him in order to select his ground--cooly walked up ,lattrig 7a dependency of ,skiddaw7--made a pillow of sods--laid himself down with his face looking up to the sky--and in that posture was found dead1 with the appearance of having died tranquilly4 ,,footnotes #a ,on which account1 ,i am the more struck by the ignoble argument of those statesmen who have contended in the ,house of ,commons that such and such classes of men in this nation are not accessible to any loftier influences4 ,supposing that there were any truth in this assertion1 which is a libel not on this nation only1 but on man in general1--surely it is the duty of lawgivers not to perpetuate by their institutions the evil which they find1 but to presume and gradually to create a better spirit4 #b ,of which degradation1 let it never be forgotten that ,france but thirty years ago presented as shocking cases as any country1 even where slavery is tolerated4 ,an eye-witness to the fact1 who has since published it in print1 told me1 that in ,france1 before the revolution1 he had repeatedly seen a woman yoked with an ass to the plough2 and the brutal ploughman applying his whip indifferently to either4 ,english people1 to whom ,i have occasionally mentioned this as an exponent of the hollow refinement of manners in ,france1 have uniformly exclaimed--',that is more than ,i can believe2' and have taken it for granted that ,i had my information from some prejudiced ,englishman4 ,but who was my informer8 ,a ,frenchman1 reader1 --,m4 ,simond2 and though now by adoption an ,american citizen1 yet still ,french in his heart and in all his prejudices4 ,,superficial ,,knowledge4 ,it is asserted that this is the age of ,superficial ,knowledge2 and amongst the proofs of this assertion we find ,encyclopaedias and other popular abstracts of knowledge particularly insisted on4 ,but in this notion and its alleged proofs there is equal error--wherever there is much diffusion of knowledge1 there must be a good deal of superficiality3 prodigious extension implies a due proportion of weak intension2 a sea-like expansion of knowledge will cover large shallows as well as large depths4 ,but in that quarter in which it is superficially cultivated the intellect of this age is properly opposed in any just comparison to an intellect without any culture at all3--leaving the deep soils out of the comparison1 the shallow ones of the present day would in any preceding one have been barren wastes4 ,of this our modern encyclopedias are the best proof4 ,for whom are they designed1 and by whom used8--,by those who in a former age would have gone to the fountain heads8 ,no1 but by those who in any age preceding the present would have drunk at no waters at all4 ,encyclopedias are the growth of the last hundred years2 not because those who were formerly students of higher learning have descended1 but because those who were below encyclopaedias have ascended4 ,the greatness of the ascent is marked by the style in which the more recent encyclopaedias are executed3 at first they were mere abstracts of existing books--well or ill executed3 at present they contain many original articles of great merit4 ,as in the periodical literature of the age1 so in the encyclopaedias it has become a matter of ambition with the publishers to retain the most eminent writers in each several department4 ,and hence it is that our encyclopaedias now display one characteristic of this age--the very opposite of superficiality 7and which on other grounds we are well assured of7--viz4 its tendency in science1 no less than in other applications of industry1 to extreme subdivision4 ,in all the employments which are dependent in any degree upon the political economy of nations1 this tendency is too obvious to have been overlooked4 ,accordingly it has long been noticed for congratulation in manufactures and the useful arts-- and for censure in the learned professions4 ,we have now1 it is alleged1 no great and comprehensive lawyers like ,coke3 and the study of medicine is subdividing itself into a distinct ministry 7as it were7 not merely upon the several organs of the body 7oculists1 aurists1 dentists1 cheiropodists1 c47 but almost upon the several diseases of the same organ3 one man is distinguished for the treatment of liver complaints of one class--a second for those of another class2 one man for asthma-- another for phthisis2 and so on4 ,as to the law1 the evil 7if it be one7 lies in the complex state of society which of necessity makes the laws complex3 law itself is become unwieldy and beyond the grasp of one man's term of life and possible range of experience3 and will never again come within them4 ,with respect to medicine1 the case is no evil but a great benefit--so long as the subdividing principle does not descend too low to allow of a perpetual re-ascent into the generalizing principle 7the ,greek3 to commune7 which secures the unity of the science4 ,in ancient times all the evil of such a subdivision was no doubt realized in ,egypt3 for there a distinct body of professors took charge of each organ of the body1 not 7as we may be assured7 from any progress of the science outgrowing the time and attention of the general professor1 but simply from an ignorance of the organic structure of the human body and the reciprocal action of the whole upon each part and the parts upon the whole2 an ignorance of the same kind which has led sailors seriously 7and not merely1 as may sometimes have happened1 by way of joke7 to reserve one ulcerated leg to their own management1 whilst the other was given up to the management of the surgeon4 ,with respect to law and medicine then1 the difference between ourselves and our