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nearest perceived another glorious image it was a king in a sitting posture his shape was long and rather languid he was covered with a decorated robe crown and were adorned with precious stones the cheerfulness of pride was in his countenance he seemed about to speak when a vein which ran dimly colored over the marble wall on a sudden became bright and diffused a cheerful light throughout the whole temple by this brilliancy the snake perceived a third king made of brass and sitting mighty in shape on his club adorned with a laurel and more like a rock than a man she was looking for the fourth which was standing at the greatest distance from her but the wall opened while the glittering vein started and split as lightning does and disappeared a man of middle stature entering through the attracted the attention of the snake he was dressed like a peasant and carried in his hand a little lamp on whose still flame you liked to look and which in a strange manner without casting any shadow enlightened the whole dome why thou since we have light said the golden king you know that i may not ten what is dark f my end said the silver king late or never said the old man with a stronger voice the brazen king began to ask when shall i arise soon replied the man with whom shall i combine said the king with thy elder brothers said the man what will the youngest do inquired the king he ii sit down replied the man i am not tired cried the fourth king with a rough faltering voice i poetic light celestial reason d t let the reader in one word attend well to these four kings much from d t is here necessarily swept out o t t what is wholly dark understanding reason modern science is come modern is still but coming in and whom else d t t consider these kings as of the world s history no not as but as principles which or rule alas poor we in this age are so unfortunate as to live under the fourth king d t while this was going on the snake had glided softly round the le everything she was now looking at the fourth king close by him he stood leaning on a pillar his considerable form was heavy rather than beautiful but what metal it was made of not be closely it seemed a mixture of the three which its brothers had been formed of but in the these materials did not seem to have combined together fully gold and silver veins ran through a brazen mass and gave the figure an unpleasant aspect meanwhile the gold king was asking of the man how many secrets thou three replied the man which is the most important said the silver king the open one replied the other wilt thou open it to us also said the brass king when i know the fourth replied the man what care i grumbled the king in an under tone i know the fourth said the snake approached the old man and somewhat in the time is at hand cried the old man with a strong voice the temple the metal statues sounded and that instant the old man sank away to the westward and the snake to the eastward and both of them passed through the of the rock with the greatest speed all the passages through which the old man travelled filled themselves immediately behind him with gold for his lamp had the strange property of changing stone into gold wood into silver dead animals into precious stones and of all but to display this power it must shine alone if another light were beside it the lamp only cast from it a pure clear brightness and all living things were refreshed by it f the old man entered hi cottage which was built on the slope of the hill he found his wife in extreme distress she was sitting at the fire weeping and refusing to be consoled how reader hast thou any glimpse of the open secret i fear not d t writer art thou a goose i fear yes o y t in ages the age of miracles is said to cease but it is we that cease to see it for we are still refreshed by it d t s miscellaneous writings unhappy am i cried she did not i entreat thee not to go away to night what is the matter then inquired the husband quite composed scarcely thou gone said she sobbing when there came noisy travellers to the door i let them in they seemed to be a couple of genteel very honorable people they were dressed in flames you would have taken them for will o but no sooner were they in the house than they began like impudent to compliment me and grew so forward that i feel ashamed to think of it no doubt said the husband with a smile the gentlemen were considering thy age they might have held by general politeness age what age cried the wife wilt thou always be talking of my age how old am i then general politeness but i know what i know look round there what a the walls have look at the old stones which i have not seen these hundred years every of gold have they licked away thou not think how fast and still they kept assuring me that it tasted far beyond common gold once they had swept the walls the fellows seemed to be in high spirits and truly in that while they had grown much broader and brighter they now began to be impertinent again they patted	37
me and called me their queen they shook themselves and a shower of gold pieces sprang from them see how they are shining there under the bench but ah what misery poor ate a coin or two and look he is lying in the chimney dead poor o well a day i did not see it till they were gone else i had never promised to pay the the debt they owe him what do they owe him said the man three replied the wife three and three i engaged to go when it was day and take them to the river poor old practical endeavor listen to many an singer march of intellect man and other impudent that would never put their own finger to the work he ir w ts uttered d t thou do them that civility said the old man j they may chance to be of use to us again whether they will be of use to us i know not but they promised and vowed that they would meantime the fire on the hearth had burnt low the old man covered up the embers with a heap of ashes and put the glittering gold pieces aside so that his little lamp now gleamed alone in the fairest brightness the walls again themselves with gold and changed into the prettiest that could be imagined the of the brown and black in this precious stone made it the most curious piece of take thy basket said the man and put the into it then take the three the three and the three place them round little and carry them to the river at noon the snake will take thee over visit the fair lily give her the she will make it alive by her touch as by her touch she whatever is alive already she will have a true companion in the little dog tell her not to mourn her is near the greatest misfortune she may look upon as the greatest happiness for the time is at hand the old woman filled her basket and set out as soon as it was day the rising sun shone clear from the other side of the river which was glittering in the distance the old woman walked with slow steps for the basket pressed upon her head and it was not the that so her whatever lifeless thing she might be carrying she did not feel tlie weight of it on the other hand in those cases the basket rose and hovered along above her head but to carry any fresh or any little living animal she found exceedingly laborious she had travelled on for some time in a sullen humor when she halted suddenly in fright for she had almost trod upon the giants shadow which was stretching towards her across the plain and now lifting up her why so is it because with lifeless things with machinery all goes like clock work which it is and the basket aloft while with living things were it but the culture of forest trees poor endeavor has more difficulty d t or is it chiefly because a tale must be a tale o y s miscellaneous writings eyes she saw the monster of a giant himself who had been bathing in the river and was come oat and she knew not how she should avoid him the moment he perceived her he began her in sport and the hands of his shadow caught hold of the basket with ease they picked away from it a an and an and brought them to the giant s mouth who then went his way up the river and let the go in peace she considered whether it would not be better to return and supply from her garden the pieces she had lost and amid these doubts she still kept walking on so that in a while she was at the bank of the river she sat long waiting for the she perceived at last over with a very singular traveller a young noble looking handsome man whom she could not gaze upon enough out of the boat what is it you bring cried the old man the which those two will o owe you said the woman pointing to her ware as the found only two of each sort he grew angry and declared he would have none of them the woman earnestly entreated him to take them told him that she could not now go home and that her burden for the way which still remained was very heavy he stood by his refusal and assured her that it did not rest with him what belongs to me said he i must leave lying nine hours in a heap touching none of it till i have given the river its third after much the old man at last replied there is still another way if you like to pledge yourself to the river and declare yourself its i will take the six pieces but there is some risk in it if i keep my word i shall run no risk not the smallest put your hand into the stream continued he and promise that within four and hours you will pay the debt the old woman did so but what was her when on drawing out her hand she found it black as coal she loudly the old declared that her hands had always been the fairest part of her that in spite of her hard work she t very proper in the superstition to himself in the element of time and get refreshment thereby d t had all contrived to keep these noble white and dainty she looked at the hand with indication and exclaimed in a despairing tone worse and worse look it is vanishing entirely it is grown smaller than the other for the present it but	37
seems so said the old man you keep your word however it may prove so in earnest the hand will gradually and at length disappear altogether though you have the use of it as formerly every thing as usual you will be able to perform with it only nobody will see it i had rather that i could not use it and no one could observe the want cried she but what of that i will keep my word and rid myself of this black skin and all anxieties about it thereupon she hastily took up her basket which mounted of itself over h head and hovered free above her in the air as she hurried after the youth who was walking and thoughtfully down the bank his noble form and strange dress had made a deep impression on her his breast was covered with a glittering coat of mail in might be traced every motion of his fair body from his shoulders hung a purple cloak around his uncovered head flowed abundant brown hair in beautiful locks his graceful and his well formed feet were exposed to the of the sun with bare he walked over the hot sand and a deep inward sorrow seemed to blunt him against all external things the old woman tried to lead him into conversation but with his short answers he gave her small encouragement or information so that in the end the beauty of his eyes grew tired of with him to no purpose and took leave of him with these words you walk too slow for me worthy sir i must not lose a moment for i have to pass the river on the green snake and carry this fine present from my husband to the fair lily so saying she faster forward but the fair youth pushed on with equal speed and hastened to keep up with her a dangerous thing to pledge yourself to the time river j as many a national debt and the like the beautiful hand of endeavor can witness d t heavens o y s miscellaneous you are going to the fair lily cried he then our roads are the same but what present is this you are bringing her sir said the woman it is hardly fair after so briefly the questions i put you to inquire with such vivacity about my secrets but if you like to and tell me your adventures i will not conceal from you how it stands with me and my presents they soon made a bargain the dame disclosed her circumstances to him told the history of the and let him see the singular he lifted this natural curiosity from the basket and took who seemed as if sleeping softly into his arms happy beast cried he thou wilt be touched by her hands thou wilt be made alive by her while the living are obliged to fly from her presence to escape a mournful doom yet why say i mournful is it not far and more frightful to be injured by her look than it would be to die by her hand behold me said he to the woman at my years what a miserable fate have i to undergo this mail which i have borne in war this purple which i sought to merit by a wise reign destiny has left me the one as a useless burden the other as an empty ornament crown and and sword are gone and i am as bare and as any other son of earth for so are her bright eyes that they take from every living creature they look on all its force and those whom the touch of her hand does not kill are changed to the state of shadows wandering alive thus did he continue to the old woman s curiosity who wished for information not so much of his internal as of his external situation she learned neither the name of his father nor of his kingdom he the hard whom the and the bosom of the youth had warmed as if he had been living he inquired narrowly about the man with the lamp about the influences of the sacred light appearing to expect much good from it in his melancholy case amid such conversation they from afar the majestic arch of the bridge which extended from the one bank to the other glittering with the strangest colors in the of the sun both were astonished for until now they had never seen this edifice so grand how cried the prince was it not beautiful enough as it stood before our eyes piled out of and shall we not fear to tread it now that it appears combined in graceful of and and neither of them knew the alteration that had taken place upon the snake for it was indeed the snake who every day at noon curved herself over the river and stood forth in the form of a bold swelling bridge the travellers upon it with a feeling and passed over it in silence no sooner had they reached the other shore than the bridge began to heave and stir in a little while it touched the surface of the water and the green snake in her proper form came gliding after the they had thanked her for the privilege of crossing on her back when they found that besides them three there must be other persons in the company whom their eyes could not discern they heard a hissing which the snake also answered with a hissing they listened and at length caught what follows we shall first look about us in the fair lily s park said a pair of voices and then request you at nightfall so soon as we are to us to this of beauty at the shore of the great lake you will find us be it so	37
replied the snake and a hissing sound died away in the air our three travellers now consulted in what order they should introduce themselves to the lady for however many people might be in her company e were obliged to enter and depart under pain of suffering very hard the woman with the in the basket first approached the garden looking round for her who was not difficult to find being just engaged in singing to her harp the finest tones proceeded from her first like circles on the sur of the still lake then like a light breath they set the grass and the bushes in motion in a green under the shadow of a stately group of many trees was she seated and again did she the eyes tiie ear and the heart of the woman if aught can the time river then what but understanding but thought in its moment of in its favorable moment d t s miscellaneous writings who approached with rapture and swore within herself that since she saw her last the fair one had g fairer than ever with eager gladness from a distance she expressed her reverence and admiration for the lovely maiden what a happiness to see you what a heaven does your presence spread around you how the harp is leaning on your bosom how softly your arms surround it how it seems as if longing to be near you and how it sounds so meekly under the touch of your slim fingers thrice happy youth to whom it were permitted to be there so speaking she approached the fair lily raised her eyes let her hands drop from the harp and answered trouble me not with praise i feel my misery but the more deeply look here at my feet lies the poor bird which used so beautifully to accompany my singing it would sit upon my harp and was trained not to touch me but to day while i refreshed by sleep was raising a peaceful morning hymn and my little singer was pouring forth his harmonious tones more gaily than ever a hawk over my head the poor little creature in takes refuge in my bosom and i feel the last of its departing life the hawk indeed was caught by my look and fluttered fainting down into the water but what can his punishment avail me m darling is dead and his grave will but increase the mournful bushes of my garden take courage fairest lily cried the woman wiping off a tear which the story of the maiden had called into her eyes compose yourself my old man bids me tell you to moderate your to look upon the greatest misfortune as a of the greatest happiness for the time is at hand and truly continued she the world is going strangely on of late do but look at my hand how black it is as i live and breathe it is grown far smaller i must hasten before it vanish altogether why did i engage to do the will o a service why did i meet the giant s shadow and dip my hand in the river could you not afford me a single an and an i would give them to the river and my hand were white as ever so that i could almost show it with one of yours and thou still find but thou wilt search for in vain no plant in my garden bears either flowers or fruit but every that i break and plant upon the grave of a favorite grows green straightway and shoots up in fair boughs all these groups these bushes these groves my hard destiny has raised around me these pines stretching out like these of these colossal oaks and were all little twigs planted by my hand as mournful in a soil that otherwise is barren to this speech the old woman had paid little heed she was looking at her hand which in presence of the fair lily seemed every moment growing and smaller she was about to snatch her basket and hasten ofi when she noticed that the best part of her errand had been forgotten she lifted out the and set him down not far from the fair one in the grass my husband said she sends you this memorial you know that you can make a jewel live by touching it this pretty faithful dog will certainly afford you much enjoyment and my grief at losing him is brightened only by the thought that he will be in possession the fair lily viewed the dainty creature with a pleased and as it seemed with an astonished look many signs combine said she that breathe some hope into me but ah is it not a natural deception which makes us fancy when misfortunes crowd upon us that a better day is near what can these many signs avail me my singer s death thy coal black hand this dog of that can never fail me and coming at the lamp s command from human joys removed for ever with sorrows round i sit is there a temple at the river is there a bridge alas not yet the good old dame had listened with impatience to this singing which the fair lily accompanied with her harp in a way that in truly what is there either of flower or of fruit nothing that will altogether content the greedy time river sacred groves in a soil that otherwise is barren d t s miscellaneous writings would have charmed any other she was on the point of taking leave when the arrival of the green snake again detained her the snake had caught the last lines of the song and on this matter forthwith began to speak comfort to the fair lily the prophecy of the bridge is cried the snake you may ask this worthy dame how the arch looks	37
now what formerly was or allowing but a gleam of light to pass about its edges is now become transparent precious stone no is so clear no so beautiful of hue i wish you joy of it said lily but you will pardon me if i regard the prophecy as yet the lofty arch of your bridge can still but admit foot passengers and it is promised us that horses and carriages and travellers of every sort shall at the same moment cross this bridge in both directions is there not something said toe about pillars which are to arise of themselves from the waters of the river the old woman still kept her eyes fixed on her hand she here interrupted their dialogue and was taking leave wait a moment said the fair lily and carry my little bird with you bid the lamp change it into i will it by my touch with your good it shall form my dearest but hasten hasten for at sunset intolerable will fasten on the bird and tear asunder the fair combination of its form for ever the old woman laid the little c e wrapped in soft leaves into her basket and hastened away however it may be said the snake their interrupted dialogue the temple is built but it is not at the river said the fair one it is yet resting in the depths of the earth said the snake i have seen the kings and conversed with them but when will they arise inquired lily the snake replied i heard in the temple these deep words tht time is at hand a pleasing cheerfulness spread over the fair lily s face t is the second time said she that i have heard these happy words to day when will the day come for me to hear them thrice she rose and immediately there came a lovely maiden from the grove and took away her harp another followed her and folded up the fine carved ivory stool on which the fair one had heen sitting and put the silvery cushion under her arm a third then made her appearance with a large worked with pearls and looked whether lily would require her in walking these three maidens were expression beautiful and yet their beauty but exalted that of lily for it was plain to every one that they could never be compared to her meanwhile the fair one had been looking with a satisfied aspect at the strange she bent down and touched him and that instant he started up gaily he looked around ran hither and thither and at last in his kindest manner hastened to salute his she took him in her arms and pressed him to her cold as thou art cried she and though but a works in thee thou art welcome to me tenderly will i love thee prettily will i play with thee softly caress thee and firmly press thee to my bosom she then let him go chased him from her called him back and played so him and ran about so gaily and so innocently with him on the grass tliat with new rapture you viewed and in her joy as a little while ago her sorrow had every heart to sympathy this cheerfulness these graceful sports were interrupted by the entrance of the youth he stepped forward in his former guise and aspect save that the heat of the day appeared to have fatigued him still more and in the presence of his mistress he grew paler every moment he bore upon his hand a hawk which was sitting quiet as a dove with its body shrunk and its wings drooping it is not kind in thee cried lily to him to bring that hateful thing before my eyes the monster which to day has killed my little singer blame not the unhappy bird replied the youth rather blame and thy destiny and me to keep beside me the companion of my wo v o are these three faith hope and charity or others of that kin d t faith hope and o y vol iv s miscellaneous writings meanwhile ceased not the fair lily and she replied to her transparent favorite with friendly gestures she clapped her hands to scare him then ran to him after her she tried to get him when he fled and she chased him away when he attempted to press near her the youth looked on in silence with increasing anger hut at last when she took the odious beast which seemed to him ugly on her arm pressed it to her white bosom and kissed its black with her heavenly lips his patience altogether failed him and full of desperation he exclaimed must i who by a fate exist beside thee perhaps to the end in an absent presence who by thee have lost my all m very self must i see before my eyes that so unnatural a monster can charm thee into gladness can awaken thy attachment and enjoy thy embrace shall i any longer keep wandering to and fro measuring my dreary course to that side of the river and to this no there is still a spark of the old heroic spirit sleeping in my bosom let it start this instant into its flame if stones may rest in thy bosom let me be change to stone if thy touch i will die by thy hands so saying he made a violent movement the hawk flew from his finger but he himself rushed towards the fair one she held out her hands to keep him off and touched him only the sooner consciousness him and she felt with horror the beloved burden lying on her bosom with a shriek she started back and the gentle youth sank lifeless from her arms upon the ground the misery had happened the sweet lily stood motionless gazing	37