ancestors is not subjective but objective2 not1 i4e4 in our faculties who study them1 but in the things themselves which are the objects of study3 not we 7the students7 are grown less1 but they 7the studies7 are grown bigger2--and that our ancestors did not subdivide as much as we do--was something of their luck1 but no part of their merit4 ,simply as subdividers therefore to the extent which now prevails1 we are less superficial than any former age4 ,in all parts of science the same principle of subdivision holds3 here therefore1 no less than in those parts of knowledge which are the subjects of distinct civil professions1 we are of necessity more profound than our ancestors2 but1 for the same reason1 less comprehensive than they4 ,is it better to be a profound student1 or a comprehensive one8 ,in some degree this must depend upon the direction of the studies3 but generally1 ,i think1 it is better for the interests of knowledge that the scholar should aim at profundity1 and better for the interests of the individual that he should aim at comprehensiveness4 ,a due balance and equilibrium of the mind is but preserved by a large and multiform knowledge3 but knowledge itself is but served by an exclusive 7or at least paramount7 dedication of one mind to one science4 ,the first proposition is perhaps unconditionally true3 but the second with some limitations4 ,there are such people as ,leibnitzes on this earth2 and their office seems not that of planets--to revolve within the limits of one system1 but that of comets 7according to the theory of some speculators7--to connect different systems together4 ,no doubt there is much truth in this3 a few ,leibnitzes in every age would be of much use3 but neither are many men fitted by nature for the part of ,leibnitz2 nor would the aspect of knowledge be better1 if they were4 ,we should then have a state of ,grecian life amongst us in which every man individually would attain in a moderate degree all the purposes of the sane understanding1--but in which all the purposes of the sane understanding would be but moderately attained4 ,what ,i mean is this3--let all the objects of the understanding in civil life or in science be represented by the letters of the alphabet2 in ,grecian life each man would separately go through all the letters in a tolerable way2 whereas at present each letter is served by a distinct body of men4 ,consequently the ,grecian individual is superior to the modern2 but the ,grecian whole is inferior3 for the whole is made up of the individuals2 and the ,grecian individual repeats himself4 ,whereas in modern life the whole derives its superiority from the very circumstances which constitute the inferiority of the parts2 for modern life is cast dramatically3 and the difference is as between an army consisting of soldiers who should each individually be competent to go through the duties of a dragoon--of a hussar--of a sharp-shooter--of an artillery-man--of a pioneer1 c4 and an army on its present composition1 where the very inferiority of the soldier as an individual--his inferiority in compass and versatility of power and knowledge--is the very ground from which the army derives its superiority as a whole1 viz4 because it is the condition of the possibility of a total surrender of the individual to one exclusive pursuit4 ,in science therefore1 and 7to speak more generally7 in the whole evolution of the human faculties1 no less than in ,political ,economy1 the progress of society brings with it a necessity of sacrificing the ideal of what is excellent for the individual1 to the ideal of what is excellent for the whole4 ,we need therefore not trouble ourselves 7except as a speculative question7 with the comparison of the two states2 because1 as a practical question1 it is precluded by the overruling tendencies of the age--which no man could counteract except in his own single case1 i4e4 by refusing to adapt himself as a part to the whole1 and thus foregoing the advantages of either one state or the other4 #a ,,footnote #a ,the latter part of what is here said coincides1 in a way which is rather remarkable1 with a passage in an interesting work of ,schiller's which ,i have since read1 7on the ,aesthetic ,education of ,men1 in a series of letters3 vid4 letter the #fth47 ',with us in order to obtain the representative word 7as it were7 of the total species1 we must spell it out by the help of a series of individuals4 ,so that on a survey of society as it actually exists1 one might suppose that the faculties of the mind do really in actual experience show themselves in as separate a form1 and in as much insulation1 as psychology is forced to exhibit them in its analysis4 ,and thus we see not only individuals1 but whole classes of men1 unfolding only one part of the germs which are laid in them by the hand of nature4 ,in saying this ,i am fully aware of the advantages which the human species of modern ages has1 when considered as a unity1 over the best of antiquity3 but the comparison should begin with the individuals3 and then let me ask where is the modern individual that would have the presumption to step forward against the ,athenian individual--man to man1 and to contend for the prize of human excellence8 ,the polypus nature of the ,grecian republics1 in which every individual enjoyed a separate life1 and if it were necessary could become a whole1 has now given place to an artificial watch-work1 where many lifeless parts combine to form a mechanic whole4 ,the state and the church1 laws and manners1 are now torn asunder3 labor is divided from enjoyment1 the means from the end1 the exertion from the reward4 ,chained for ever to a little individual fraction of the whole1 man himself is moulded into a fraction2 and1 with the monotonous whirling of the wheel which he turns everlastingly in his ear1 he never develops the harmony of his being2 and1 instead of imaging the totality of human nature1 becomes a bare abstract of his business or the science which he cultivates4 ,the dead letter takes the place of the living understanding2 and a practised memory becomes a surer guide than genius and sensibility4 ,doubtless the power of genius1 as we all know1 will not fetter itself within the limits of its occupation2 but talents of mediocrity are all exhausted in the monotony of the employment allotted to them2 and that man must have no common head who brings with him the geniality of his powers unstripped of their freshness by the ungenial labors of life to the cultivation of the genial4' ,after insisting at some length on this wise1 ,schiller passes to the other side of the contemplation1 and proceeds thus3--',it suited my immediate purpose to point out the injuries of this condition of the species1 without displaying the compensations by which nature has balanced them4 ,but ,i will now readily acknowledge--that1 little as this practical condition may suit the interests of the individual1 yet the species could in no other way have been progressive4 ,partial exercise of the faculties 7literally one-sidedness in the exercise of the faculties7 leads the individual undoubtedly into error1 but the species into truth4 ,in no other way than by concentrating the whole energy of our spirit1 and by converging our whole being1 so to speak1 into a single faculty1 can we put wings as it were to the individual faculty and carry it by this artificial flight far beyond the limits within which nature has else doomed it to walk4 ,just as certain as it is that all human beings could never1 by clubbing their visual powers together1 have arrived at the power of seeing what the telescope discovers to the astronomer2 just so certain it is that the human intellect would never have arrived at an analysis of the infinite or a ,critical ,analysis of the ,pure ,reason 7the principal work of ,kant71 unless individuals had dismembered 7as it were7 and insulated this or that specific faculty1 and had thus armed their intellectual sight by the keenest abstraction and by the submersion of the other powers of their nature4 ,extraordinary men are formed then by energetic and over-excited spasms as it were in the individual faculties2 though it is true that the equable exercise of all the faculties in harmony with each other can alone make happy and perfect men4' ,after this statement1 from which it should seem that in the progress of society nature has made it necessary for man to sacrifice his own happiness to the attainment of her ends in the development of his species1 ,schiller goes on to inquire whether this evil result cannot be remedied2 and whether 'the totality of our nature1 which art has destroyed1 might not be re-established by a higher art1'--but this1 as leading to a discussion beyond the limits of my own1 ,i omit4 ,,english ,,dictionaries4 ,it has already1 ,i believe1 been said more than once in print that one condition of a good dictionary would be to exhibit the history of each word2 that is1 to record the exact succession of its meanings4 ,but the philosophic reason for this has not been given2 which reason1 by the way1 settles a question often agitated1 viz4 whether the true meaning of a word be best ascertained from its etymology1 or from its present use and acceptation4 ,mr4 ,coleridge says1 'the best explanation of a word is often that which is suggested by its derivation' 7,i give the substance of his words from memory74 ,others allege that we have nothing to do with the primitive meaning of the word2 that the question is--what does it mean now8 and they appeal1 as the sole authority they acknowledge1 to the received-- ,usus1 penes quem est jus et norma loquendi4 ,in what degree each party is right1 may be judged from this consideration --that no word can ever deviate from its first meaning per saltum3 each successive stage of meaning must always have been determined by that which preceded4 ,and on this one law depends the whole philosophy of the case3 for it thus appears that the original and primitive sense of the word will contain virtually all which can ever afterwards arise3 as in the evolution-theory of generation1 the whole series of births is represented as involved in the first parent4 ,now1 if the evolution of successive meanings has gone on rightly1 i4e4 by simply lapsing through a series of close affinities1 there can be no reason for recurring to the primitive meaning of the word3 but1 if it can be shown that the evolution has been faulty1 i4e4 that the chain of true affinities has ever been broken through ignorance1 then we have a right to reform the word1 and to appeal from the usage ill-instructed to a usage better- instructed4 ,whether we ought to exercise this right1 will depend on a consideration which ,i will afterwards notice4 ,meantime ,i will first give a few instances of faulty evolution4 #a4 ,implicit4 ,this word is now used in a most ignorant way2 and from its misuse it has come to be a word wholly useless3 for it is now never coupled1 ,i think1 with any other substantive than these two--faith and confidence3 a poor domain indeed to have sunk to from its original wide range of territory4 ,moreover1 when we say1 implicit faith1 or implicit confidence1 we do not thereby indicate any specific kind of faith and confidence differing from other faith or other confidence3 but it is a vague rhetorical word which expresses a great degree of faith and