on the corpse her heart seemed to pause in her bosom and her eyes were without tears in vain did try to gain from her any kindly gesture with her friend the world for her was all dead as the grave her silent despair did not look round for help she knew not of any help on the other hand the snake herself the more she seemed to and in fact her strange movements served at last to keep away for a little the immediate consequences of the mischief with her body she formed a wide circle round the corpse and seizing the end of her tail between her teeth she lay quite still ere long one of s fair waiting maids appeared brought the ivory folding stool and with friendly constrained her mistress to sit down on it soon afterwards there came a second she had in her hand a fire colored veil with which she rather decorated than concealed the fair lily s head the third handed her the harp and scarcely had she drawn the gorgeous instrument towards her and struck some tones from its strings when the first maid returned with a clear round mirror took her station opposite the fair one caught her looks in the glass and threw back to her the loveliest image that was to be found in nature sorrow heightened her beauty the veil her charms the harp her grace and deeply as you wished to see her mournful situation altered not less deeply did you wish to keep her image as she now looked for ever present with you with a still look at the mirror she touched the harp now melting tones proceeded from the strings now her pain seemed to mount and the music in strong notes responded to her wo sometimes she opened her lips to sing but her voice failed her and ere long her sorrow melted into tears two maidens caught her in their arms the harp sank from her bosom scarcely could the quick servant snatch the instrument and carry it aside who gets us the man with the lamp before the sun set the snake faintly but audibly the maids looked at one another and lily s tears fell faster at this moment came the woman with the basket panting and altogether breathless i am lost and for life cried she see how my hand is almost vanished neither nor giant would take me over because i am the river s in vain did i promise hundreds of and hundreds of they will take no more than three and no is now to be found in all this quarter does not man s soul rest by faith and look in the mirror of faith does not hope rather than conceal is not charity love the beginning of music behold too how the serpent in this great hour has made herself a serpent of and even as genuine thought in our age has to do for so much preserves the seeming dead within her folds that suspended animation issue not in horrible dissolution d t s miscellaneous writings forget your own care said the snake and try to bring help here perhaps it may come to yourself also haste with your utmost speed to seek the will o it is too light for you to see them but perhaps you will hear them laughing and to and if they be speedy they may cross upon the giant s shadow and seek the man with the and send him to us the woman hurried off at her pace and the snake seemed expecting as impatiently as lily the return of the flames alas the beam of the sinking sun was already only the highest of the trees in the thicket and long shadows were stretching over lake and meadow the snake up and down impatiently and lily dissolved in tears in this extreme need the snake kept looking round on all sides for she was every moment that the sun would set and corruption penetrate the magic circle and the fair youth immediately away at last she noticed sailing high in the air with purple red feathers the prince s hawk whose breast was catching the last beams of the sun she shook herself for joy at this good omen nor was she deceived for shortly afterwards the man with the lamp was seen gliding towards them across the lake fast and smoothly as if he had been travelling on the snake did not change her posture but lily rose and called to him what good spirit sends thee at the moment when we were desiring thee and thee so much the spirit of my lamp replied the man has impelled me and the hawk has conducted me my lamp when i am needed and i just look about me in the sky for a signal some bird or points to the quarter towards which i am to turn be calm fairest maiden whether i can help i know not an individual helps not but he who himself with many at the proper hour we will the evil and keep hoping hold thy circle fast continued he turning to the snake then set himself upon a beside her and illuminated the dead body bring the little bird hither too and lay it in the circle the what are the hawk and this bird which here prove so destructive to one another servants implements of these two divided of the human name them i will not more is not written p t maidens took the little corpse from the basket which the old woman had left and did as he directed meanwhile the sun had set and as the darkness increased not only the snake and the old man s lamp began shining in their fashion but also lily s veil gave out a soft light which gracefully tinged as with a	37
old man as pope for example did when he lived in d t as our when for the reform bill o y t so your mechanical politics your whole modern system of thought is to and old endeavor grasping at her basket shall come against the remains and only a bright ring of luminous jewels shall be left there mark well however what next becomes of it d t s miscellaneous writings the old man forthwith set himself to gather the stones into the basket a task in which his wife assisted him they next carried the basket to an elevated point on the bank and here the man threw its whole not without contradiction from the fair one and his wife who would gladly have retained some part of it down into the river like gleaming twinkling stars the stones floated down with the waves and you could not say whether they lost themselves in the distance or sank to the bottom gentlemen said he with the lamp in a respectful tone to the lights i will now show the way and open you the passage but you will do us an essential service if you please to the door by which the must be entered at present and which none but you can the lights made a stately bow of assent and kept their place the old man of the lamp went foremost into the rock which opened at his presence the youth followed him as if mechanically silent and uncertain lily kept at some distance from him the old woman would not be left and stretched out her hand that the light of her husband s lamp might still fall upon it the rear was closed by the two will o who bent the peaks of their flames towards one another and appeared to be engaged in conversation they had not gone far till the procession halted in front of a large brazen door the leaves of which were bolted with a golden lock the man now called upon the lights to advance who required small entreaty and with their pointed flames soon ate both bar and lock the brass gave a loud as the doors sprang suddenly asunder and the stately figures of the kings appeared within the illuminated by the entering lights all bowed before these dread sovereigns especially the flames made a profusion of the after a pause the gold king asked whence come ye from the world said the old man whither go ye said the silver king into the world replied the man what would ye with us cried the brazen king accompany you replied the man the king was about to speak when the gold one addressed the lights who had got too near him take yourselves away from me my metal was not made for you thereupon they turned to the silver king and clasped themselves about him and his robe glittered beautifully in their yellow brightness you are welcome said he but i cannot feed you satisfy yourselves elsewhere and bring me your light they removed and gliding past the brazen king who did not seem to notice them they fixed on the king who will govern the world cried he with a broken voice he who stands upon his feet replied the old man i am he said the mixed king we shall see replied the man for tlie time is at hand the fair lily fell upon the old man s neck and kissed him cordially holy sage cried she a thousand times i thank thee for i hear that word the third time she had scarcely spoken when she clasped the old man still faster for the ground began to move beneath them the youth and the old woman also held by one another the lights alone did not regard it you could feel plainly that the whole temple was in motion as a ship that away from the harbor when her are lifted the depths of the earth seemed to open for the building as it went along it struck on nothing no rock came in its way for a few a small rain seemed to from the opening of the dome the old man held the fair lily fast and said to her we are now beneath the river we shall soon be at the mark ere long they thought the temple made a halt but they were in an error it was mounting upwards and now a strange uproar rose above their heads and beams in disordered combination now came pressing and crashing in at the opening of the dome lily and the woman started to a side the man with the lamp laid hold of the youth and kept standing still the little cottage of the for it was this which the temple in ascending had severed from the ground and carried up with it sank gradually down and covered the old man and the youth the women screamed aloud and the temple shook like a ship running unexpectedly in sorrowful perplexity the princess and her old attendant wandered round the cottage in the s miscellaneous dawn the door was bolted and to their knocking no one an they knocked more loudly and were not a little struck when at tlie wood beg an to ring by virtue of the lamp locked up in it the hut had been converted from the inside to the outside into solid silver ere long too its form changed for the noble metal shook aside the accidental shapes of posts and beams and stretched itself out into a noble case of beaten ornamented thus a fair little temple stood erected in the middle of the large one or if you will an altar worthy of the temple by a stair which ascended from within the noble youth now mounted aloft lighted by the old	37
man with the lamp and as it seemed supported by another who advanced in a white short robe with a silver in his hand and was soon recognised as tiie the former possessor of the cottage the fair lily mounted the outer steps which led from the floor of the temple to the altar but she was still obliged to keep herself apart from her lover the old woman whose hand in the absence of the lamp had grown smaller cried am i then to be unhappy after all among so many miracles can there be nothing done to save my hand her husband to the open door and said to her see the day is breaking haste in the river what an advice cried she it will make me all black it will make me vanish altogether for my debt is not yet paid go said the man and do as i advise thee all debts are now paid the old woman hastened away and at that moment appeared the rising sun upon the rim of the dome the old man between the virgin and the youth and cried with a loud voice there are three which have rule on earth wisdom appearance and strength at the first word the gold king rose at the second the silver one and at the third the brass king slowly rose while the mixed king on a sudden very awkwardly down t good the old church shaken down in disordered combination is admitted in this way into the new temple of the future and into enduring silver by the lamp becomes an altar worthy to stand there the too is not forgotten d t t dost thou note this o reader and look back with new clear whoever noticed him could scarcely keep from laughing solemn as the moment was for he was not sitting he was not lying he was not leaning but shape sunk together the lights f who till now had been employed upon him drew to a side they appeared although pale in the morning radiance yet once more well fed and in good burning condition with their tongues they had licked out the gold veins of the colossal figure to its very heart the irregular which this occasioned had continued empty for a time and the figure had maintained its standing posture but when at last the very tenderest were eaten out the image suddenly together and that alas in the very parts which continue when one sits down whereas the limbs which should have bent themselves out and whoever could not laugh was obliged to turn away his eyes this miserable shape and no shape was offensive to behold the man with the lamp now led the handsome youth who still kept gazing before him down from the altar and straight to the brazen king at the feet of this mighty lay a sword in a brazen the young man it round him the sword on the left the right free cried the brazen voice they next proceeded to the silver king he bent his to the youth the latter seized it with his left hand and the king in a pleasing voice said feed the sheep on turning to the golden king he stooped with gestures of paternal blessing and pressing ness on former things a gold king a silver and a brazen king wisdom dignified appearance strength these three united bear rule together in as in the foolish king of our foolish they once the gold or wisdom is all out of them very awkwardly plump down d t as for example does not charles x one of the poor realities rest even now enough sunk together at in the city of d t t march of intellect lights were well capable of such a thing d t s miscellaneous writings his on the young man s head said understand what is highest during this progress the old man had carefully the prince after on the sword his swelled his arms waved and his feet trod firmer when he took the in his hand his strength appeared to soften and hy an unspeakable charm to become still more but as the came to deck his hair his features kindled his eyes gleamed with spirit and the first word of mouth was lily dearest lily cried he hastening up the silver stairs to her for she had viewed his progress from the of the dearest lily what more precious can a man with all desire for himself than innocence and th still affection which thy bosom brings me o my friend i continued he turning to the old man aiid looking at the three statues glorious and secure is the kingdom of our fathers but thou hast forgotten the fourth power which rules the world earlier more universally more certainly the power of love with these words he fell upon the lovely maiden s neck she had cast away her veil and her cheeks were tinged with the fairest most red here the old man said with a smile love does not rule but it trains and that is more amid this solemnity this happiness and rapture no one had observed that it was now broad day and all at once on looking through the open a crowd of altogether unexpected objects met the eye a large space surrounded with pillars formed the fore court at the end of which was seen a broad and stately bridge stretching with many arches across the river it was furnished on both sides with and magnificent for foot travellers many thousands of whom were already there busily passing this way or that the broad pavement in the centre was thronged with herds and with and carriages flowing like two streams on their several sides and neither interrupting the other all admired the splendor and convenience of the structure and the new	37
od has to encounter from unwise enemies still more from unwise friends how is mistaken for metal and common ashes are solemnly as fell poison how long in such cases blind passion must before she can awaken judgment in short with what tumult and protracted a foreign doctrine and historic survey of german poetry with various by w of vo london vol iii s miscellaneous itself among the perfect ignorance is quiet perfect knowledge is quiet not so the transition from the former to the latter in a vague all twilight of wonder the new has to fight its battle with the old hope has to settle accounts with fear thus the scales strangely public opinion which is as yet without limit periods of foolish admiration and foolish must before that of true inquiry and zeal according to knowledge can begin thirty years ago for example a person of influence and understanding thought good to such a as the following those ladies who take the lead in society are loudly called upon to act as of the public taste as well as of the public virtue they are called upon therefore to oppose with the whole weight of their influence the of those of now daily issuing from the banks of the which like their of the darker ages though with far other and more fatal arms are civilized society those readers whose purer taste has been formed on the correct models of the old classic school see with indignation and astonishment the and once more overpowering the and they behold our minds with a but rapid motion hurried back to the reign of chaos and old night by distorted and which in spite of strong flashes of genius unite the taste of the with the morals of the newspapers announce that s tragedy of the which the young nobility of germany to themselves into a band of to rob in the forests of is now acting in england by persons of quality on the modern system of female education by more the eighth edition p s op poetry m our fair at sound of this alarm trumpet drew up in array of war to those ck and snuff out the lights of that questionable private theatre we have not learned and see only that if so their campaign was fruitless and needless like the old northern those new paper marched on whither they bound some to honor some to the most to oblivion and the and no weapon or not even the glances of bright eyes but only the of time could tame and them thus s once so threatening all turned out to be mere and night and so rushed like some hunt with loud indeed yet hurrying nothing into chaos but themselves while again s tragedy of the robbers which did not either the young or the old nobility of germany to rob in the forests of or indeed to do anything except perhaps a less proved equally in england and might still be acted without offence could living individuals idle enough for that end be met with here nay this same not indeed by robbers yet by by maids of and tells has actually conquered for himself a fixed dominion among us which is yearly round which other german kings of less and of greater are likewise and yet as we perceive civilized society still stands in its place and the public taste as well as the public virtue live on though languidly as before for in fine it has become manifest that the old forest is now quite and that the true children of night whom we have to dread dwell not on the banks of the but nearer hand could we take our progress in knowledge of german s writings literature since that was written as any measure of our progress in the science of criticism above all in the grand science of national there were some reason for satisfaction with regard to germany itself whether we yet stand on the right footing and know at last how we are to live in profitable neighborhood and intercourse with that country or whether the present is but one other of those capricious tides which also will have its may seem doubtful meanwhile clearly enough a rapidly growing favor for german literature comes to light which favor too is the more hopeful as it now grounds itself on better knowledge on direct study and judgment our knowledge is better if only because more general within the last ten years independent readers of german have multiplied perhaps a hundred fold so that now this is almost expected as a natural item in liberal education hence in a great number of minds some immediate personal insight into the deeper significance of german intellect and art every at least a feeling that it has some such significance with independent readers moreover the writer ceases to be independent which of itself is a considerable step our british for instance have long been in modern literature and like their country the envy of surrounding nations but now there are symptoms that even in the remote province they must no longer range quite at will that the of a will henceforth be accounted literary and of that quality must operate on the dead subject only while there are and in such abundance let no merely ambitious or merely hungry fasten on and remark too with satisfaction how the british critic now feels that it has become to speak delirium on this subject wherefore he s survey of german poetry himself to one of two courses either to acquire some understanding of it or which is the still course altogether his peace hence freedom from much that was wont to be oppressive probably no with such a note as that of mrs can again be sounded by male or female in these islands again there is no one of our younger	37
more vigorous but has its german what he can we have seen paul quoted in english newspapers nor among the signs of improvement at least of extended curiosity let us omit our british foreign a sort of that regularly visit the continental especially the german ports and bring back such ware as luck them with the hope of better last not least among our evidences of here is a whole historic survey of german poetry in three sufficient and this not merely in the and vein but proceeding in the way of criticism and indifferent impartial narrative a man of known character of talent experience penetration judges that the english public is prepared for such a service likely to reward it these are appearances which as for the friendly of all men and all and the possible of whatever each produces of advantage to the others we must witness gladly free literary intercourse with other nations what is it but an extended freedom of the press a liberty to read in spite of ignorance of prejudice which is the worst of what our foreign teachers also have for us ultimately therefore a liberty to speak and to hear were it with men of all countries and of all times to use in utmost compass those precious natural organs by which not knowledge only but mutual affection is chiefly s v s among mankind it is a natural wish in man to know his fellow passengers in this strange p or ai strange life voyage neither h is c i r z t c t itself to the where he himself s lo iv r u t may extend to all accessible e of in all he will find mysterious beings of and like his own in all he will find men with these let him comfort and instruct himself as to german literature in particular which to be not only new but original and rich in curious information for us which claims moreover nothing that we have not granted to the french italian spanish and in a less degree to far we are gratified to see that such claims can no longer be resisted in the present state of our english literature when no poet his own poetic field but all are into and in concert for useful knowledge or profit we regard this renewal of our intercourse with poetic germany after twenty years of languor or as among the m si remarkable and even promising features of our recent intellectual in the absence of better tendencies let this which is no idle but in some points of view a deep and earnest one be encouraged for ourselves in the midst of so many louder and more exciting interests we feel it a kind of duty to cast some glances now and then on this little interest since the matter is once for all to be inquired into sound notions on it should be ones cannot be too speedily h is on such r that have tj up mr i is s o a person that no i n y f d by on subject be without we on german such is the actual state of public information and curiosity his guidance will be sure to lead or a numerous class of we are s survey of german poetry therefore called on to examine him with more than usual and the press in these times has become so active literature what is still called ture has so dilated in volume and diminished in that the very feels at a and has ceased to review why thoughtfully examine what was written without thought or note faults and merits where there is neither fault nor merit from a embodied with innocent deception in and ink and named book from the common wind of talk even when it is by such for days in the shape of how shall the aught in that once so profitable of his he has ceased as we said to attempt the impossible cannot review but only discourse he his too author generally with civil words not to quarrel with a fellow creature and must try as he best may to grind from his own poor authors long looked with an evil envious eye on the and strove often to blow out his light which only burnt the clearer for such but now their they have extinguished it by of oil unless for some change of affairs or some new contrived of which there is yet no trace the trade of is well nigh done the happier are we that mr s book is of the old stamp and has substance in it for our uses if no honor there will be no disgrace in having carefully examined it service indeed is e to our readers not without curiosity in this matter as well as to author in so far as he seems a safe guide and brings true tidings from the promised land let us proclaim that fact and recommend him to all if on the other hand his tidings are false let us hasten to make this also known that the s man suffer not in the s f i bv of its produce an is i r iv sons of dwelling there tl i r so brings out of it in either case ii v oar who loves the in his f his countrymen brought into closer acquaintance with them will feel that in at least we are with him first then be it admitted without hesitation that mr in respect of general talent and takes his place above all our of things that his book is greatly the most important we yet have on this subject here are upwards of fourteen hundred solid pages of narrative and translation submitted to the english reader numerous statements and personages hitherto unheard of or vaguely heard of stand	37
here in fixed shape there is if no map of intellectual germany some first attempt at such farther we are to state that our author is a zealous earnest man no hollow hunting after shadows and he knows not what but a substantial distinct remarkably decisive man has his own opinion on many subjects and can express it we should say precision of idea was a striking quality of his no vague or of any kind nothing what is and and has a meaning which he that runs may read is to be apprehended here he is a of much classical and other reading of much n stands en his own bi is j cent yet il i a r l v ci power i even its is c c where manifest lastly we venture to hu tne rare merit of honesty he speaks out in plain english what is in him seems heartily convinced of his own doctrines and them because they are his own not for the sake of sale f v v s of german poetry t but of truth at worst for the sake of making on the strength of which we reckon that this m ft certain conditions be useful and acceptable to two classes first to students of literature in the original who in any history of their subject even in a bare catalogue will find help though for that class unfortunately mr s help is much diminished in value by several circumstances by this one were there no other that he nowhere any authority the path he has opened may be the true or the false one for farther and there is no direction or indication but secondly we reckon that this book may be welcome to many of the much larger miscellaneous class who read less for any specific object than for the sake of reading to whom any book that will either in the way of contradiction or of confirmation by new wisdom or new of wisdom stir up the inner man is a the rather if it bring some historic tidings also fit for remembering and repeating above all if as in this case the style with many have some striking merits and so the book be a light exercise even an entertainment to such praise and utility the work is justly entitled but this is not all it to and more cannot without many be it the historic survey is not what it should be but only what it would be our author to correct i preface any false hopes his ge excited a complete of german poetry it seems is hardly within reach of his local command of library so comprehensive an undertaking would require another residence in a country from which he has now been separated more than forty years and which various consideration render it to s miscellaneous writings having long been in the practice of the productions of its fine literature and of working in that material as bi t lap tr it o m i t ar one f c y he n j now and sections filled up and so collecting and those successive them together into the new and entire work here offered to the public with fragments he long since as it were and i attempt to an english temple of fame to the memory of those german poets there is no doubt but a complete history of german poetry any local or universal command of books which a british man can at this day enjoy and farther presents obstacles of an infinitely more serious character than this a history of german or of any national poetry would form taken in its complete sense one of the most any writer could engage in poetry were it the so it be sincere is the attempt which man makes to render his existence harmonious the utmost he can do for that end it springs therefore from his whole feelings opinions activity and takes its character from these it may be called the music of his whole manner of being and considered is the test how far music or freedom existed therein how far the feeling of love of beauty and dignity could be from that peculiar f li from the views he there had or l b and nature i i and external hence in any to under ihe i to estimate its worth and historical meaning we ask as a inquiry what that situation was thus the history of a nation s poetry is the essence of its history political scientific religious with all these the complete historian of a national poetry will be familiar i s survey op poetry the national in its finest traits and through its successive stages of growth will be clear to him he will discern the g and spiritual tendency of each period what was the highest aim and enthusiasm of mankind in each and how one epoch naturally itself from the other he has to record this highest aim of a nation in its successive directions and fox by this the poetry of the nation itself this is the poetry of the nation such were the essence of a true history of poetry the living principle round which all detached facts and phenomena all separate characters of poems and poets would fashion themselves into a whole if they are by any means to to accomplish such a work for any literature would require not only all outward but an excellent inward faculty all and were of no avail without the seeing eye and the understanding heart doubtless as matters stand such models remain in great part ideal the result of actual practice must not be too rigidly tried by them in our language we have yet no example of such a performance neither elsewhere except perhaps in the well meant but altogether ineffectual attempt of among the and in	37
his rules thus in volume first we have a long story translated from a german magazine about certain antique y amusing enough but with no more reference to than to england while in return the lied is despatched in something less than one line and comes no more to light who was not an satire entitled the mirror of but a real hero of that name whose is standing to this day near has some four lines for his share de about as many which also are again if have his half volume and poor poor and numerous other poor each his chapter also has his two sentences and is in these weighed against dr does not occur here and his escape notice or even do worse the poetry of the is not alluded to the name of s survey of german poetry appears not to be known to mr or if want of rhyme was to be the test of a how comes here stranger still is not once mentioned neither is neither is but why dwell on these and is not all included in this one incredible fact that one of the largest articles in the book a tenth part of whole historic survey of german poetry treats of that genius august von the truth is this historic survey has not anything historical in it but is a mere of notices and notes bound together indeed by the circumstance that they are all about german poetry about it and about it also by the of time and still more strongly by the s but by no other sufficient tie whatever the title were not some in such cases might be general jail delivery of all and original or translated composed or borrowed on the subject of german poetry by c to such jail delivery at least when it is from the prison of mr s desk at and relates to a subject in the actual of german poetry among us we have no objection and for the name now that it is explained there is nothing in a name a rose by any other name would smell as sweet however even in this lower and lowest point of view the historic survey is to grave objections its worth is of no character we mentioned that mr did not often authorities for which doubtless he may have his reasons if it be not from french and the and other the like sources we confess ourselves altogether at a loss to divine whence any reasonable individual gathered such notices as these books indeed are scarce but the s miscellaneous writings most situation may command s horn s und chat s or some of the thousand and one of that sort numerous and accurate in german more than in any ther literature at all events s und and the world renowned conversations no one of these appears to have been in mr s sion alone and him he seems to have consulted a certain proportion of errors in such a work is and scarcely so the proportion observed here the historic survey with errors perhaps beyond any book it has ever been our lot to review of these many indeed are harmless enough as for instance where we learn that was born in not in though in that case he must have published his at the age of three years or where it is said that s mary to pray for his soul which it does not do if indeed any one cared what it did some are of a quite mysterious nature either with a wit which continues latent or indicating that in spite of and newspapers some portions of this island are still for example it von was admirably translated into english in at by william scott advocate no doubt the same person who under the poetical but assumed name of walter has since become the most popular of the british writers others again are the fruit of a more ignorance as when we hear that s und is literally meant to be a narrative and no genuine biography that his ends quietly in to mr s satisfaction which however the french translation may run in the original it certainly does not mr s survey of german poetry likewise that his copy of is so we grieve to state is ours still worse is it when speaking of distinguished men who probably have been at pains to veil their sentiments on certain subjects our author takes it upon him to lift such veil and with perfect composure this to be a that a that other an often without any due foundation it is quite for example to describe by any such unhappy term as that of it is very particularly to say that anywhere himself an that he is a indeed that he is was or is like to be any ist to which mr would attach just meaning but on the whole what struck us most in these errors is their surprising number in the way of our calling we at first took pencil with intent to mark such but soon found it too appalling a task and so laid aside our black lead and our art happily however a little natural invention assisted by some of came to our aid six pages studied for that end we did mark finding therein thirteen errors the pages are of volume third and still in our copy have their which can be before a jury of authors now if give who sees not that the entire number of pages will give and a or allowing for which are from errors and for philosophical wherein the errors are of another sort nay with a perhaps liberality that these six pages may yield too high an average which we know not that they do may not in round numbers fifteen hundred be given as the amount	37
these latter for our author are implements of the dark ages the ground is full of and cut down and spare not a aversion to priests something like a natural horror and gives him no rest night nor day the of all his speculations is to drive down more or less against that class of persons nothing that he does but they interfere with or threaten the first question he asks of every by be it poet philosopher farce writer is or wilt thou help me or not long as he has now labored and though calling himself philosopher mr has not yet succeeded in sweeping his clear but still struggles in the questions of and and agitated by this zeal with its fitful hope and fear it is tiiat he goes through germany out with the nose of an ancient hunter though for opposite purposes and like a beating aloud for nay where in any corner he can spy a tall man clutching at him to him or impress s and s creed we saw above those of and are scarcely less but take rather this sagacious of s philosophy the writings do not so widely as is commonly apprehended fix m those of the school for they abound with passages while they seem to the popular resolve into the stories of the gods and into an the soul of the thus to the more l and the r ee vol in s lion of opinions with which they encouraged and in action to with spirit professor a distinction between practical and reason and while he teaches that rational conduct will indulge the of a god a revelation and a future state this we presume is meant by calling them of practical reason he that reason can no one argument in their behalf so that his morality to a defence of the old think with the wise and act with the a plan of behavior which to the vulgar an ultimate victory over the wise philosophy ip to be withdrawn within a circle of the and these must be induced to in a vulgar superstition this can best be accomplished by with the topics of discussion by a cloudy which may from below the war of and from above the of by a kind of of in which public of tiie most critical na ture can be carried on from the press without alarming the prejudices of the people or the precautions of the magistrate such a in the hands of an is the dialect of add to this the notorious of his opinions which must him to the patriotism of the philosophers of the and it will appear probable that the reception of his forms of should extend from germany to france should completely and exclusively establish itself on the continent with the the reason of the modem world and form the which seems about to convert the halls of liberal philosophy into churches of these are indeed fearful symptoms and enough to the diligence of any officer that has the good cause at heart reasonably may such officer with and and a considerable list of et and still seeing no hearty followers of his flag but a mere regiment upon his and in moments of despondency s of poetry lament that christianity had ever entered or as we here have it into europe at all at least some small slip of for instance not heen left to its natural course by and institutions many which have fatigued the clouded the intellect and the security of man and which alas but too naturally followed in the train of the sacred books would there perhaps never have struck root and in one corner of the world the inquiries of reason might have found an earlier asylum and asserted a less range nevertheless there is still hope hope the general tendency of the german school it would appear could we but believe such tidings is to teach french opinions in english forms philosophy can now look down with some glances on nay the literature of germany liberal and is gradually overflowing even into the nations and will found in new languages and those latest of a corrupt but instructed refinement which are likely to the morality of the on the ruins of christian such and bring to mind an absurd which our author with his the celebrated of and represented him as being engaged in the repair and of the pagan religion for such we are happy to state there is not and was not the slightest foundation may indeed at one time have put some into his s head but mr is too solid a man to in speculations of that nature prophetic are not practical projects at all events as we here see it is not the old pagan gods that we are to bring back but only the ancient pagan morality a refined and s miscellaneous as some middle aged if distressed by tax and mi t resolve on becoming thirteen again and a bird let no timid apprehend any of priests from mr or even of gods is not this on the hitherto so inexplicable of count enough to quiet every on the continent of europe the gentleman and was emphatically so is seldom brought up with much solicitude for any positive doctrine among the the on the duty of to the religion of one s ancestors among the on the duty of to the religion of the magistrate but seems to have invented a new point of and a most rational one the duty of to the religion of one s father in law a is the happier while single for being with any religious but when the time comes for to matrimony he will find the precedent of well entitled to consideration a to to the religion of the father in law advantageous matrimonial it produces in a family the desirable	37
harmony of religious profession it the sincere education of the daughters in the faith of their mother and it leaves the young men at liberty to in their turn to exert their ri ht of private judgment and to choose a worship for themselves religion if a in the male is surely a grace in the female sex courage of mind may tend to acknowledge nothing above itself but timidity is ever disposed to look upwards for protection for consolation and for happiness with regard to this latter point whether religion is a in the male and surely a grace in the female sex it is possible judgments may remain suspended courage of mind indeed will prompt the to set itself in posture against an armed yet whether for men and women who seem to stand not only under the and s survey of german poetry system and and eternity but even under any bare or drop of such courage of mind as may tend to acknowledge nothing above itself were ornamental or the contrary whether lastly religion is on fear or on something infinitely higher and inconsistent with fear may be questions but they are of a kind we are not at present called to with mr many other strange articles of faith for he is a positive man and has a certain quiet these however cannot henceforth much surprise us he still calls the middle ages during which nearly all the inventions and social institutions whereby we yet live as civilized men were originated or a of darkness on the faith chiefly of certain long past who reckoned everything barren because had not yet and ho greek roots grew there again turning in the other direction he s and that old and indeed quite foolish story of the s having a merely commercial grudge against the the quantity of blood shed for and forgetting that men shed blood in all ages for any t and for no cause for for thinks that on the whole the was an error and failure pity that providence as king wished in the case had not created its man three centuries sooner and taken a little counsel from him on he other hand s was successful and here for once providence was ri t will mr mention what it was that f many things he de formed and but the thing that he formed or re formed is still unknown to the world it is perhaps unnecessary to add that mr s whole s philosophy is that is he nothing cannot be weighed measured and with one or the other organ eaten and logic is his only lamp of life where this fails the region of creation for him there is no invisible incomprehensible under any name believes in an invisible he treats with and the as a mystic and lunatic and if the unhappy has any literary or other allows him to go at large and work at it withal he is a great hearted strong minded and in many points interesting man there is a majestic composure in the attitude he has assumed massive immovable he sits in a world of delirium and for his future looks with sure faith only in the direction of the past we lake him to be a man of turn not without kindness at all events of the most perfect he the entire universe yet speaks respectfully of from the and always says that they english beautifully a certain mild sits well on him uttering the absurd as if it were a mere on the other hand there are touches of a grave scientific which are questionable this word we use with reference to our readers and might also add but not with reference to mr he as we said is scientific merely and where there is no and no there can be no and no to a german we might have compressed all this long description into a single word mr is simply what they call a every fibre of him is with us such men usually take into politics and become code makers and it was only in germany that they ever much with literature and there worthy has long since terminated his hunt no s of german poetry long now writes books die der on the utility of feeling singular now when that old species had been quite extinct for almost half a century in their own land appears a native born made in all points as they were with wonder ing welcome we hail the almost as we might a let no david choose smooth stones from the brook to at him is he not our own whose limbs were made in england whose and any soil might be proud of is he not as we said a man that stand on his own legs without when left by himself in these days one of the greatest almost we cheerfully mr of religion but must expect less gratitude when we farther deny him any feeling for true poetry as indeed the feelings for religion and for poetry of this sort are one and the same of poetry mr knows well what will make a grand especially a large picture in the nation he has even a gift of this kind himself as his style will testify but much more he does not know how indeed should he too judged of poetry as he did of simply by it mr as a fact known to all thinking creatures that poetry is neither more nor less than a perhaps above five hundred times in the historic survey we see this doctrine expressly acted on whether the piece to be judged of is a poetical whole and has what the critics have named a genial life and what that life is he not but at best whether it is a logical whole and for most part	37
when it seize also the crown and o how i tremble i o ye perhaps i may reach first the high goal then o then may thy breath attain my hair the herald they flew with eagle speed the wide career smoked up clouds of dust i looked beyond the oak yet thicker the dust and i lost em this beautiful adds mr requires no illustration but it one of the reasons for that the younger may eventually be the victorious muse we hope not but that the generous race may yet last through long centuries has shot through a mighty space since this saw her what if were now her speed and the hers if the essay on is the best that on is undoubtedly the worst in this book or perhaps in any book written by a man of ability in our day it is one of those acts which in the spirit of we could wish mr to conceal in secrecy were it not that the theory a which still here and there even in our better is in some brought to a crisis and may the sooner depart from this world or at least from the high places of it into others s more suitable all aiid kin and tongues and his own people the fore most with him for some foolish hour have swept out of doors as a lifeless bundle of rags is here examined measured pulse felt and pronounced to be living and a divinity he has such invention so in fine situations l in ate scenes is so soul so the pro at bow street are enough neither is invention interesting situations or soul passion wanting among the authors that compose there least of all if we follow them to and the gallows but when did the morning herald think of its police reports among our mr is at the pains to very many of s productions and from two or three how the took on when his daughter was about to run away with one who however was to surrender his prize there on the beach with sails hoisted by loi at his wife s picture how the people lift young from the not indeed to drink him for he is not wine but a duke how a certain stout hearted west indian that has made a fortune marriage to his two sisters but finding the ladies reluctant their serving woman whose reputation is not only cracked but visibly quite rent asunder her nevertheless with her and is the happiest of men with more the like sort on the strength of which we are assured that according to my judgment is the greatest dramatic genius that europe has since such is the table which mr has spread for in the prose wilderness of life thus does he sit like a kind host ready to and though the and are but as it were s of and them as and pieces the to fall to what a with this shall say to and may he curious as a question in natural but hardly otherwise the most of what mr has written on on and the new literature of germany a reader that him as we honestly do will as or written in a state of he who has just quitted s bear garden and court and it to he all and very good what is there for him to do in the hall of the gods he looks in asks with mild authority or or and receiving no answer but a h echo which almost sounds uke laughter passes on muttering that they are dumb or mere it remains to notice mr s apart from the choice of subjects which in probably more than half the cases is unhappy there is much to be said in favor of these compared with the average of british they may be pronounced of almost ideal excellence compared with the best for example the german they may still be called better than one great merit mr has to his original he at least to copy with all possible fidelity the turn of phrase the tone the very whatever stands written for him with the language he has now had a long familiarity and what is no less essential and perhaps still among our has a decided understand ing of english all this of mr s own in the borrowed pieces whereof there are several we seldom except indeed in those by and find much worth sometimes a distinct mr vol iii s ii has made no of clearing those from their gross in that excellent version by miss we find this statement professor could not utter a period without introducing the words under whether they had business there or not which statement were it only on the ground that professor was not sent to there to utter periods we venture ta deny doubtless his sin was which indeed means at the time or the like with among but with under one other instance we shall give from a much more important subject mr admits that he does not make much of however he s version of the night and another scene evident ly rendered by quite a different artist in this latter margaret is in the cathedral during high mass but her whole thoughts are turned on a secret shame and sorrow an evil spirit is in her ear the choir chant fragments of the dies she is like to choke and sink in the original this passage is in verse and we presume in the translation also on the capital letters the concluding lines are these margaret i feel d the thick pillars me the r o er me air air i faint evil spirit where wilt thou lie concealed for sin and remain not hidden woe is coming the choir sum n s op from th e the a their the	37