confidence2 a faith that is unquestioning1 a confidence that is unlimited2 i4e4 in fact1 a faith that is a faith1 a confidence that is a confidence4 ,such a use of the word ought to be abandoned to women3 doubtless1 when sitting in a bower in the month of ,may1 it is pleasant to hear from a lovely mouth--',i put implicit confidence in your honor3' but1 though pretty and becoming to such a mouth1 it is very unfitting to the mouth of a scholar3 and ,i will be bold to affirm that no man1 who had ever acquired a scholar's knowledge of the ,english language1 has used the word in that lax and unmeaning way4 ,the history of the word is this4-- ,implicit 7from the ,latin implicitus1 involved in1 folded up7 was always used originally1 and still is so by scholars1 as the direct antithete of explicit 7from the ,latin explicitus1 evolved1 unfolded73 and the use of both may be thus illustrated4 ,q4 ',did ,mr4 ,a4 ever say that he would marry ,miss ,b48'--,a4 ',no2 not explicitly 7i4e4 in so many words72 but he did implicitly--by showing great displeasure if she received attentions from any other man2 by asking her repeatedly to select furniture for his house2 by consulting her on his own plans of life4' ,q4 ',did ,epicurus maintain any doctrines such as are here ascribed to him8'--,a4 ',perhaps not explicitly1 either in words or by any other mode of direct sanction3 on the contrary1 ,i believe he denied them-- and disclaimed them with vehemence3 but he maintained them implicitly3 for they are involved in other acknowledged doctrines of his1 and may be deduced from them by the fairest and most irresistible logic4' ,q4 ',why did you complain of the man8 ,had he expressed any contempt for your opinion8'--,a4 ',yes1 he had3 not explicit contempt1 ,i admit2 for he never opened his stupid mouth2 but implicitly he expressed the utmost that he could3 for1 when ,i had spoken two hours against the old newspaper1 and in favor of the new one1 he went instantly and put his name down as a subscriber to the old one4' ,q4 ',did ,mr4---- approve of that gentleman's conduct and way of life8'-- ,a4 ',i don't know that ,i ever heard him speak about it3 but he seemed to give it his implicit approbation by allowing both his sons to associate with him when the complaints ran highest against him4' ,these instances may serve to illustrate the original use of the word2 which use has been retained from the sixteenth century down to our own days by an uninterrupted chain of writers4 ,in the eighteenth century this use was indeed nearly effaced but still in the first half of that century it was retained by ,saunderson the ,cambridge professor of mathematics 7see his ,algebra1 c471 with three or four others1 and in the latter half by a man to whom ,saunderson had some resemblance in spring and elasticity of understanding1 viz4 by ,edmund ,burke4 ,since his day ,i know of no writers who have avoided the slang and unmeaning use of the word1 excepting ,messrs4 ,coleridge and ,wordsworth2 both of whom 7but especially the last7 have been remarkably attentive to the scholar-like #a use of words1 and to the history of their own language4 ,thus much for the primitive use of the word implicit4 ,now1 with regard to the history of its transition into its present use1 it is briefly this2 and it will appear at once1 that it has arisen through ignorance4 ,when it was objected to a papist that his church exacted an assent to a great body of traditions and doctrines to which it was impossible that the great majority could be qualified1 either as respected time--or knowledge--or culture of the understanding1 to give any reasonable assent1--the answer was3 ',yes2 but that sort of assent is not required of a poor uneducated man2 all that he has to do--is to believe in the church3 he is to have faith in her faith3 by that act he adopts for his own whatsoever the church believes1 though he may never have hoard of it even3 his faith is implicit1 i4e4 involved and wrapped up in the faith of the church1 which faith he firmly believes to be the true faith upon the conviction he has that the church is preserved from all possibility of erring by the spirit of ,god4' #b ,now1 as this sort of believing by proxy or implicit belief 7in which the belief was not immediate in the thing proposed to the belief1 but in the authority of another person who believed in that thing and thus mediately in the thing itself7 was constantly attacked by the learned assailants of popery1--it naturally happened that many unlearned readers of these protestant polemics caught at a phrase which was so much bandied between the two parties3 the spirit of the context sufficiently explained to them that it was used by protestants as a term of reproach1 and indicated a faith that was an erroneous faith by being too easy--too submissive--and too passive3 but the particular mode of this erroneousness they seldom came to understand1 as learned writers naturally employed the term without explanation1 presuming it to be known to those whom they addressed4 ,hence these ignorant readers caught at the last result of the phrase 'implicit faith' rightly1 truly supposing it to imply a resigned and unquestioning faith2 but they missed the whole immediate cause of meaning by which only the word 'implicit' could ever have been entitled to express that result4 ,i have allowed myself to say so much on this word 'implicit1' because the history of the mode by which its true meaning was lost applies almost to all other corrupted words--mutatis mutandis3 and the amount of it may be collected into this formula1--that the result of the word is apprehended and retained1 but the schematismus by which that result was ever reached