forbear to thee a hand the choir md sum turn f margaret neighbor your your what angels and ministers of grace defend us your will mr have us understand then that the noble german nation more especially the fairer half thereof for the neighbor is goes to church with a of brandy in its pocket or would he not rather even forcibly interpret by by the world has no notice that this passage is a borrowed one but will notwithstanding as the more charitable theory hope and believe so we have now done with mr and would fain after all that has come and gone part with him in good nature and good will he has spoken freely we have answered freely far as we differ from him in regard to literature and to the much more important subjects here connected with it deeply as we feel convinced that his convictions are wrong and dangerous are but half true and if taken for the whole truth wholly false and fatal we have blinded ourselves to his vigorous talent to his varied learning his sincerity his independence and self support neither is it for speaking out plainly that we blame him a man s honest earnest opinion is the most precious of all he possesses let him communicate this if he is to communicate anything there is doubtless a time to speak and a time to keep silence yet s celebrated i might e my hand fuu of truths and would open only my little finger may be practised also to excess aod the hide finger itself kept closed that reserve and knowing silence long so universal among us is less the fruit of active benevolence of philosophic than of indifference and weak conviction honest honest is better than that withered lifeless and amateur which merely toys with all opinions or than that wicked which in thought denying everything except that power is power in words for its own wise purposes loudly believes everything of both which miserable the day even in england is h over that mr belongs not and at no time belonged to either of these classes we account a true praise of hia historic survey we have endeavored to point out the faults and the merits should be reach a second edition which wo h he may profit by some of our hints and render the work less unworthy of himself and of his subject in its present state and shape this temple of fame can content no one a huge mass no section of it like another window with rabbit hole wrought capital on pillar of dried mud heaped together out of marble loose earth rude stone hastily in with such is the temple of fame either for priest or statue and which nothing but a continued of the laws of gravity can keep from rushing ere long into a chaos of stone and dust for the english who in the meanwhile has no other temple we search out the least dangerous apartments for the future the materials that will be valuable and now in washing our hands of this ail too sordid but or s op poetry not unnecessary task one word on a more momentous object does not the existence of such a book do not many other indications in france in germany as well as here that a new era in the spiritual intercourse of europe is approaching that instead of isolated repulsive national a world literature may one day be looked for the better minds of all begin to understand each other and which follows naturally to love h other and help each other by whom ultimately all countries in all their proceedings are governed late in man s history yet clearly at length it becomes manifest to the that is stronger than matter that mind is the creator and of matter that not brute force but only persuasion and faith is the king of this world the true poet who is but the inspired is still an whose the savage and the dead rocks to fashion themselves into palaces and stately inhabited cities it has been said and may be repeated that literature is fast becoming all in all to us our church our our whole social constitution the true pope of is not that feeble old man in rome nor is its the napoleon the with bis half million even of obedient such is himself but a more devised and military engine in the hands of a than he the true and pope is that man the real or seeming wisest of the past age crowned after death who finds his pf gifted authors his clergy of whose written not on but on the living souls of men it were an of the laws of nature to in these times of ours all intellect has itself into literature literature printed thought is the sea and wonder bearing chaos into which mind s after mind casts forth its opinion its feeling to be into the general mass and to work there interest after interest is in it or embarked on it higher higher it rises round all the of existence they must all be into it and anew forth from it or stand among its fiery woe to him whose is not built of true and on the everlasting rock but on the false sand and of the drift wood of accident and the paper and of habit for the power or powers exist not on our that can say to that sea roll back or bid its proud waves be still what form so an will assume how long it will to and fro as a wild a wild what constitution and organization it will ion for itself and for what depends on it in the depths of time is a subject for prophetic conjecture wherein bright est hope is not with fearful	37
apprehension and awe at the boundless unknown the more cheering is this one thing which we do see and know that its tendency is to a universal european that the wisest in all nations will communicate and whereby europe will again have its true sacred college and council of wars will become less and in the course of centuries such ferocity in nations as in individuals it already is may be and become forever tl of ni ht tragedy of the night s magazine t is placid midnight stars are keeping their meek and silent course in heaven save pale all things are sleeping his mind to study still is given but see a wandering night enters by gleaming bright a while keeps hovering round then on s mystic page to light with awe she views the candle blazing a universe of fire it seems to with rapture gazing or whence life and motion streams what passions in her heart whirling hopes boundless adoration dread at length her tiny she and puff the is dead the sullen flame for her scarce gives but one hiss one fitful glare now bright and busy now all she and to empty air s miscellaneous writings her bright gray form that spread so some fan she seemed of queen her cloak that lay so her eyes that looked so keen last moment here now gone for ver to are passed with fiery pain and ages round shall never give to this creature shape again poor near weeping i lament thee thy glossy form thy instant woe t was zeal for things too high that sent thee from cheery earth to shades below short speck of boundless space was needed for home for kingdom world to thee where passed as thy slender life from sorrow free but hopes from out thy dwelling thee bade thee earth explore thy frame so late with rapture swelling is swept from earth poor thy fate my own me too a restless asking mind hath sent on far and weary to seek the good i ne er shall find like thee with common lot contented with humble joys and vulgar fate i might have lived and ne er lamented of a larger size a longer date of the but nature s majesty what seemed her wildest charms eternal truth and beauty like thee i into her arms what gained we little thy ashes thy one parting pang may show and withering thoughts for soul that from deep to deep are but a death more slow i s miscellaneous characteristics review the healthy know not of their health bat only the sick this is the physician s and in a far wider sense than he gives it we may say it holds no less in moral intellectual political poetical than in merely that wherever or in what shape powers of the sort which can be named vital are at work lies the test of their working right or working wrong in the body for example as all doctors are agreed the first condition of complete health is that each organ perform its function unconsciously let but any organ announce its separate existence were it even and for pleasure not for pain then already has one of those unfortunate false of sensibility established itself already is there the perfection of bodily is that the bodily seem one and be manifested moreover not in themselves but in the action they accomplish if a dr boast that his system is in high order philosophy may an essay on the origin and prospects of man by thomas hope vo london der und des und den im december und in den des philosophical lectures especially on the philosophy of language and the of speech written and delivered at in december and the early days of january by yon el vo indeed take credit but the true was that who answered that for his part he had no system in fact unity agreement is always silent or it is only discord that loudly itself so long as the several elements of life all adjusted can pour forth their movement like harmonious strings it is a melody and life from its mysterious fountains flows out as in celestial music and which also like that other music of the even because it is and complete without interruption and without might be to escape the ear thus too in some languages is the state of health well by a term expressing unity when we feel ourselves as we wish to be we say that we are few mortals it is to be feared are permanently blessed with that felicity of having no system nevertheless most of us looking back on young years may remember seasons of a light and and perfect freedom the body had not yet become the prison house of the soul but was its vehicle and like a creature of the thought and altogether to its bidding we knew not that we had limbs we only lifted hurled and through eye and ear and all avenues of sense came clear tidings from without and from within issued clear victorious force we stood as in the centre of nature giving and receiving in harmony with it all unlike too happy because we did not know our in those days health and sickness were foreign traditions that did not concern us our whole being was as yet one the whole man like an will such were rest or ever successful labor the human lot might our life continue to be a pure perpetual music a beam of perfect white light rendering all things visible but itself unseen even because it was of that per s feet whiteness and no had yet broken it into colors the of inquiry is i all science if we consider well as it must hare originated m the feeling of something being wrong so it is and continues	37
in that of the speaker and the true force is an unconscious one the healthy understanding we should say is not the logical but the for the end of understanding is not to prove and find reasons but to know and believe of logic and its limits and uses and there were much to be said and examined one fact however which chiefly concerns us here has long been that the man of logic and the man of insight the and the or even are quite indeed for most part quite separate characters in practical matters for example has it not become almost that the man of logic cannot prosper this is he whom business people call and and word his vital intellectual force lies or extinct his whole force is mechanical conscious of such a one it is foreseen that when once confronted with the infinite of the real world his little compact of the world will be found wanting that unless he can throw it overboard and become a new creature he will necessarily founder nay in mere speculation itself the most of all characters generally speaking is your man at arms were he armed cap a pie in mail of proof and perfect master of logic fence how little does it avail him consider the old and their pilgrimage towards truth ihe endeavor incessant motion often great natural vigor only no progress nothing s miscellaneous writings but of one limb poised against the other there they balanced and made at best with some pleasure like spinning and ended where they began so is it so will it always be with all system makers and of logical card castles of which class a certain remnant must in every age as they do in our own survive and build logic is good but it is not the best the doctor with his chains of his and other cunning logical and apparatus will cast you a beautiful and speak reasonable things nevertheless your stolen jewel which you wanted him to find you is not often by some winged word winged as the is of a a napoleon a shall we see the difficulty split asunder and its secret laid bare while the with all his logical tools at it and round it and finds it on all hands too hard for him again in the between and as indeed everywhere in that superiority of what is called the natural over the artificial we find a similar illustration the orator and carries all with him he knows not how the can prove that he ought to have persuaded and carried all with him the one is in a state of healthy as if he had no system the other in virtue of and feels at best that his system is in high order so stands it in short with all forms of intellect whether as directed to the finding of truth or to the fit thereof to poetry to eloquence to depth of insight which is the basis of both these always the characteristic of right performance is a certain an the healthy know not of their health but only the sick so that the old of the critic as as it looked to his ambitious might contain in it a most truth to us all and in much else than literature whenever you have written any sentence that looks particularly excellent be sure to blot it out in like manner under and with a meaning purposely much wider a living has taught us of the wrong we are always conscious of the right but if such is the law with regard to speculation and the intellectual power of man much more is it with regard to conduct and the power manifested chiefly therein which we name moral let not thy hand know what thy right hand whisper not to thy own heart how worthy is this action for then it is already becoming worthless the good man is he who works continually in well doing to whom is as his natural existence awakening no astonishment requiring no but there like a thing of course and as if it could not but be so self contemplation on the other hand is the symptom of disease be it or be it not the sign of cure an virtue is one that itself to in and anxiety or still worse that itself into and vain glory either way it is a self seeking an looking behind us to measure the way we have made whereas the sole concern is to walk continually forward and make more way if in any sphere of man s life then in the moral sphere as the in and most vital of all it is good that there be that there be which is the evidence of this let the free reasonable will which dwells in us as in our holy of be indeed free and obeyed like a divinity as is its right and its effort the perfect obedience will be the silent one such perhaps were the sense of that as is usual but the half of a truth to say that we have a clear conscience is to utter a had we never we s miscellaneous should have had no conscience were defeat unknown neither would victory he by songs of triumph n this true enough is an ideal impossible state of being yet ever the goal towards which our actual state of being which it is the more perfect the nearer it can approach nor in our actual world where labor must often prove ineffectual and thus all senses light alternate with darkness and the nature of an ideal morality be much modified is the case thus far materially different it is a fact which escapes no one that generally speaking is acquainted with his worth has but a little stock to cultivate acquaintance with above all the public acknowledgment of such	37
acquaintance indicating that it has reached quite an intimate footing ill already to the popular judgment he who talks much about virtue in the abstract begins to be suspicious it is guessed that where there is great preaching there will be little or again on a wider scale we can re mark that ages of heroism are not ages of moral philosophy virtue when it can be of has become aware of itself is sickly and beginning to decline a spontaneous habitual all spirit of together and itself up into points of honor humane courtesy and of mind into politeness avoiding paying of and the matters of the law goodness which was a rule to itself must appeal to and seek strength from the no longer and by divine right but like a mere earthly sovereign by by rewards and or rather let us say the so far as may be has and withdrawn into the dark and a nightmare of a necessity its throne for now that mysterious self impulse of the whole man heaven and in all senses of the infinite being questioned in a dialect and answering as it needs by silence is conceived as non and only the outward of it remains acknowledged of except as the of desire we hear nothing of motives without any more than enough so too when the generous affections have become we have the reign of the greatness the at any rate the extremely ornamental nature of high feeling and the luxury of doing good charity love self forgetfulness and all manner of are everywhere insisted on and in speech and writing in prose and verse proclaim benevolence to all the four winds and have truth engraved on their unhappily with little or no effect were the limbs in right walking order why so much of motion the of all mortals is the even that he were sincere and did not deceive us or without first deceiving himself what good is in him does he not lie there as a perpetual lesson of despair and type of his is emphatically a virtue that has become through every fibre conscious of itself it is all sick and feels as if it were made of glass and not touch or be touched in the shape of work it can do nothing at the utmost by incessant nursing and keep itself alive as the last stage of all when virtue properly so called has ceased to be practised and become extinct and a mere remembrance we have the era of of its existence proving it denying it mechanically for it as and cannot operate till once the body be dead thus is true moral genius like true intellectual which s miscellaneous writings indeed is but a lower thereof ever a secret to itself the healthy moral nature loves goodness and without wonder wholly s in it the makes love to it and would fain get to live in it or finding such courtship fruitless turns round and not without contempt it these curious relations of the voluntary and conscious to the involuntary and unconscious and the small proportion which in all of our life the former bears to the latter might lead us into deep questions of and such however belong not to our present object enough if the fact itself become apparent that nature so meant it with us that in this wise we are made we may now say that view man s individual existence under what aspect we will under the highest spiritual as under the merely animal aspect everywhere the grand vital energy while in its sound state is an unseen unconscious one or in the words of our old the healthy know not of their health but only the sick to understand man however we must look beyond the individual man and his actions or interests and view him in combination with his fellows it is in society that man first feels what he is first becomes what he can be in society an altogether new set of spiritual are in him and the old quickened and strengthened society is the genial element wherein his nature first lives and grows the solitary man were but a small portion of himself and must continue for ever folded in and only half alive already says a deep with more meaning than will disclose itself at once my opinion my conviction gains infinitely in strength and the moment a second mind has adopted it such even in its simplest form is association so wondrous the communion of soul with soul as directed to the mere act of knowing in other higher acts the wonder is still more manifest as in that portion of our being which we name the moral for indeed all communion is of a moral sort whereof such intellectual communion in the act of knowing is itself an example but with regard to morals strictly so called it is in society we might almost say that morality begins here at least it takes an altogether new form and on every side as in living itself the duties of man to himself to what is highest in himself make but the first table of the law to the first table is now a second with the duties of man to his neighbor whereby also the significance of the first now its true importance man has joined himself with man soul acts and on soul a mystic miraculous union itself life in all its elements has become consecrated the of thought or say rather heaven kindled in the solitary mind its express likeness in another mind in a thousand other minds and all blaze up together in combined fire from mind o mind fed also with fresh fuel in each it new light as thought new heat as converted into action by and by a common store of thought can and be as an everlasting possession literature	37
whether as preserved in the memory of in and engraved on stone or in books of written or printed paper comes into existence and begins to play its wondrous part politics are formed tlie weak to the strong with a willing loyalty giving obedience that he may receive guidance or say rather in honor of our nature the ignorant to the wise for so it is in all even the man never himself wholly to brute force but always to moral greatness thus the universal title of respect from the oriental from the of the red indians down to our english le s miscellaneous writings sir i only that he whom we mean to honor is our senior last as the crown and all supporting of the fabric religion arises t ie devout meditation of the isolated man which flitted through his soul like a transient tone of love and awe from unknown lands certainty continuance when it is shared in by his brother men where two or three are gathered together in the name of the highest then first does the highest as it is written appear among them to bless them then first does an altar and act of worship open a way from earth to heaven whereon were it but a simple jacob s ladder the heavenly messengers will travel with glad tidings and un s for men such is society the vital of many individuals into a new individual greatly the most important of man s on this earth that in which and by virtue of which all his other and attempts find their and have their value considered well society is the standing wonder of our existence a true region of the supernatural as it were a all embracing life wherein our first individual life becomes doubly and alive and whatever of was in us bodies itself forth and becomes visible and active to figure society as endowed with life is scarcely a but rather the statement of a fact by such imperfect methods as affords look at it closely that mystic union nature s highest work with man wherein man s plays an indispensable yet so subordinate a part and the small mechanical grows so mysteriously and out of the infinite like body out of spirit is truly enough vital what we can call vital and bears the character of life in the same style also we can say that society has its periods of sickness and vigor of youth manhood characteristics and new birth in one or other of which stages we may in all times and all places where men discern it and do ourselves in this time and place whether as or as as healthy members or as ones to our joy and sorrow form part of it the question what is the actual condition of society has in these days unhappily become important enough no one of us is in that question but for the majority oi thinking men a true to it such is the state of matters appears almost as the one thing needful mean while as the true answer that is to say the complete and answer and settlement often as it has been demanded is nowhere and indeed by its nature is impossible any honest towards such is not without the light or even so much as a more precise recognition of the darkness which is the first step to of light will be welcome this once understood let it not seem idle if we remark that here too our old holds that again in the body as in the animal body the sign of right performance is such indeed is the meaning of that phrase artificial state of society as contrasted with the natural state and indicating something so inferior to it for in all vital things men distinguish an artificial and a natural on some dim perception or sentiment of the very truth we here insist on the artificial is the conscious mechanical the natural is the unconscious thus as we have an artificial poetry and prize only the natural so likewise we have an artificial morality an artificial wisdom an artificial society the artificial society is precisely one that knows its own structure its own internal functions not in watching not in knowing which but in working outwardly to the fulfilment of its aim does the well being of a society consist s miscellaneous writings very society every has a spiritual principle is the ment and more or less complete of an idea all its tendencies of endeavor of custom its laws politics and whole as the glance of some across innumerable superficial can partly are prescribed by an idea and flow naturally from it as movements from the living of this idea be it of devotion to a man or class of men to a creed to an institution or even as in more ancient times to a piece of land is ever a true loyalty has in it something of a religious quite infinite character it is properly the soul of the state its life mysterious as other forms of life and like these working secretly and in a depth beyond that of consciousness accordingly it is not in the vigorous ages of a roman republic that of the are written while the are rushing with devoted bodies on the enemies of rome what need of preaching patriotism the virtue of patriotism has already sunk from its condition before it has received a name so long as the continues rightly it not to in why teach obedience to the sovereign why so as admire it or separately recognise it while a divine idea of obedience all men loyalty like patriotism of which it is a form was not praised till it had begun to decline the first became rightly admirable when dying for their king had ceased to be a habit with for if the mystic significance of the	37
state let this be what it may dwells in every hearty every life ms with a second higher life how should it stand self questioning it must rush outward and express itself by besides if perfect it is there as by necessity and does not excite inquiry it is also by nature infinite has no limits therefore can be by no conditions and tions i be of except or in the language of poetry cannot yet so much as be spoken of in those days society was what we name healthy sound at heart not indeed without suffering enough not without difficulty on every side for such is the appointment of man his highest and sole is that he toil and know what to toil at not in ease but in united victorious labor which is at once evil and the victory over evil does his freedom lie nay often looking no deeper than such superficial of the early time have taught us that it was all one mass of and disease and in the antique republic or have seen only the confused not the robust or the stately edifice he was building of it if society in such ages had its difficulty it had also its strength if sorrowful masses of rubbish so it the tough to them aside with heart were not wanting society went along without complaint did not stop to itself to say how well i perform or alas how ill men did not yet feel themselves to be the envy of surrounding nations and were on that very account society was what we can call whole in both senses of the word the individual man was in himself a whole or complete union and could combine with his fellows as the living member of a greater whole for all men through their life were animated by one great idea thus all efforts pointed one way everywhere there was opinion and action had not yet become but the former could still produce the latter or attempt to produce it as the stamp does its impression while the wax is not hardened thought and the voice of thought were also a thus instead of speculation we had poetry literature in its rude utter iii s writings ance was as yet a heroic song perhaps too a religion was everywhere philosophy lay hid under it peacefully included in it as in the of all lay the true health and only at a later era must religion split itself into and thereby the vital union of thought being lost and mutual collision in all provinces of speech and of action more and more prevail for if the poet or priest or by whatever title the inspired may be named is the sign of vigor and so likewise is the or the sign of disease probably of and decay thus not to mention other instances one of them much nearer hand so soon as prophecy among the had ceased then did the reign of begin and the ancient in its and and vain of and doctors give token that the soul of it had fled and that the body itself by natural dissolution with the old forces still at work but working in reverse order was on the road to final disappearance we might pursue this question into innumerable other and everywhere under new shapes find the same truth which we here so imperfectly disclosed that throughout the whole world of man in all and performances of his nature outward and inward personal and social the perfect the great is a mystery to itself knows not itself whatsoever does know itself is already little and more or less imperfect or otherwise we may say belongs to pure life consciousness to a mixture and conflict of life and death is the sign of creation consciousness at best that of manufacture so deep in this existence of ours is the significance of ly well might the make silence a god for it is the element of all or greatness at once the source and the ocean wherein all such begins and ends in the same sense too have poets sung hymns to the night as if night were nobler than day as if day were but a small colored veil spread over the infinite bosom of night and did but and hide from us its purely transparent eternal so likewise have they en and sung as if silence were the grand and complete sum total of all harmony and death what mortals call death properly the beginning of life under such figures since except in figures there is no of the invisible have men endeavored to express a great truth a truth in our times as nearly as is perhaps possible forgotten by the most which nevertheless continues for ever true for ever all important and will one day under new figures be again brought home to the of all but indeed in a far lower sense the mind has still some intimation of the greatness there is in mystery if silence was made a god of by the he still continues a government clerk among us to all moreover of what sort the effect of mystery is well known here and there some even in latter days turns it to notable account the also who is ambitious and has no talent finds sometimes in the talent of silence a kind of or again looking on the opposite side of the matter do we not see in the common understanding of mankind a certain distrust a certain contempt of what is altogether self conscious and mechanical as nothing that is wholly seen through has other than a trivial character so anything ing to be great and yet wholly to see through itself is already known to be false and a failure the evil your s writings men stand in the acknowledged of paper and all that class of objects	37
are instances of has experience often repeated and perhaps a certain instinct of something far deeper that under such experiences has taught men so much they know beforehand the loud is generally the insignificant the empty whatsoever can proclaim itself from the house tops may be fit for the and for those multitudes that must needs buy of him but for any deeper use might as well continue observe too how the converse of the proposition holds how the insignificant the empty is usually the loud and after the manner of a drum is loud even because of its the uses of some patent dinner can be abroad over the whole world in the course of e first winter those of the press are not so well seen into for the first three centuries the passing of the select bill raises more noise and hopeful among mankind than did the of the christian religion again and again we say the great the and enduring is ever a secret to itself only the small the barren and transient is otherwise if we now with a practical medical view examine by this same test of the condition of our own era and of man s life therein the we arrive at is of a flattering sort the state of society in our days is of all possible states the least an unconscious one this is specially the era when all manner of inquiries into what was once the involuntary sphere of man s existence find their place and as it were occupy the whole domain of thought what for example is all this that we hear for the last generation or two about the improvement of the age the spirit of the age destruction of prejudice progress of the species and the march of intellect but an characteristics state of self self survey the and of still worse health that intellect do march if possible at double quick time is very desirable nevertheless why should she turn round at every stride and cry see you what a stride i have taken such a marching of intellect is distinctly of the kind what the call all action and no go or at best if we examine well it is the marching of that patient whom his doctors had on a metal floor heated to the point so that he was obliged to march and marched with a vengeance intellect did not awaken for the first time yesterday but has been under way from s flood downwards greatly her best progress moreover was in the old times when she said nothing about it in those same dark ages intellect as well as literally could invent which now she has enough to grind into spectacles intellect built not only churches but a church tjie church based on this firm earth yet reaching up and leading up as high as heaven and now it is all she can do to keep its doors bolted that there be no tearing of the no robbery of the box she built a house likewise glorious in its kind and now it costs her a mortal effort to sweep it clear of and get the roof made rain tight but the truth is with intellect as with most other things we are now passing from that first or stage of into the second or painful one out of these of en that our system is in high order we come now by natural to the melancholy conviction that it is altogether the reverse thus for instance in the matter of government the period of the invaluable constitution be followed by a reform bill to de succeed at any rate what on the social contract on the s miscellaneous writings the of man the rights of property institutions have we not for long years groaned under or again with a wider survey consider those essays on man thoughts on man inquiries concerning man not to mention evidences of the christian faith theories of poetry considerations on the origin of evil which during the last century have accumulated on to a frightful extent never since the beginning of was there that we hear or read of so intensely self con a society our whole relations to the universe and to our fellow man have become an inquiry a doubt nothing will go on of its own accord and do its function quietly but all things must be into the whole working of man s world be studied alas studied that it may be aided till at length indeed we have come to such a pass that except in this same medicine with its and few can so much as imagine any strength or hope to remain for us the whole life of society must now be carried on by doctor after doctor appears with his of societies universal cottage and cow systems of population vote by to such height has the of society reached as indeed the constant grinding internal pain or from time to time the mad of all society do otherwise too mournfully indicate far be it from us to attribute as some unwise persons do the disease itself to this unhappy sensation that there is a disease the did not produce the troubles of france but the troubles of france produced the and much else the self consciousness is the symptom merely nay it is also the attempt towards cure we record the fact without special censure not wondering that society should feel itself and in all ways t complain of and for it has suffered enough napoleon was but a job s when he told his wounded staff twice by cannon balls and with half his limbs blown to pieces on the outward or as it were physical diseases of society it were beside our purpose to insist here these are diseases which be who runs may read and sorrow over with or without hope	37
wealth has accumulated itself into masses and poverty also in enough lies separated from it opposed like forces in positive and negative poles the gods of this lower world it aloft on glittering less happy than gods but as indolent as impotent while the boundless living chaos of ignorance and hunger terrific in its dark fury under their feet how much among us might be to a outwardly all pomp and strength but inwardly full of horror and despair and dead men s bones iron with their are all ends of the firm land and with their innumerable stately tame the ocean into our bearer of burdens labor s thousand arms of and of metal all conquering everywhere from the tops of the mountain down to the depths of the mine and the of the sea ly for the service of man yet man remains he has subdued this planet his habitation and inheritance yet no profit from the victory sad to look upon in the highest stage of civilization nine of mankind must struggle in the lowest battle of savage or even animal man the battle against famine countries are rich prosperous in all manner of increase beyond example but the men of those are poor than ever of all outward and inward of belief of knowledge of money of food the rule vas non never altogether to be s miscellaneous writings got rid of in men s industry now presses with such weight that industry must shake it off or utterly be under it and alas can as yet but gasp and struggle like one in the final change or the inevitable approach of change is manifest everywhere in one country we have seen torrents of fever frenzy envelope all things government succeed government like the of a dying brain in another country we can even now see in the peasant governed by such guidance as this to labor earnestly one month in raising wheat and the next month labor earnestly in burning it sa that society were it not by nature immortal and its death ever a new birth might appear as it does in the eyes of some to be sick to dissolution and even now in its last agony sick enough we must admit it to be with disease enough a whole of diseases wherein he perhaps is happiest that is not called to as physician wherein however one small piece of policy that of the wisest in the by the sole method yet known or thought of to come together and with their whole soul consult for it might but for late tedious experiences have seemed enough but leaving this let us rather look within into the spiritual condition of society and see what aspects and prospects offer themselves there for after all it is there properly that the secret and origin of the whole is to be sought the physical of society are but the image and impress of its spiritual while the heart continues sound all other sickness is superficial and temporary false action is the fruit of false speculation let the spirit of society be free and strong that is to say let true principles inspire the members of society then neither can in its practice each disorder will be promptly characteristics inquired into and as it arises but alas with us the spiritual condition of society is no less sickly than the physical examine man s internal world in any of its social relations and performances here too all seems self consciousness collision and destructive struggle nothing acts from within in healthy force everything lies impotent its force tamed and painfully to itself to begin with our highest spiritual function with religion we might ask whither has religion now fled of churches and their we here ay nothing nor of the unhappy of and how innumerable men blinded in their minds must live without god in the world but taking the fairest side of the matter we ask what is the nature of that same religion which still in uie hearts of the few who are called and call themselves specially the religious is it a healthy religion vital unconscious of itself that shines forth in doing of the work or even in preaching of the word unhappily no instead of heroic martyr conduct and inspired and soul inspiring eloquence whereby religion itself were brought home to our living to live and reign there we have on the evidences with smallest result to make it probable that such a thing as religion exists the most enthusiastic do not preach a gospel but keep describing how it should and might be preached to awaken the sacred fire of faith as by a sacred is not their endeavor but at most to describe how faith shows and acts and distinguish true faith from false religion like all else is conscious of itself to itself it becomes less and less vital more and more mechanical considered as a whole the christian religion of late ages has been continually itself into and s miscellaneous writings now to disappear as some rivers do in deserts of barren sand of literature and its deep seated wide spread why speak literature is but a branch of religion and always in its character however in our time it is the only branch that still shows any and as some thinks must one day become the main stem now apart from the and of leaving out of view the frightful scandalous of puffing the mystery of falsehood ha and other work of and all that has rendered literature on that side a perfect the mother of in very deed making the world drunk with the wine of her forgetting all this let us look only to the regions of the upper air to such literature as can be said to have some attempt towards truth in it some tone of music aad if it be	37
not poetical to hold of the poetical among other characteristics is not this manifest enough that it knows itself spontaneous to the object being wholly possessed by the object what we can call inspiration has ceased to appear in literature which melodious singer forgets that he is singing s e have not the love of greatness but the love of the love of hence infinite in every case inevitable error consider for one example this peculiarity of modern literature the sin that has been named view hunting in our elder writers there are no paintings of scenery for its own sake no with nature but a constant heart love for her a constant dwelling in communion with her view hunting with so much else that is of kin to it first came into action through the sorrows of which wonderful performance indeed may in many senses be regarded as the of all that has characteristics since become popular in literature whereof in so far as concerns spirit and tendency it still offers the most instructive image for nowhere except in its own country above all in the mind of its illustrious author has it yet fallen wholly scarcely ever till that late epoch did any of nature become entirely aware that he was much to his own credit and think of saying to himself come let us make a description intolerable enough when every draws out his pencil and on painting you a scene so that the instant you discern such a thing as outline mirror of the lake stern or the like in any book you must hasten on and scarcely the author of himself can tempt you not to nay is not the self conscious state of literature disclosed in this one fact which lies so near us here the of s wish for a reader that would give up the reins of his imagination into his author s hands and be pleased he knew not why and cared not wherefore might lead him a long journey now indeed for our best class of readers the chief pleasure a very one is this same knowing of the why which many a and has been enough to teach us till at last these also have laid down their trade and now your is a mere who tastes and says by the evidence of such such tongue as he has got it is good it is bad was it thus that the french carried out certain inferior creatures on their expedition to taste the wells for them and try whether they were poisoned far be it from us to our own whereby we have our living only we must note these things that with strange vigor that such a man as the and the poet equal that at the last f s miscellaneous writings there was advertised a of by and by it will be found that all literature has become one boundless self devouring review and as in london we have to do nothing but only to see others do nothing thus does literature also like a sick thing listen to itself no less is this symptom manifest if we cast a glance on our philosophy on the character of our thinking nay already as above hinted the mere existence and necessity of a philosophy is an evil man is sent hither not to question but to work the end of man it was long ago written is an action not a thought in the perfect state all thought were but the picture and inspiring symbol of action philosophy except as poetry and religion had no being and yet how in this imperfect state can it be avoided can it be with man stands as in the centre of nature his of time encircled by eternity his of space encircled by how shall he forbear asking himself what am i and whence and whither how too except in slight partial hints in kind and assurances such as a mother her inquisitive child with shall he get answer to such inquiries the disease of accordingly is a one in all ages those questions of death and immortality origin of evil freedom and necessity must under new forms anew make their appearance ever from time to time must the attempt to shape for ourselves some of the universe be repeated and ever for what of the infinite can the render complete we the whole species of mankind and our whole existence and history are but a floating speck in the ocean of the all yet in that ocean portion thereof of its infinite tendencies borne this that by its tides and grand ocean currents p of which what faintest chance is there that we should ever the significance ascertain the and a region of doubt therefore for ever in the background in action alone can we have certainty nay properly doubt is the indispensable inexhaustible material whereon action works which action has to fashion into certainty and only on a of darkness such is man s way of being could the many colored picture of our life paint itself and shine thus if our oldest system of is as old as the book of our latest is that of mr thomas hope published only within the current year it is a malady that of as we said and perpetually on us at the utmost there is a better and a worse in it a stage of and a stage of with new sickness these for ever succeed each other as is the nature of all life movement here below the first or stage we might also name that of or when the mind to scheme out and assert for itself an actual of the universe and for a time rests satisfied the second or sick stage might be called that of or when the mind having its sphere of vision the existing of the universe longer answers the phenomena	37
no longer contentment but must be torn in pieces and certainty anew sought for in the endless of denial all and sacred belong in some measure to the first class in all from down to and the innumerable of we have instances enough of the second in uie former so far as it affords satisfaction a temporary to doubt an for wholesome action there may be much good indeed in this vol iii s miscellaneous writings it holds rather of poetry than of might he called inspiration rather than speculation the latter is proper a pure though from time to time a necessary evil for truly if we look into it there is no more fruitless endeavor than this same which the proper toils in to conviction out of how by merely and what is not shall we ever attain knowledge of what is speculation as it begins in no or so it must needs end iii and must in endless itself our being is made up of light and darkness the light resting on the darkness and it everywhere there is a perpetual contradiction dwells in us where hall i place myself to escape from my own shadow consider it well is the attempt of the mind to rise above the mind to and shut in or as we say comprehend the mind hopeless struggle for the wisest as for the what strength of or skill will enable the to fold his own body in his arms and by lift up himself j the irish saint swam the carrying his head in his teeth but the feat has never been that this is the age of in the proper or sense that there was a necessity for its being such an age we regard as our misfortune from many causes the of free activity has long been that of inquiry becoming more and more universal more and more the thought not to the deed but in boundless chaos self fire breathing profitable speculation were this what is to be done and how is it to be done but us not so characteristics much as the what can be got sight of for some generations all philosophy has been a painful hostile question towards in the heaven above in the earth beneath why art thou there till at length it has come to pass that the worth and of all things or our best effort must be spent not in working but in our mere and so much as whether we are to work at all doubt which as was said ever hangs in the background of our world has now become our middle ground and whereon for the time no fair life picture can be painted but only the dark air itself flow round us bewildering and nevertheless doubt as we will man is actually here not to ask questions but to do work in this time as in all times it must be the heaviest evil for him if his faculty of action lie and only that of inquiry exert itself accordingly whoever looks abroad upon the world comparing the past with the present may find that the practical condition of man in these days is one of the with miseries which are in a considerable degree peculiar in no time was man s life what he calls a happy one in no time can it be so a perpetual dream there has been of and some luxurious where the should run wine and the trees bend with ready baked but it was a dream merely an impossible dream suffering contradiction error have their quite and even indispensable abode in this earth is not labor the inheritance of man and what labor for the present is joyous and not grievous labor effort is very interruption of that ease which man foolishly enough fancies to be his happiness and yet without labor there were no ease no rest so much as conceivable thus what we call evil must ever exist while man exists evil in the s m writings sense we can it is precisely the dark disordered material out of which man s has to create an edifice of order and good ever must pain urge us to and only in free effort can any be imagined for us but if man has in all ages had enough to there has in most civilized ages been an inward force vouchsafed him whereby the pressure of things outward might be but faith also was not wanting it is by faith that man mountains he had faith his limbs might be wearied with toiling his back with bearing but the heart within him was and resolved in the gloom there burnt a lamp to guide him if he struggled and suffered he felt that it even should be so knew for what he was and struggling faith gave him an inward a world o strength wherewith to front a of difficulty the true wretchedness lies here that the difficulty remain and the strength be lost that pain cannot relieve itself in free effort that we have the labor and want the faith us us for all and with faith we can do all and dare all and life itself has a thousand times been joyfully given away but the sum of man s misery b even this that he feel himself crushed under the wheels and know that is no divinity but a dead mechanical idol now this is the misery which has fallen on man in our era belief faith has vanished from the world the youth on awakening in this wondrous universe no longer finds a competent theory of its wonders time was when if he asked himself what is man what are the duties of man the answer stood ready written for him but now the ancient ground plan of the all itself when brought into contact with reality mother church has to	37