is lost4 ,this is the brief theory of all corruption of words4 ,the word schematismus ,i have unwillingly used1 because no other expresses my meaning4 ,so great and extensive a doctrine however lurks in this word1 that ,i defer the explanation of it to a separate article4 ,meantime a passable sense of the word will occur to every body who reads ,greek4 ,i now go on to a few more instances of words that have forfeited their original meaning through the ignorance of those who used them4 ',punctual4' ,this word is now confined to the meagre denoting of accuracy in respect to time--fidelity to the precise moment of an appointment4 ,but originally it was just as often1 and just as reasonably1 applied to space as to time2 ',i cannot punctually determine the origin of the ,danube2 but ,i know in general the district in which it rises1 and that its fountain is near that of the ,rhine4' ,not only1 however1 was it applied to time and space1 but it had a large and very elegant figurative use4 ,thus in the ,history of the ,royal ,society by ,sprat 7an author who was finical and nice in his use of words7--,i remember a sentence to this effect3 'the ,society gave punctual directions for the conducting of experiments2' i4e4 directions which descended to the minutiae and lowest details4 ,again in the once popular romance of ,parismus ,prince of ,bohemia--',she' 7,i forget who7 'made a punctual relation of the whole matter2' i4e4 a relation which was perfectly circumstantial and true to the minutest features of the case4 ,,footnotes #a ,among the most shocking of the unscholarlike barbarisms1 now prevalent1 ,i must notice the use of the word 'nice' in an objective instead of a subjective sense3 'nice' does not and cannot express a quality of the object1 but merely a quality of the subject3 yet we hear daily of 'a very nice letter'--'a nice young lady1' c41 meaning a letter or a young lady that it is pleasant to contemplate3 but 'a nice young lady'--means a fastidious young lady2 and 'a nice letter' ought to mean a letter that is very delicate in its rating and in the choice of its company4 #b ,thus ,milton1 who 7in common with his contemporaries7 always uses the word accurately1 speaks of ,ezekiel 'swallowing his implicit roll of knowledge'--i4e4 coming to the knowledge of many truths not separately and in detail1 but by the act of arriving at some one master truth which involved all the rest4--,so again1 if any man or government were to suppress a book1 that man or government might justly be reproached as the implicit destroyer of all the wisdom and virtue that might have been the remote products of that book4 ,,dryden',s ,,hexastich4 ,it is a remarkable fact1 that the very finest epigram in the ,english language happens also to be the worst4 ,epigram ,i call it in the austere ,greek sense2 which thus far resembled our modern idea of an epigram1 that something pointed and allied to wit was demanded in the management of the leading thought at its close1 but otherwise nothing tending towards the comic or the ludicrous4 ,the epigram ,i speak of is the well-known one of ,dryden dedicated to the glorification of ,milton4 ,it is irreproachable as regards its severe brevity4 ,not one word is there that could be spared2 nor could the wit of man have cast the movement of the thought into a better mould4 ,there are three couplets4 ,in the first couplet we are reminded of the fact that this earth had1 in three different stages of its development1 given birth to a trinity of transcendent poets2 meaning narrative poets1 or1 even more narrowly1 epic poets4 ,the duty thrown upon the second couplet is to characterize these three poets1 and to value them against each other1 but in such terms as that1 whilst nothing less than the very highest praise should be assigned to the two elder poets in this trinity--the ,greek and the ,roman-- nevertheless1 by some dexterous artifice1 a higher praise than the highest should suddenly unmask itself1 and drop1 as it were1 like a diadem from the clouds upon the brows of their ,english competitor4 ,in the kind of expectation raised1 and in the extreme difficulty of adequately meeting this expectation1 there was pretty much the same challenge offered to ,dryden as was offered1 somewhere about the same time1 to a ,british ambassador when dining with his political antagonists4 ,one of these--the ambassador of ,france--had proposed to drink his master1 ,louis ,,xiv41 under the character of the sun1 who dispensed life and light to the whole political system4 ,to this there was no objection2 and immediately1 by way of intercepting any further draughts upon the rest of the solar system1 the ,dutch ambassador rose1 and proposed the health of their high mightinesses the ,seven ,united ,states1 as the moon and six #a planets1 who gave light in the absence of the sun4 ,the two foreign ambassadors1 ,monsieur and ,mynheer1 secretly enjoyed the mortification of their ,english brother1 who seemed to be thus left in a state of bankruptcy1 'no funds' being available for retaliation1 or so they fancied4 ,but suddenly our ,british representative toasted his master as ,joshua1 the son of ,nun1 that made the sun and moon stand still4 ,all had seemed lost for ,england1 when in an instant of time both her antagonists were checkmated4 ,dryden assumed something of the same position4 ,he gave away the supreme jewels in his exchequer2 apparently nothing remained behind2 all was exhausted4 ,to ,homer he gave ,a2 to ,virgil he gave ,b2 and1 behold6 after these were given away1 there remained nothing at all that would not have been a secondary praise4 ,but1 in a moment of time1 by giving ,a and ,b to ,milton1 at one sling of his victorious arm he raised him above ,homer by the whole extent of ,b1 and above ,virgil by the whole extent of ,a4 ,this felicitous evasion of the embarrassment is accomplished in the second couplet2 and1 finally1 the third couplet winds up with graceful effect1 by making a resume1 or recapitulation of the logic concerned in the distribution of prizes just announced4 ,nature1 he says1 had it not in her power to provide a third prize separate from the first and second2 her resource was1 to join the first and second in combination3 ',to make a third1 she joined the former two4' ,such is the abstract of this famous epigram2 and1 judged simply by the outline and tendency of the thought1 it merits all the vast popularity which it has earned4 ,but in the meantime1 it is radically vicious as regards the filling in of this outline2 for the particular quality in which ,homer is accredited with the pre-eminence1 viz41 loftiness of thought1 happens to be a mere variety of expression for that quality1 viz4 majesty1 in which the pre-eminence is awarded to ,virgil4 ,homer excels ,virgil in the very point in which lies ,virgil's superiority to ,homer2 and that synthesis1 by means of which a great triumph is reserved to ,milton1 becomes obviously impossible1 when it is perceived that the supposed analytic elements of this synthesis are blank reiterations of each other4 ,exceedingly striking it is1 that a thought should have prospered for one hundred and seventy years1 which1 on the slightest steadiness of examination1 turns out to be no thought at all1 but mere blank vacuity4 ,there is1 however1 this justification of the case1 that the mould1 the set of channels1 into which the metal of the thought is meant to run1 really has the felicity which it appears to have3 the form is perfect2 and it is merely in the matter1 in the accidental filling up of the mould1 that a fault has been committed4 ,had the ,virgilian point of excellence been loveliness instead of majesty1 or any word whatever suggesting the common antithesis of sublimity and beauty2 or had it been power on the one side1 matched against grace on the other1 the true lurking tendency of the thought would have been developed1 and the sub-conscious purpose of the epigram would have fulfilled itself to the letter4 ,n4,b4--,it is not meant that loftiness of thought and majesty are expressions so entirely interchangeable1 as that no shades of difference could be suggested2 it is enough that these 'shades' are not substantial enough1 or broad enough1 to support the weight of opposition which the epigram assigns to them4 ,grace and elegance1 for instance1 are far from being in all relations synonymous2 but they are so to the full extent of any purposes concerned in this epigram4 ,nevertheless1 it is probable enough that ,dryden had moving in his thoughts a relation of the word majesty1 which1 if developed1 would have done justice to his meaning4 ,it was1 perhaps1 the decorum and sustained dignity of the composition--the workmanship apart from the native grandeur of the materials--the majestic style of the artistic treatment as distinguished from the original creative power--which ,dryden1 the translator of the ,roman poet1 familiar therefore with his weakness and with his strength1 meant in this place to predicate as characteristically observable in ,virgil4 ,,footnote #a ',six planets2'--,no more had then been discovered4 ,,pope',s ,,retort ,,upon ,,addison4 ,there is nothing extraordinary1 or that could merit a special notice1 in a simple case of oversight1 or in a blunder1 though emanating from the greatest of poets4 ,but such a case challenges and forces our attention1 when we know that the particular passage in which it occurs was wrought and burnished with excessive pains2 or 7which in this case is also known7 when that particular passage is pushed into singular prominence as having obtained a singular success4 ,in no part of his poetic mission did ,pope so fascinate the gaze of his contemporaries as in his functions of satirist2 which functions1 in his latter years1 absorbed all other functions4 ,and one reason1 ,i believe1 why it was that the interest about ,pope decayed so rapidly after his death 7an accident somewhere noticed by ,wordsworth71 must be sought in the fact1 that the most stinging of his personal allusions1 by which he had given salt to his later writings1 were continually losing their edge1 and sometimes their intelligibility1 as ,pope's own contemporary generation was dying off4 ,pope alleges it as a palliation of his satiric malice1 that it had been forced from him in the way of retaliation2 forgetting that such a plea wilfully abjures the grandest justification of a satirist1 viz41 the deliberate assumption of the character as something corresponding to the prophet's mission amongst the ,hebrews4 ,it is no longer the facit indignatio versum4 ,pope's satire1 where even it was most effective1 was personal and vindictive1 and upon that argument alone could not he philosophic4 ,foremost in the order of his fulminations stood1 and yet stands1 the bloody castigation by which1 according to his own pretence1 he warned and menaced 7but by which1 in simple truth1 he executed judgment upon7 his false friend1 ,addison4 ,to say that this drew vast rounds of applause upon its author1 and frightened its object into deep silence for the rest of his life1 like the ,quos ego of angry ,neptune1 sufficiently argues that the verses must have ploughed as deeply as the ,russian knout4 ,vitriol could not scorch more fiercely4 ,and yet the whole passage rests upon a blunder2 and the blunder is so broad and palpable1 that it implies instant forgetfulness both in