the most become a whose lessons go disregarded or are at and scornfully for young and thirst of action no ideal chivalry to heroism what is heroic the old ideal of manhood has grown and the new is still invisible to us and we it in darkness one this phantom another that even each has its day for contemplation and love of wisdom no now opens its religious shades the must in all senses wander too often looking up to a heaven which is dead for him round to an earth which is deaf action in those old days was easy was voluntary for the divine worth of human things lay acknowledged speculation was wholesome for it ranged itself as the of what could not so range itself died out by its natural by neglect loyalty still obedience and made rule noble there was still something to be loyal to the gk stood embodied under many a symbol in men s interests and ness the forth the infinite eternity looked through time the life of man was and by a glory of heaven even as his dwelling place by the vault how changed in these new days may it be said the divinity has withdrawn from the earth or himself in that wide wasting of a departing era wherein the can discern his not but an iron circle of necessity embraces all things the youth of these times into a or else him into a rebel heroic action is for what worth now remains with him at the when his whole nature cries aloud for action there is nothing sacred under whose banner he can s act the course and kind and conditions of free action are all but doubt storms in on him through avenue inquiries of the deepest sort must be engaged with and the invincible energy of young waste itself in f in passionate of destiny no answer will be re turned for men in whom the old principal of hunger be it hunger of the poor day who it with a day or of the ambitious place hunter who can still it with so little to fill up existence the case is bad but not the worst these men have an aim such as it is and can steer towards it with enough truly yet as their hands are kept full without desperation are they to whom a higher instinct has been given who struggle to be persons not machines to whom the universe is not a or at best but a mystic temple and hall of doom for such men there lie properly two courses open the lower yet still an class take up with worn out of the keep and between these and enough miserably enough a numerous class end in denial and form a theory that there is no theory that nothing is certain in the world except this fact of pleasure being pleasant so they try to realize what of pleasure they can come at and to live hard of these we speak not here but only of the second nobler class who also have dared to say no and cannot yet say yea but feel that in the no they dwell as in a where life enters not where peace is not appointed them hard for most part is the fate of such men the harder the nobler they are in dim within them the divine idea of the world yet will nowhere visibly itself they have to realize a worship for themselves or the has vanished from the world and they hy the strong cry of their agony like true wonder workers must again its presence this miracle is their appointed task which they must accomplish or die this miracle has been accomplished by such but not in our land our land yet knows not of it behold a in melodious tones cursing his day he mistakes passionate desire for heaven inspired without heavenly rushes madly into the dance of lights that on the mad and goes down among its hear a filling the earth with inarticulate wail like the infinite inarticulate grief and weeping of forsaken a noble in that fearful loneliness as of a silenced battle field back to as a child might to its slain mother s bosom and cling there in lower regions how many a poor must wander on god s earth like the on burning deserts passionately dig wells and draw up only the dry believe that he is seeking truth yet only among endless doing desperate battle as with hosts and die and make no sign to the better order of such minds any mad joy of denial has long since ceased the problem is not now to deny but to ascertain and perform once in destroying the false there was a certain inspiration but the genius of destruction has done its work there is now nothing more to destroy the doom of the old has long been pronounced and the old has passed away but alas the new appears not in its stead the time is still in pangs of with the new man has walked by the light of and amid the sound of falling cities and now there is darkness and long watching till it be morning s miscellaneous writings the voice even of the faithful can but exclaim as yet struggles the twelfth hour of the night birds of darkness are on the wing uproar the dead walk the living dream thou eternal providence wilt cause the day to dawn such being the condition and spiritual of the world at our epoch can we wonder that the world to itself and struggles and like a thing in pain nay is not even this action of the world s organization if the symptom of universal disease yet also the symptom and sole means of restoration and cure the effort of nature her force to cast out and once	37
more become one become whole in practice still more in opinion which is the and of practice there must needs be collision much has to be ground away thought must needs be doubt and inquiry before it can again be and sacred innumerable of man in boundless must other before an inspired and faith for man can fashion itself together from this a true confusion of tongues we have here selected two voices less as objects of praise or condemnation than as signs how far the confusion has reached what prospect there is of its s lectures delivered at and mr hope s essay y published in are the latest of european speculation far asunder in external place they stand at a still wider distance in inward purport are indeed so opposite and yet so that they may paul s in senses represent the two extremes of our whole system of thought and be said to include between them all the so alluded to here which of late times from france england agitated and almost overwhelmed us both in regard to matter and to form the relation of these two works is significant enough speaking first of their qualities let us remark not without emotion one quite point of agreement the fact that the writers of both have departed from this world they have now finished their search and had doubts resolved while we listen to the the tongue that uttered it has gone silent for ever but the all lies in this circumstance well worthy of being noted that both these are of the or sort each in its way is a kind of an endeavor to bring the phenomena of man s universe once more under some scheme in both there is a decided principle of unity they strive after a result which shall be positive their aim is not to question but to establish this especially if we consider with what comprehensive concentrated force it is here exhibited forms a new feature in such works under all other aspects there is the most opposition a staring such as might provoke were there far fewer points of comparison if s work is the of hope s again is the of in the one all mat ter is into a phenomenon and life itself with its whole doings and held out as a disturbance produced by the spirit of time in the other matter is and into some semblance of divinity the one regards space and time as mere forms of man s mind and without external s miscellaneous writings existence or reality the other and time to be incessantly created and in upon us like a sort of such is their difference in respect of purport no less striking is it in respect of manner talent success and all outward characteristics thus if in we have to admire the power of words in hope we stand astonished it might almost be said at the want of an articulate language to his philosophic speech is obedient exact like a promptly genius his names are so clear so precise and vivid tiiat they almost sometimes altogether become things for him with hope there is no philosophical speech but a painful con and struggling such or the tongue as in forgetfulness low and speaks not the word intended but another so that here the scarcely intelligible in these endless becomes the wholly and often we could ask as that mad pupil did of his in philosophy but whether is virtue a then or a gas if the fact that in the city of could find audience for such high discourse may excite our envy this other fact that a person of strong powers skilled in english thought and master of its dialect could write the origin and prospects of man may painfully remind us of the reproach that england has now no language for meditation that england the most is the least meditative of all civilized countries it is not our purpose to offer any criticism of book in such limits as were possible here we despair of communicating even the faintest image of its significance to the mass of readers indeed both among the themselves and still more elsewhere it addresses itself and may lie for ever sealed we point it out as a remarkable document of the time and of the man can recommend it moreover to all as a work deserving their best regard a work full of deep meditation wherein the infinite mystery of life if not represented is recognised of himself and bis character and spiritual history we can profess no or final understanding yet enough to make us view him with admiration and pity with harsh contemptuous censure and must say with persuasion that the of his being a and so forth is but like other such a judgment where there was neither jury nor evidence nor judge the candid reader in this book itself to say of all the rest will find traces of a high far seeing earnest spirit to whom and the s crown and altogether were but a light matter to the finding and of truth let us the sacred mystery of a person rush not into man s holy of were the lost little one as we said already its dead mother on the field of could it be other than a spectacle for tears a solemn mournful feeling comes over us we see this last work of the end abruptly in the middle and as if he not yet found as if of much end with an with a but this was the last word that came from the pen of about eleven at night he wrote it down and there paused sick at one in the morning time for him had itself in eternity he was as we say no more still less can we attempt any criticism of mr hope s new book of indeed	37
under any circumstances criticism of it were now impossible such an utterance could only be responded to in of laughter and laughter sounds hollow and hideous through the of the dead of this monstrous where all are s mi writings heaped and huddled together and the of all axe with a plied hither and thither or wholly in case of need where the first cause k figured as a huge circle with nothing to do but towards its centre and so a verse wherein all from the lowest with its cool ness up to the highest with his love were but direct or in m or less central what can we say except with sorrow and shame that it could have originated nowhere save in england it is a general of all facts notions and observations as they lie in the brain of an english gentleman as an english gentleman of unusual power is led to fashion them in his schools and in his all thrown into the and if not yet or with boundless patience and now tumbled out here unspeakable a world s wonder most melancholy must we name the whole business full of long continued thought earnestness of mind not without glances into the deepest a constant fearless endeavor after truth and with all this nothing accomplished but the perhaps book written in our century by a thinking man a shameful ab on however need not now be smothered or for it is already dead only in our love and reverence for the writer of j and the heroic of li t though not thereof let it be buried and forgotten for ourselves the loud discord which in these two works in innumerable works of the like import and generally in all the thought and action of this period does not any longer utterly us unhappy who in such a time felt not at all in his the knowledge that a god made this universe and a not and shall evil always prosper then out of all comes and no good thai but shall one day be real deep and sad as is our feeling that we stand yet m the night equally deep is our assurance that the also will not fail nay already as we look round streaks of a are in hie east it is dawning when the time i ll be fulfilled it will be day the of man towards higher and nobler of whatever is highest and noblest in him lies not only to faith but now written to eye of n so that he who runs may read one great step of progress for example we should say in actual circumstances was this same the clear that we are in progress about the grand course of providence and his final purposes with us we can know nothing or almost nothing man begins in darkness ends i mystery is everywhere around us and in us our feet among our hands nevertheless so much has become evident to every one that this wondrous mankind is advancing that at least all human things are have been and for ever will be in movement and change as indeed for beings that in time by virtue of time and are made of time might have been long since understood in some provinces it is true as in ea science this discovery is an old one but in most others it belongs wholly to these latter days how often in former ages by eternal eternal forms of and the like has it been attempted fiercely enough and with destructive violence to chain the future under the past and say to the providence whose ways with man are mysterious and through the great deep hitherto shalt thou come but no farther i a wholly insane attempt and for man himself could it the of all a v ty life in death man s here below the destiny of every individual man is to vol iii s mi be in turns and workman or say rather scholar teacher by nature he has a strength for learning for but also a strength for acting for knowing on his own account are we not in a world seen to foe infinite the relations together modified by those latest discovered and lying farthest asunder you ever spell bind man into a scholar so that he had nothing to discover to correct could you ever establish a theory of the universe that were entire and which needed only to be got by heart man then were the species we now name man had ceased to exist but the gods kinder to us than we are to ourselves have forbidden such acts as is by and the of by the of so does give place to tyranny to and to representative where also the process does not stop perfection of practice like completeness of opinion is always approaching never arrived truth in the words of ut never is always is a being sad truly were our condition did we know but this that is universal and inevitable launched into a dark sea of what would remain for us but to sail hopeless or make madly merry while the devouring death had not yet us as indeed we have seen many and still see many do nevertheless so stands it not the of the past and to what pure heart is the past in that moonlight of memory other than sad and holy sorrows not over its departure as one utterly the true past not nothing that was worthy in the past no truth or realized by man ever dies or can die but is all still here and recognised or not lives and works through endless changes if all things to in the dialect are discerned by us and exist for us in an element of time and therefore of and yet time itself on eternity the truly	37
great and has its basis and substance in eternity stands revealed to us as eternity in a of time thus in all poetry worship art society as one form passes into another nothing is lost it is but the superficial as it were the body only that grows and dies under the mortal body lies a soul that is immortal that anew itself in fairer revelation and the present is the living sum total of the whole past in change therefore there is nothing terrible nothing supernatural on the contrary it lies in the very essence of our lot and life in this world to day is not yesterday we ourselves change how can our works and thoughts if they are always to be the continue always the same change indeed is painful yet ever needful and if memory have its force and worth so also has hope nay if we look well to it what is all and necessity of great change m itself such an evil but the product simply of increased resources which the old methods can no longer administer of new wealth which the old will no longer contain what is it for example that in our own day bursts asunder the bonds of ancient political systems and all europe with the fear of change but even this the increase of social resources which the old social methods will no longer administer the new of the steam engine is asunder quite other mountains than the physical have not our economical those themselves the madness of our mad epoch their rise also in what is a real increase of men of properly in such a planet as ours the s writings of all it is true tbe methods of administration will no longer suffice must tbe millions full of old saxon energy and fire lie up in this western nook choking one another as m a of while a whole fertile desolate want of the cries come and till me come and reap me if the ancient captains can no longer yield guidance new must be sought af er for the difficulty lies not in nature but in the european has no walls but air ones and paper ones so too itself with its innumerable what is it but the sour fruit of a most blessed increase that of knowledge a fruit too that will not continue s ur in much as we have said and mourned about the of it was not without some insight into the use that lies in them speculation if a necessary evil is the of much good the fever of must needs bum itself out and burn out thereby the that caused it then again will there be clearness health the principle of life which now struggles painfully in the outer thin and barren domain of the conscious or may then withdraw into its inner its of mystery and miracle withdraw deeper than ever into that domain of the unconscious by nature infinite and inexhaustible and work there from that mystic region and that alone all wonders all and and social systems have proceeded the like wonders and greater and higher lie there and on by the spirit of the waters will themselves and rise like from the deep of our modern accordingly may not this already b said that if they have produced no they have destroyed much it is a disease a disease the fire of doubt as above hinted away the doubtful that so the certain come to light and again lie visible on the or french in reference to this last stage of the process are not what we allude to here but only the of the in france or england since the days of and though all thought has been of a texture so as there were any thought we have seen no but only more or less ineffectual whether such could be in the of and the of logic had as it were itself itself now though the to use our old figure cannot by much lifting lift tip his own body he may shift it out of a posture and get to stand in a free one such a service have german done for man s mind the second sickness of speculation has both itself and the first much of the the tumult and of german as of au and with reason yet in that wide spreading deep whirling of so soon into and then as and perhaps finally is not this issue visible enough that and themselves necessary phenomena in european culture have disappeared and a faith in religion has again become possible and inevitable for the scientific mind and the word no longer means the or but the or the ready to believe nay in the higher literature of germany there already lies for him that can read it the beginning of a new revelation of the as yet by the mass of the world but waiting there for recognition and do s writings wire to find it when the fit hour comes thia age aw is not wholly without its again another aspect if or or the mechanical philosophy or by whatever name it is called has still its long to do nevertheless we can ii w see through it and beyond it in the better heads even among us english it has become as in other countries it has been in such heads for some forty or even fifty years what sound mind among the french for example now that men can be governed by by the never so cunning of and all of checking and in a word by the best possible solution of this quite and impossible problem ch ven a of to produce an honesty from their united action were not experiments enough of this kind tried before all europe and found wanting when in that of france the infinite gulf of human passion shivered asunder	37
the thin of habit and burst forth all devouring as in seas of fire which devised constitution constitutional republican could bind that raging chasm together were they not all burnt up hke paper as they were in its and still the fire sea raged than before it is not by but by religion not by self interest but by loyalty that men are governed or remarkable it is truly how everywhere the eternal fact begins again to be recognised that there is a in human affairs that god not only made us and us but is in us and around us that the age of miracles as it over was now is such recognition we discern on all hands aod in all countries in each country after its own in france among the younger nobler minds strangely enough where in their loud with the actual and conscious the id al or unconscious is for the time without where religion means not the of ty as of all that is highest hut itself and this and the other earnest man has not been wanting who could whisper audibly go to i will make a religion in e still more strangely as in all things worthy england will have its way by the shrieking of hysterical women casting out of devils and other s of the holy ghost well might paul say in this his hour of the night the living dream well might he say the dead walk meanwhile let us rejoice rather that so much has been seen into were it through never so and never so madly distorted that in all though but half this high gospel begins to be preached man is still man the genius of as was once before predicted will not always sit like a choking on our soul but at length when by a new magic word the old spell is broken become our slave and as familiar spirit do all our bidding we are near awakening when we dream that we dream he that has an eye and a heart can even now say why should i light come into the world to such as love light so as light must be loved with a boundless all enduring love for the rest let that vain struggle to read the mystery of the infinite to us it is a mystery which through all ages we shall only read here a line of there another line of do we not already know that the name of the infinite is is god here on earth we are as soldiers fighting in a foreign land that understand not the plan of the campaign and have no need to understand it seeing well what is at our hand to be done let us do it like soldiers with submission with courage with a heroic joy whatsoever thy hand to do do it with all thy behind us behind each le s miscellaneous writings one of us lie six thousand years of human effort human conquest us is the boundless time with its as yet and and which we we have to conquer to create and from the bosom of eternity shine for us celestial guiding stars my inheritance how wide and fair time is my fair seed field of time i m heir portrait s portrait s magazine thou here the of von so looks and lives now in his eighty third year afar in the bright little friendly circle of the most universal man of his strange enough is the cunning that in the ten fingers especially what they bring to pass by pencil and pen him who never saw england england now sees from s gallery he looks forth here wondering doubtless how he came into such a might street or yet with recognition of all neighbors even as the moon looks kindly on lesser lights and were they but fish oil or stars of tin not their shining nay the very soul of the man thou likewise behold do but look well in those forty volumes of musical wisdom which under the title of s of or black and young of garden once offer them a trifle of drink money will cheerfully hand thee greater sight or more profitable thou wilt not meet with in this generation the german language it is thou if not thou undertake the study thereof for that sole end it were well worth thy while a man otherwise of rather turn sur b of the copy in s magazine proved a total failure and involuntary resembling as was said at the time a wretched old carrying behind his back a hat which he seemed to have stolen s us writings us on this occasion with a fit of enthusiasm he declares often that here is the finest of all living heads speaks much of blended passion and repose serene depths of eyes the brow the temples arched a very palace of thought and so forth the writer of these notices is not without decision of character and can believe what he knows he answers brother that it is no wonder the head should be royal and a palace for a most royal work was appointed to be done therein reader i within that head the whole world lies in such clear ethereal harmony as it has done in none since left us even this of a world wherein thou painfully and as is like all lies here and revealed to be still holy still divine what was that to find a mad universe full of discord desperation and it into a wise universe of belief and melody and reverence was not there an if one ever was this then is he who and enduring has accomplished it f in this distracted time of ours wherein men have lost their old and wandered after night fires and foolish will o and all things	37