the writer and the reader4 ,the idea which furnishes the basis of the passage is this3 that the conduct ascribed to ,addison is in its own nature so despicable1 as to extort laughter by its primary impulse2 but that this laughter changes into weeping1 when we come to understand that the person concerned in this delinquency is ,addison4 ,the change1 the transfiguration1 in our mood of contemplating the offence1 is charged upon the discovery which we are supposed to make as to the person of the offender2 that which by its baseness had been simply comic when imputed to some corresponding author1 passes into a tragic coup-de-theatre1 when it is suddenly traced back to a man of original genius4 ,the whole1 therefore1 of this effect is made to depend upon the sudden scenical transition from a supposed petty criminal to one of high distinction4 ,and1 meantime1 no such stage effect had been possible1 since the knowledge that a man of genius was the offender had been what we started with from the beginning4 ',our laughter is changed to tears1' says ,pope1 'as soon as we discover that the base act had a noble author4' ,and1 behold6 the initial feature in the whole description of the case is1 that the libeller was one whom 'true genius fired3' ',peace to all such6 ,but were there one whose mind ,true genius fires1' c4 ,before the offence is described1 the perpetrator is already characterized as a man of genius3 and1 in spite of that knowledge1 we laugh4 ,but suddenly our mood changes1 and we weep1 but why8 ,i beseech you4 ,simply because we have ascertained the author to be a man of genius4 ',who would not laugh1 if such a man there be8 ,who would not weep1 if ,atticus were he8' ,the sole reason for weeping is something that we knew already before we began to laugh4 ,it would not be right in logic1 in fact1 it would be a mis-classification1 if ,i should cite as at all belonging to the same group several passages in ,milton that come very near to ,irish bulls1 by virtue of distorted language4 ,one reason against such a classification would lie precisely in that fact--viz41 that the assimilation to the category of bulls lurks in the verbal expression1 and not 7as in ,pope's case7 amongst the conditions of the thought4 ,and a second reason would lie in the strange circumstance1 that ,milton had not fallen into this snare of diction through any carelessness or oversight1 but with his eyes wide open1 deliberately avowing his error as a special elegance2 repeating it2 and well aware of splendid ,grecian authority for his error1 if anybody should be bold enough to call it an error4 ,every reader must be aware of the case-- ',adam the goodliest man of men since born ,his sons2 the fairest of her daughters ,eve'-- which makes ,adam one of his own sons1 ,eve one of her own daughters4 ,this1 however1 is authorized by ,grecian usage in the severest writers4 ,neither can it be alleged that these might be bold poetic expressions1 harmonizing with the ,grecian idiom2 for ,poppo has illustrated this singular form of expression in a prose-writer1 as philosophic and austere as ,thucydides2 a form which 7as it offends against logic7 must offend equally in all languages4 ,some beauty must have been described in the idiom1 such as atoned for its solecism3 for ,milton recurs to the same idiom1 and under the same entire freedom of choice1 elsewhere2 particularly in this instance1 which has not been pointed out3 ',and never1' says ,satan to the abhorred phantoms of ,sin and ,death1 when crossing his path1 ',and never saw till now ,sight more detestable than him and thee4' ,now1 therefore1 it seems1 he had seen a sight more detestable than this very sight4 ,he now looked upon something more hateful than ,x ,y ,z4 ,what was it8 ,it was ,x ,y ,z4 ,but the authority of ,milton1 backed by that of insolent ,greece1 would prove an overmatch for the logic of centuries4 ,and ,i withdraw1 therefore1 from the rash attempt to quarrel with this sort of bull1 involving itself in the verbal expression4 ,but the following1 which lies rooted in the mere facts and incidents1 is certainly the most extraordinary practical bull #a that all literature can furnish4 ,and a stranger thing1 perhaps1 than the oversight itself lies in this--that not any critic throughout ,europe1 two only excepted1 but has failed to detect a blunder so memorable4 ,all the rampant audacity of ,bentley--'slashing ,bentley'--all the jealous malignity of ,dr4 ,johnson--who hated ,milton without disguise as a republican1 but secretly and under a mask would at any rate have hated him from jealousy of his scholarship--had not availed to sharpen these practised and these interested eyes into the detection of an oversight which argues a sudden ,lethean forgetfulness on the part of ,milton2 and in many generations of readers1 however alive and awake with malice1 a corresponding forgetfulness not less astonishing4 ,two readers only ,i have ever heard of that escaped this lethargic inattention2 one of which two is myself2 and ,i ascribe my success partly to good luck1 but partly to some merit on my own part in having cultivated a habit of systematically accurate reading4 ,if ,i read at all1 ,i make it a duty to read truly and faithfully4 ,i profess allegiance for the time to the man whom ,i undertake to study2 and ,i am as loyal to all the engagements involved in such a contract1 as if ,i had come under a sacramentum militare4 ,so it was that1 whilst yet a boy1 ,i came to perceive1 with a wonder not yet exhausted1 that unaccountable blunder which ,milton has committed in the main narrative on which the epic fable of the ',paradise ,lost' turns as its hinges4 ,and many a year afterwards ,i found