in that shaking of the nations have been tumbled into chaos the high made low and the low high and ever and anon some duke of this and king of that is aloft to float there for moments and fancies himself the governor and head of it all and is but the to burst again and mingle with the wild mass in this so time we say there were nevertheless be the heavens ever thanked for it two great men sent among us the one in the island of st now sleeps dark and lone amid tb ocean s everlasting the other still ip the blessed sunlight on the banks of the s portrait great was the part each great the talent given him the same yet mark the contrast walked through the war world like an all devouring earthquake heaving thundering kingdom over kingdom was as the mild shining light which notwithstanding can again make that chaos into a creation thus too we e napoleon with his and is quite gone all departed sunk to like a while this other i he still shines with hi direct radiance his inspired words are to abide in living hearts as the life and inspiration of bom and still some years hence his thinking will be found translated and ground down even to the capacity of the press acts of parliament will be passed in virtue of him this man if we well consider of it is appointed to be ruler of the world reader i to thee even now he has one counsel to give the secret of his whole poetic yes think of living i thy life thou the of all the sons of earth is no idle dream but a solemn reality it is thy own it is all thou hast to front eternity with work then even as he has and does like a star yet s writings s of nature itself m of h tbat can be said with abundant by this one were there no other the unspeakable delight he takes in biography it is written the proper i of ia man to which study let us candidly admit he by or by false methods applies himself man is interesting to nay if we look strictly to it there is nothing else interesting how comfortable to know our creature to see into him understand his forth the whole heart of his mystery nay not only to see into him even to see out of him to view the world altogether as he views it so that we can him and could almost practically him and do now thoroughly discern both what manner of man he is and what manner of thing he has got to work on and live on a scientific interest and a poetic one alike inspire us in this matter a scientific because every mortal has a problem of existence set before him which were it only what for the most it is the problem of keeping soul and body together must be to a certain extent original unlike every other and yet at the same time so like every other the life of samuel johnson ll d including a tour to the by james esq a new edition with numerous additions and notes by john ll d f r s london like our own therefore instructive moreover since we also are to live a poetic interest still more for precisely this same struggle of human free will against material necessity which every man s life by the mere circumstance that the man continues alive will more or less exhibit is that which above all else or rather of all else calls the sympathy of mortal hearts into action and whether as acted or as represented and written of not only is poetry but is the sole poetry possible borne by which two all embracing interests may the earnest lover of biography himself on all sides and himself with the eyes of every new neighbor he can discern a new world different for each feeling with the heart of every neighbor he lives with every neighbor s life even as with his own of these millions of living men each individual is a mirror to us a mirror both scientific and poetic or if you will both natural and from which one would so gladly draw aside the veil and peering therein discern the image of his own natural face and the supernatural secrets that lie under the same observe accordingly to what extent in the actual course of things this business of biography is practised and define to judicious reader the real significance of these phenomena named gossip personal narrative miraculous or not scandal and such like the sum total of which with some addition of a better generally too small to be noticeable that other grand phenomenon still called conversation do they not mean wholly and not only in the common speech of men but in all art too which is or should be the concentrated and essence of what men can speak and show biography is almost the one thing needful vol iii s writings even in tke highest of art as the complain is too apt to be r or even mainly of a sort in the art we forget the artist while looking on the while studying the we ever strive to to ourselves what spirit dwelt in what a head was that of wherein woven of li t and gloom that old world fashioned itself together of these written greek characters are but a feeble though copy the painter and the are present to us we partially and for the time become the very painter and the very singer while we enjoy the picture and the song perhaps too let the critic say what he will this is the highest enjoyment the recognition we can	37
doctor is not a man whom we can praise without neither shall we say that his a of as he names them are adequate to start very that locks up an mystery nevertheless in his one sided way he sometimes masses of s the truth we endeavor to faithfully and trust the reader will find it worth serious perusal the significance even for poetic purposes says that lies in reality is too apt to escape us is perhaps only now beginning to be discerned when we named s an poem we meant more than an empty figure of speech we meant a historical scientific fact fiction while the of it knows that he is more than we suspect of the nature of lying and h ever an in some degree unsatisfactory character all were once were the poems of old time so long as they continued and had any complete were histories and understood to be of facts in so as employed his gods as mere ornamental and had not himself or at least did not expect his hearers to have a belief that they were real agents in those antique doings so far did he fail to be genuine so far was he a partially and false singer and sang to please only a portion of man s mind not the whole thereof imagination is after all but a poor matter when it must part company with understanding and even front it in flat contradiction our mind is divided in twain there is contest wherein that which is weaker must needs come to the worse now of all feelings states principles call it what you will in man s mind is not belief the strongest against which all others contend in vain belief is indeed the beginning and first condition of all spiritual force whatsoever only in so far as imagination were it but is can there be any use or meaning in it any enjoyment of it and what is momentary belief the enjoyment of a moment whereas a belief were enjoyment and with the whole united soul it is thus that i judge of the supernatural in an poem and would say the instant it has ceased to be supernatural and become what you call machinery sweep it out of sight es of a truth that same machinery about which the critics make such was well named biography for it is in very deed mechanical inspired or poetical neither for us is there the smallest enjoyment in it save only in this way that we believe it to have been by the singer or his hearers into whose case we now laboriously struggle to transport ourselves and so with enough result catch some of the reality which for them was wholly real and visible face to face whenever it has come so far that your machinery is mechanical and what is it e if we dare tell ourselves the truth but a miserable deception kept up by old use and wont alone if the gods of an are to us no longer shapes of terror heart stirring heart appalling but only shadows what must the dead pagan gods of an be the dead living pagan christian gods of a the abstract gods of a lumber cast at best in which some poor and may or may not set forth new noble human feelings again a reality and so secure or not secure our pardon of such for which in any case he has a pardon to true enough none but the earliest poems can claim this distinction of entire of reality after an a a and other the like primitive performances the rest seem by this rule of mine to be altogether excluded from the list accordingly what art all the rest from s downwards in comparison frosty artificial things more of than of roses at best of the two mixed together to some of which indeed it were hard to deny the title of poems yet to no one of which can that title belong in any sense even resembling the old high one it in those old days conveyed when the epithet divine or sacred as applied to the uttered word of man was not a vain a vain sound but a real name with meaning thus too the farther we from those early days when poetry as true poetry is always was still sacred or divine and inspired what ours in great part only to be the more impossible becomes it to produce any we say not true poetry but tolerable semblance of such the in particular grow all manner of till s miscellaneous writings at length as in this generation the name of sets a yawning the announcement of a new is received as a public calamity but what if the being for all quite discarded the probable be well to how stands it with fiction why then i would say the is much mended but cured we have then in place of the wholly dead the partially living modem novel to which latter it is much easier to lend that above mentioned so essential momentary than to the former indeed infinitely easier for the former being incredible no mortal can for a moment credit it for a moment enjoy it thus here and there a tom jones a a will yield no little to the minds of men though still less than a would were the significance thereof as unfolded were the genius that so it once given us by the kind heavens neither say thou that proper realities are wanting for man s life now as of old is the genuine work of god wherever there is a man a god also is revealed and all that is a whole of the infinite with its lies in the life of every man only alas that the to discern this same and with fit	37
utterance it for us is wanting and may long be wanting nay a question arises on us here wherein the whole german reading world will eagerly join whether man can any longer be so interested by the spoken word as he often was in those prime days when away by its inscrutable power he pronounced in such dialect as he had to be to all measure to be sacred prophetic and the inspiration of a god for myself i by faith or by insight do heartily understand that the answer to such question will be yea for never that i could in searching find out has man been by time which so much of any faculty whatsoever that he in any era was possessed of to my seeming the babe bom yesterday has all the organs of body soul and spirit and in exactly the same combination and that the oldest greek or ot father adam himself boast of fingers one heart with and biography blood therein still belong to man that is bom of woman when did he lose any of his spiritual either above all his highest spiritual that of revealing poetic beauty and of receiving the same not the material not the is wanting only the poet or long series of poets to work on these true alas too true the poet is still utterly wanting or all but utterly nevertheless have we not centuries enough before us to produce him in him and much else i i for the present will but that chiefly by working more and more on and more and more wisely its inexhaustible and in brief speaking forth in fit utterance whatsoever our whole soul believes and ceasing to speak forth what thing our whole soul does not believe will this high be accomplished or to these notable and not though partial and de seeing rather than observations on tlie great import of reality considered even as a poetic material we have inserted the more willingly because a transient feeling to the same purpose may often have suggested itself to many readers and on the whole it is good that every reader and every writer understand with all intensity of conviction what quite infinite worth in how all in man s mind is the thing we name belief for the rest though on this matter of reality seems heartily persuaded and is not perhaps so ignorant as he looks it cannot be to him for example what noise is made about invention what a supreme rank this faculty is reckoned to hold in the poetic great truly is invention nevertheless that is but a poor exercise of it with which belief is not concerned an with in his head as poor said will invent you in this kind till there is enough and to spare nay perhaps if we consider well the highest exercise of invention has in very deed nothing to do with fiction but is an invention of new s miscellaneous writings truth what we can call a revelation which last does doubted ly all other poetic efforts nor can heir be too loud in its praises but on the other hand whether such effort is still possible for man and the bulk of the world are probably at issue and will probably continue so till that same revelation or new invention of reality of the sort he shall itself make its appearance meanwhile these airy regions let him how impressive the smallest historical become as contrasted with the event what an force lies for us in this consideration the thing which i here hold in my mind did actually occur was in very an element ui the system of the all i too form part had therefore aad through all time an is not a but a reality we ourselves can remember in with feelings somehow opened to it certainly with a depth of impression to us then and now that insignificant looking passage where charles after the battle of with squire careless from the royal oak at nightfall being hungry how making a shift to get over hedges after walking at least eight or nine miles were the more grievous to the king by the weight of his boots for he could not put them off when he cut off his hair for want of shoes before morning they came to a poor cottage the owner whereof a roman catholic was to careless how this poor knocked up from his carried them into a barn full of hay which was a better lodging than he had for himself and by and by not without difficulty brought his majesty a piece of bread and a great pot of butter milk saying candidly that he himself lived by his daily and what he had him was the bare he and had which diet his majesty stay ing upon the for two days and tl n under new guidance having first changed clothes down to the very shirt and old pair of shoes with his landlord and so as worthy has it goes on his way and sees him no more singular enough if we will think of it i this then was a genuine flesh and blood of the year i o l he did actually swallow bread milk not having ale and bacon and do field labor witli these nailed shoes has through in winter and or not driven his team a field in summer he made had and now a sore heart now a one was bom was a son was a ther toiled in many ways being forced to it till the strength was all worn out of him and then lay down to rest his back and sleep there till the long distant morning how comes it that he alone of all the british who and lived along with him on whom the blessed sun on that same	37
fifth day of her was shining should have chanced to rise on us that this poor pair of shoes out of the million million that have been and cut and worn should still and hang visibly together we see him but for a moment for one moment the blanket of the night is rent asunder so that we behold and see and then over him for ever so in some life of johnson how and bright does many a little reality dwell in our remembrance is no need that the personages on the scene be a king and that the scene be the fore of the royal oak on the borders of history of the rebellion iii s miscellaneous writings need only that the scene lie on this old firm earth of ours where we also have so arrived that the personages be men and seen with the eyes of a man enough how some slight perhaps mean and even ugly incident if and well presented will fix itself in a memory and lie there over with the pale cast of thought with the pathos which belongs only to the dead for the past is all holy to us the dead are all holy even they that were base and wicked while alive their and wickedness was not they was but the heavy that lay round them with which they fought they the god given force that dwelt in them and was their self have now ofi that heavy and are free and pure their life long battle go how it might is all ended with many wounds or with fewer they have been recalled from it and the once harsh battle field has become a silent awe inspiring and field of god relates this in itself smallest and poorest of as we walked along the strand to night arm in arm a woman of the town us in the usual manner no no my girl said johnson it won t do he however did not treat her with and we talked of the wretched life of such women strange power of reality not even this poorest of but now after seventy years are come and gone has a meaning for us do but consider that it is true that it did in very deed occur i that unhappy outcast with all her sins and woes her lawless desires too complex her and her has departed utterly alas her finery has t all ground generations since into dust and smoke j of her degraded body and whole miserable earthly existence all is away she is no longer here but far from us in the bosom of eternity whence we too came whither we too are bound johnson said no no my girl it won t do and then we talked and the wretched one seen but for the twinkling of an eye passes on into the utter darkness no high that ever issued from story s brain will impress us more deeply than this meanest of the mean and a good reason that issued from the maker of men it is well worth the artist s while to examine for himself what it is that gives such pitiful incidents their his aim likewise is above all things to be memorable half the effect we already perceive depends on the object on its being on its being really seen the other half will depend on the observer and the question now is how are real objects to be so seen on what quality of observing or of style in describing does this so intense power depend often a slight circumstance curiously to the result some little and perhaps to appearance accidental feature is presented a light gleam which ea ci e the mind and it to complete the picture and the meaning thereof for itself by critics such light and their almost influence have frequently been noted but the power to produce such to select such features as will produce them is generally treated as a or trick of the trade a secret for being whereas these are in truth rather and the of performing them which acts unconsciously without and as if by nature alone is properly a genius for description one grand invaluable secret there is however which all the rest and what is comfortable lies clearly in every man s power to have an open loving hearty and what follows from the possession of such truly has it been said emphatically in these days ought it to be repeat vol iii s miscellaneous ed a loving heart is the beginning of all knowledge this it is that opens the whole mind every faculty of the intellect to do its fit work that of knowing and by sure consequence of vividly uttering forth other secret for being is there none worth having but this is an all sufficient one see for example what a small can do indeed is the whole man made a living mirror wherein the wonders of this ever wonderful universe are in their true light which is ever a miraculous one represented and reflected back on us it has been said the heart sees farther than the head but indeed without the seeing heart there is no true seeing for the head so much as possible all is mere and vain superficial which can permanently profit no one here too may we not pause for an instant and make a practical reflection considering the multitude of mortals that handle the pen in these days and x an mostly spell and write without glaring of grammar the question naturally arises how is it then that no work proceeds from them bearing any stamp of and of worth for more than one day ship loads of fashionable novels sentimental of travel tales by flood and field are swallowed monthly into the pool still does the press toil innumerable paper makers devils and grown	37
hoarse with loud rest not from their labor and still in torrents rushes on the great array of to their final home and still oblivion like the grave cries give give how is it that of all these countless no one can attain to the smallest mark of excellence or produce aught that shall endure longer than on the river or the foam of penny beer we an biography ill because they are foam because there is no reality in them these three thousand men women and children that make up the army of british authors do not if we will well consider it see anything whatever consequently nothing that they can record and utter only m or fewer things that they can pretend to re cord the universe of man and nature is still quite shut up from them the open secret still utterly a secret because no sympathy with man or nature no love and free simplicity of heart has yet unfolded the same nothing but a pitiful image of their own pitiful self with its and and hunger of all kinds hangs for ever painted in the of these unfortunate persons so that the all with whatsoever it embraces does but appear as some expanded magic lantern shadow of that same image and naturally looks pitiful enough it is vain for these persons to that they are naturally without naturally stupid and and so can attain to no knowledge of anything therefore in writing of anything must needs write of it there being in it no truth for them not so good friends the of you has a certain faculty were it but that of articulate speech say in the the irish the dialect or even in and of physically what lies under your nose the of you would perhaps grudge to be compared in faculty with james yet see what he has produced you do not use your faculty honestly your heart is shut up full of malice discontent so your intellectual sense cannot be open it is vain also to urge that james had opportunities saw great men and great things such as you can never hope to look on what make ye of parson white in he had not only no great men to look on but not even men merely s miscellaneous writings cock yet has he left us a biography of these which under its title natural history of still if valuable to us which has copied a little sentence or two faithfully from the inspired volume of nature and so is itself not without inspiration go ye and do likewise sweep away utterly all and falsehood from your heart struggle to acquire what is possible for every god created man a free open humble soul speak not at all in any wise till you have somewhat to speak care not for the reward of your speaking but simply and with mind for the truth of your speaking then be placed in what section of space and of time do but open your eyes and they shall actually ee and bring you real knowledge wondrous worthy ot belief instead of one and one white the world will rejoice in a thousand stationed on their thousand several to instruct us by documents of whatsoever iii our so world comes to light and is o had the editor of this magazine but a magic rod to turn all that not intellect which now us with artificial soap and mere lying into the faithful study of reality what knowledge of great everlasting nature and of man s ways and doings therein would not every year bring us in we but change one single soap and into a true and that even tries honestly to think and do great will be our reward but to return or rather from this point to begin our journey if now what with s what with so much of our own it have become apparent how deep is the worth that lies in reality and farther how exclusive the interest which man takes in histories of man may it not seem lamentable that so few good have yet been accumulated in literature that in the whole world one cannot find going strictly to work above some dozen or baker s dozen and those chiefly of very date lamentable yet what we have just seen another question might be asked comes it that in england we have simply one good biography this johnson and of good indifferent or even bad attempts at biography fewer than any civilized people consider the french and with their innumerable and and not to speak of and then contrast with these our poor and and the whole breed of whom moreover is now extinct with this question as the answer might lead us far and come out to patriotic sentiment we shall not but turn rather with greater pleasure to the fact that one excellent biography is actually english and even now lies in five new volumes at our hand a new consideration from us such as age after age the showing ever new phases as our position it may long be profitable to bestow on it to which task we here in this position in this age gladly address ourselves first however let the foolish april fool day pass by and our reader during these twenty nine days of uncertain weather that will follow keep pondering according to convenience the purport of in general then with the blessed dew of may day and in unlimited convenience of space shall all that we have written on johnson and johnson and s johnson b faithfully laid before him s miscellaneous s life of johnson s magazine s fly sitting on the of the chariot has been much laughed at for exclaiming what a dust i do raise yet which of us in his way has not sometimes been	37