that ,paul ,richter1 whose vigilance nothing escaped1 who carried with him through life 'the eye of the hawk1 and the fire therein1' had not failed to make the same discovery4 ,it is this3 ,the archangel ,satan has designs upon man2 he meditates his ruin2 and it is known that he does4 ,specially to counteract these designs1 and for no other purpose whatever1 a choir of angelic police is stationed at the gates of ,paradise1 having 7,i repeat7 one sole commission1 viz41 to keep watch and ward over the threatened safety of the newly created human pair4 ,even at the very first this duty is neglected so thoroughly1 that ,satan gains access without challenge or suspicion4 ,that is awful3 for1 ask yourself1 reader1 how a constable or an inspector of police would be received who had been stationed at ,no4 #f1 on a secret information1 and spent the night in making love at ,no4 #ae4 ,through the regular surveillance at the gates1 ,satan passes without objection2 and he is first of all detected by a purely accidental collision during the rounds of the junior angels4 ,the result of this collision1 and of the examination which follows1 is what no reader can ever forget--so unspeakable is the grandeur of that scene between the two hostile archangels1 when the ,fiend 7so named at the moment under the fine machinery used by ,milton for exalting or depressing the ideas of his nature7 finally takes his flight as an incarnation of darkness1 ',and fled ,murmuring2 and with him fled the shades of night4 ,the darkness flying with him1 naturally we have the feeling that he is the darkness1 and that all darkness has some essential relation to ,satan4 ,but now1 having thus witnessed his terrific expulsion1 naturally we ask what was the sequel4 ,four books1 however1 are interposed before we reach the answer to that question4 ,this is the reason that we fail to remark the extraordinary oversight of ,milton4 ,dislocated from its immediate plan in the succession of incidents1 that sequel eludes our notice1 which else and in its natural place would have shocked us beyond measure4 ,the simple abstract of the whole story is1 that ,satan1 being ejected1 and sternly charged under ,almighty menaces not to intrude upon the young ,paradise of ,god1 'rides with darkness' for exactly one week1 and1 having digested his wrath rather than his fears on the octave of his solemn banishment1 without demur1 or doubt1 or tremor1 back he plunges into the very centre of ,eden4 ,on a ,friday1 suppose1 he is expelled through the main entrance3 on the ,friday following he re-enters upon the forbidden premises through a clandestine entrance4 ,the upshot is1 that the heavenly police suffer1 in the first place1 the one sole enemy1 who was or could be the object of their vigilance1 to pass without inquest or suspicion2 thus they inaugurate their task2 secondly1 by the merest accident 7no thanks to their fidelity7 they detect him1 and with awful adjurations sentence him to perpetual banishment2 but1 thirdly1 on his immediate return1 in utter contempt of their sentence1 they ignore him altogether1 and apparently act upon ,dogberry's direction1 that1 upon meeting a thief1 the police may suspect him to be no true man2 and1 with such manner of men1 the less they meddle or make1 the more it will be for their honesty4 ,,footnote4 #a ,it is strange1 or rather it is not strange1 considering the feebleness of that lady in such a field1 that ,miss ,edgeworth always fancied herself to have caught ,milton in a bull1 under circumstances which1 whilst leaving the shadow of a bull1 effectually disown the substance4 ',and in the lowest deep a lower deep still opens to devour me4' ,this is the passage denounced by ,miss ,edgeworth4 ',if it was already the lowest deep1' said the fair lady1 'how the deuce 7no1 perhaps it might be ,i that said 'how the deuce'7 could it open into a lower deep8' ,yes1 how could it8 ,in carpentry1 it is clear to my mind that it could not4 ,but1 in cases of deep imaginative feeling1 no phenomenon is more natural than precisely this never-ending growth of one colossal grandeur chasing and surmounting another1 or of abysses that swallowed up abysses4 ,persecutions of this class oftentimes are amongst the symptoms of fever1 and amongst the inevitable spontaneities of nature4 ,other people ,i have known who were inclined to class amongst bulls ,milton's all-famous expression of 'darkness visible1' whereas it is not even a bold or daring expression2 it describes a pure optical experience of very common occurrence4 ,there are two separate darknesses or obscurities3 first1 that obscurity by which you see dimly2 and secondly1 that obscurity which you see4 ,the first is the atmosphere through which vision is performed1 and1 therefore1 part of the subjective conditions essential to the act of seeing4 ,the second is the object of your sight4 ,in a glass-house at night illuminated by a sullen fire in one corner1 but else dark1 you see the darkness massed in the rear as a black object4 ,that is the 'visible darkness4' ,and on the other hand1 the murky atmosphere between you and the distant rear is not the object1 but the medium1 through or athwart which you descry the black masses4 ,the first darkness is subjective darkness2 that is1 a darkness in your own eye1 and entangled with your very faculty of vision4 ,the second darkness is perfectly different3 it is objective darkness2 that is to say1 not any darkness which affects or modifies your faculty of seeing either for better or worse2 but a darkness which is the object of your vision2 a darkness which you see projected from yourself as a massy volume of blackness1 and projected1 possibly1 to a vast distance4