for such and indeed for innumerable other as where for example the editor will explain what is already sun clear and then anon not without frankness declare frequently enough that the editor does not understand that the editor cannot guess while for most part the reader cannot help both and seeing thus if johnson say in one sentence that english names should not be used in latin verses and then in the next sentence speak of being used as a will the of mortals detect any puzzle there or again where poor writes i always remember a remark made to me by a lady educated in france i s miscellaneous writings ma foi depend de la sang though the lady here speaks french where is the call for a note like this mr no doubt fancied these words had some meaning or he would hardly have quoted them but what that meaning is the editor cannot guess the editor is clearly no witch at a riddle for these and all kindred the excuse as we said is at hand but the fact of their existence is not the less certain and indeed it from a very early stage of the business becomes apparent how much he editor so well furnished with all external and means is from within with means for forming to himself any just notion of johnson or of johnson s life and therefore of speaking on that subject with much hope of too lightly is it from the first taken for granted that hunger the great basis of our life is also its and ultimate perfection that as and and are the chief qualities of most men so no man not even a johnson acts or can think of acting on any other principle whatsoever therefore cannot be referred to the two former need and is without scruple ranged under the latter it is here properly that our editor becomes and to the weaker sort even a nuisance what good is it will such cry when we had still some faint shadow of belief that man was better than a selfish machine what good is it to in at every turn and explain how this and that which we thought noble in old samuel was vulgar base that for him too there was no reality but in the stomach and except and the finer species of which is named praise life had no why for instance when we know that johnson loved his good wife and says expressly that their marriage was a love match on both sides s life of johnson should two closed lips open to tell us only this is it not possible that the advantage of having a woman of experience to an establishment of this kind the school may have contributed to a match so in point of age ed or again when in the text the honest speaks freely of his former poverty and it is known that he once lived on a day need a ck advance and comment thus when we find dr johnson tell unpleasant truths to or of other men let us recollect that he does not appear to have spared himself on occasions in which he might be forgiven for doing so why in short continues the exasperated reader should notes of this species stand me when there might have been no note at all gentle reader we answer be not what other could an honest do than give thee the best he had such was the picture and he had fashioned for himself of the world and of mat s doings therein take it and draw wise from it if there did exist a leader of public opinion and champion of in the church of of who reckoned that man s glory consisted in not being poor and that a sage and prophet of his time must needs blush because the world had paid him at that easy rate of er was not the fact of such existence worth knowing worth considering of a much hue yet to us practically of an and for the present enterprise quite character is another grand failing the last we shall feel ourselves obliged to take the pain of here it is that our editor has and almost mistaken the limits of an editor s function and so instead of working on the margin with his pen to as best might be strikes boldly into the body of the page s miscellaneous writings with his and there at discretion i pour books mr c had by him to gather light for the fifth which was s what does he do but now in the manner the whole five into slips and these together into a exactly at his own con giving the credit of the whole by what art magic our readers ask has he united them by the simplest of all by never before was the full virtue of the made manifest you begin a sentence under s guidance thinking to be carried happily through it by the same but no in the middle perhaps after your and some consequent for starts up one of these and you in from half a page to twenty or thirty pages of a so that often one must make the old sad reflection where we are we know whither we are going no man it is truly said also there is much between the cup and the lip but here the case is still for not till after consideration can you ascertain now when the cup is at the lip what liquor is it you are whether s french wine which you began with or some s beer or s entire or perhaps some other great s penny or even which has been instead thereof a situation almost original not to be tried a second time but in fine	37
what ideas mr of a literary whole and the thing called book and how the very s devils did not rise in against such a as this and refuse to print it may remain a problem but now happily our say is said all faults the tell us are properly crimes themselves are nothing other than a not doing enough a fighting but with vigor how much more a mere s life of johnson and this after good efforts in practice mr says the worst that can happen is that all the present editor has contributed may if the reader so pleases be rejected as it is our pleasant duty to take with hearty welcome what he has given and render thanks even for what he meant to give next and finally it is our painful duty to declare aloud if that be necessary that his gift as weighed against the hard money which the demand for giving it you is in our judgment very greatly the lighter no portion accordingly of our small floating capital has been embarked in the business or shall ever be indeed were we in the market for such a thing there is simply no edition of to which this last would seem and now enough and more than enough we have next a word to say of james has already been much commented upon but rather in the way of censure and than of true recognition he was a man that brought himself much before the world confessed that he eagerly fame or if that were not possible of which latter as he gained far more than seemed his due the public were not only by their natural love of scandal but by a special ground of envy to say whatever ill of him could be said out of the fifteen millions that then lived and had bed and board in the british islands this man has provided u a greater pleasure than any other individual at whose cost we now enjoy ourselves perhaps has done us a greater service than can be specially attributed to more than two or three yet ungrateful that we are no written or spoken of james anywhere exists his in solid so far as went was not excessive arid as for the empty praise it has altogether been denied him iii s miscellaneous writings men are than children they do not the hand that them was a person whose mean or had qualities lay open to the general eye visible palpable to the is good qualities again not to the time he lived in were far from common then indeed in such a degree were almost not therefore by every one nay apt even so strange had they grown to be confounded with the very vices they lay to and had sprung out of that he was a wine and gross liver fond of whatever would yield him a little were it only of a character is enough that he was vain heedless a had much of the with the curiously too with an all of the that he much when the tailor by a court suit had made a new man of him that he appeared at the with a round his hat and in short if you will lived no day of his life without doing and saying more than one all this unhappily is evident as the sun at noon the very look of seems to have signified so much in that cocked nose cocked partly in triumph over his weaker fellow creatures partly to snuff up the smell of coming pleasure and scent it from afar in those bag cheeks hanging like half filled wine skins still to contain more in that shelf mouth that fat chin in all this who sees not boisterous enough much that could not have been ornamental in the temper of a great man s great man what the scotch name though it had been more natural there the under part of well s face is of a low almost character unfortunately on the other hand what great and genuine s life of johnson good lay in him was so self evident that well was a hunter after spiritual that he loved such and longed and even crept and crawled to be near them that he first in old s took on with and being off with the took on with a that a and ca d it an academy that he did all this and could not help doing it we account a very singular merit the man once for all had an open sense an open loving heart which so few have where excellence existed he was compelled to acknowledge it was drawn towards it and let the old brand of a say what he liked could not hut walk with it if not as superior if not as equal then as inferior and better so than not at all if we reflect now that this love of excellence had not only such an evil nature to triumph over but also what an education and social position it and weighed it down its innate strength victorious over all these things may astonish us consider what an inward impulse there must have been how many mountains of hurled aside before the could as humble servant embrace the knees the bosom was not permitted him of the english your says an english of these days may be defined as the and of all yet known too was a tory of quite peculiarly temper had been in an atmosphere of at the feet of a very in that kind within bare walls adorned only with amid serving men in livery all things teaching him from birth upwards to remember that a was a perhaps there was a special vanity in his very blood old had if not the gay tail spreading vanity of his son no of the	37
slow s miscellaneous writings hissing vanity of the a still more fatal species will yet tell you how the ancient man having chanced to be the first appointed after the of hereditary by royal authority was wont in dull tone to preface many a from the bench with these words the first king s in scotland and now behold the worthy so and held back by nature and by art fly nevertheless like iron to its whither his better genius called you may surround the iron and the with what and you please with wood with rubbish with brass it matters not the two feel each other they struggle towards each other they will be together the iron may be a full of and the and moving rag and dust mountain coarse proud imperious nevertheless behold how they embrace and to one another it is one of the strangest phenomena of the past century that at a time when the old feeling of such as brought men from far countries with rich gifts and prostrate soul to the feet of the had passed utterly away from men s practical experience and was no longer to exist as it does in man s inmost heart james should have been the individual of all others to recall it ii such singular guise to the wondering and for a long while laughing and world it has been commonly said the man s vulgar vanity was all that attached him to johnson he delighted to be q what do you mean by respectable he always kept a trial thus it has been said does society naturally divide itself into four classes gentlemen and men s life of johnson seen near him to be thought connected with him now let it be at once granted that no consideration springing out of vulgar vanity could well be absent from the mind of james in this his intercourse with johnson or in any considerable transaction of his life at the same time ask yourself whether such vanity and nothing else him therein whether this was the true essence and moving principle of the phenomenon or not rather its outward and the accidental and in which it came to light the man was by nature and habit vain a be it granted but had there been nothing e than vanity in him was samuel johnson the man of men to whom he must attach himself at the date when johnson was a poor rusty scholar dwelling in temple lane and indeed throughout their whole intercourse afterwards were there not and prime ministers enough graceful gentlemen the glass of fashion honor giving dinner giving rich men renowned fire and realities of all hues any one of whom much larger in the world s eye than johnson ever did to any one of whom by half that and our might have recommended himself and sat there the envy of surrounding now solid well cooked and of rich in each also shone on by some glittering of renown or so as to be the observed of innumerable to no one of whom however though otherwise a most and did he so attach himself such vulgar were his paid or amusement the worship of johnson was his grand voluntary business does not the hearted yet i man his advocate s wig regularly take v s miscellaneous writings post and hurry up to london for the sake of his sage chiefly as to a feast of the sabbath of his whole year the plate and wine into bolt court to muddy with a cynical old man and a sour tempered blind old woman feeling the cups whether they are full with her finger and patiently without end too happy so he may but be allowed to listen and live nay it does not appear that vulgar vanity could ever have een much flattered by s relation to johnson mr says johnson was to the last little regarded by the great world from which for a vulgar vanity all honor as from its fountain even among johnson s friends and special admirers seems rather to have been laughed at than envied his ways the daily and he could gain from the world no golden but only leaden opinions his devout seemed nothing more than a mean in the general eye his mighty or sun round whom he as was for the mass of men but a huge ill light and he a weak night foolishly about it not knowing what he wanted if he enjoyed dinners and as to a new sort of henry in the domestic outer house could hand him a shilling for the sight of his bear doubtless the man was laughed at and often heard himself laughed at for his to be envied is the grand and sole aim of vulgar vanity to be filled with good things is that of for johnson perhaps no man living envied poor and of good things except himself paid for them there was no in that had nothing other or better than vanity and been there johnson and had never come together or had soon and finally separated again s life of johnson in fact the so copious that as the outer sphere of this man s character does but render for us more remarkable more touching the celestial spark of goodness of light and for wisdom which dwelt in the interior and could struggle through such and in some degree and them there is much lying yet in the love of for johnson a cheering proof in a time which else utterly wanted and still wants such that living wisdom is quite infinitely precious to man is the symbol of the to him which even weak eyes may discern that loyalty all that was ever meant by hero worship lives in the human bosom and waits even in these dead days only for occasions to	37
light burns clear and holy through the dead night of the past they who are gone are still here though hidden they are revealed though dead they yet speak there it shines that little lamp lit pathway shedding its and twilight into the boundless dark oblivion for all that our johnson touched has become illuminated for us on which vol iii s miscellaneous writings miraculous little pathway we can still travel and see wonders it is not speaking with exaggeration but with strict measured to say that this book of s will give us more real insight into the history of england during those days than twenty other books entitled histories which take to themselves that special aim what good is it to me though innumerable and keep in my ears that a man named george the third was bom and bred up and a man named george the second died that and the and and and and north with their or their separation all one another and vehemently scrambled for the thing they called the of government but which was in reality the of that were held and infinite and took place and road bills and bills and game bills and india bills and laws which no man can number which happily few men needed to trouble their heads with beyond the passing moment were and printed by the king s that he who sat in and out speculation from the was now a man that now a man that did not to the hungry and thirsty mind all this next to nothing these men and these things we indeed know did swim by strength or by specific levity as apples or as horse on the top of the current but is it by painfully noting the courses and hither and thither of such articles that you will to me the nature of the current itself of that mighty rolling loud roaring life current as the foundations of the universe mysterious as its author the thing i want to see is not lists and court and but the life of man in england what men s life of johnson did thought suffered enjoyed the form especially the spirit of their existence its outward its inward principle how and what whence it proceeded whither it was tending mournful in truth is it to behold what the business called history in these so enlightened and illuminated times still continues to be can you gather from it read till your eyes go out any shadow of an answer to that great question how men lived and had their being were it but as what wages they got and what they bought with these unhappily you cannot history will throw no light on any such matter at the point where living memory fails it is all darkness mr senior and mr must still debate this simplest of all elements in the condition of the past whether men were better off in their mere and or were worse off than now i history as it stands all bound up in gilt volumes is but a more instructive than the wooden volumes of a board how my prime minister was appointed is of less moment to me than how my house servant was hired in these days ten ordinary histories of kings and were well exchanged against the tenth part of one good history of for example i would fain know the history of scotland who can tell it me cry innumerable voices against the world i open and find there through long ages too confused for narrative and fit only to be presented in the way of and essence a cunning answer and not to this tion by whom and by what means when and how was this fair broad scotland with its arts and temples schools institutions poetry spirit national character created and made peculiar great here as i q see some fair section of it lying kind and s miscellaneous writings strong like some tamed lion from the castle hill of but to this other question how did the king keep himself alive in those old days and restrain so many butcher and from utterly one another so that killing went on in some sort of moderation in the one little letter of from old scotland there is more of history than in all this at length however we come to a luminous age interesting enough to the age of the all scotland is awakened to a second higher life the spirit of the highest in every bosom every bosom scotland is struggling to body itself forth anew to the among his cattle in remote woods to the in his rude heath among his rude brethren to the great and to the little a new light has arisen in town and hamlet groups are gathered with eloquent looks and governed or tongues the great and the little go forth together to do battle for the lord against the mighty we ask with breathless eagerness how was it how went it on let us understand it let us see it and know it in reply is handed us a really graceful and most dainty little scandalous chronicle as for some journal of fashion of two persons mary a beauty but over and henry a who had fine legs how these first and according to nature then fretted grew utterly enraged and blew one another up with this and not the history of scotland is what we read nay by other hands something like a of other books have been written to prove that it was the beauty who blew up the and that it was not she who or what it was the thing once for all being so done concerns us little to know scotland at that great epoch were a valuable s life of johnson increase of knowledge to know poor and see him with burning candle from	37
convenient to know his biography nevertheless could an enlightened curiosity be so far gratified it must be owned the biography of most ought to be in an extreme degree summary in this world there is so wonderfully little self among men next to no originality though never absolutely none one life is too the copy of another and so in whole thousands of them you find little that is properly new nothing but the old song sung by a new voice with better or worse execution here and there an ornamental and false notes enough but the tune is ever the same and for the these all that they meant stands written generally on the churchyard stone sum mankind sail their life voyage in huge following some single or fishing the log book of each not in essential purport from that of any other nay the most have no log book reflection observation not being among their talents keep no reckoning only keep in sight of the and fish read the s papers know his life and even your lover of that street biography will have learned the most of what he sought af r or the and yet also a nobler relationship and mysterious union to one another which lies in such of mankind might be illustrated under the s life of johnson ent figure itself original of a flock of sheep sheep go in flocks for three reasons first because they are of a temper and jove to be together secondly because of their cowardice they are afraid to be left alone because the common run of them are dull of sight to a proverb and can have no choice in roads sheep can in fact see nothing in a and a would discern only that both dazzled them were of unspeakable glory how like their fellow creatures of the human species men too as was from the first maintained here are then surely faint hearted enough trembling to be by themselves above all dull sighted down to the verge of utter blindness thus are we seen ever running in torrents and if we run at all and after what foolish them for foolish likewise to all appearance supernatural keep whole nations their hair on end neither know we except by blind habit where the good pastures lie solely when the sweet grass is between our teeth we know it and it also when grass is bitter and scant we know it and and butt these last two facts we know of a truth and in very deed thus do men and sheep play their parts on this earth wandering in large masses they know not whither for most part each following his neighbor and his own nose nevertheless not always look better you shall find certain that do in some small degree know whither sheep have their bell some ram of the folds with more with clearer vision than other sheep he leads them through the by height and hollow to the woods and water courses for covert or for pleasant marching and if need be leaping and with and horn doing battle in the van him they courage s miscellaneous writings and with assured heart follow touching it is as every will you with what devoted ness these hosts to their and rush after him through good report and through had report were it into safe and green thy my or into lakes and the jaws of devouring lions ever also must we recall that fact which we owe paul s quick eye if you hold a stick before the so that he by necessity leaps in passing you and then withdraw your stick the flock will nevertheless all leap as he did and the sheep shall be found over air as the first did over an otherwise barrier reader thou understand society well those proceedings thou wilt find them all curiously significant now if sheep always how much more must men always have their chief their guide i man too is by nature quite thoroughly nay ever he struggles to be something more to be social not even when society has become impossible does that deep seated tendency and him man as if by miraculous magic his thoughts his mood of mind to man an unspeakable communion all past present and future men into one whole almost into one living individual which high mysterious truth this disposition to imitate to lead and be led this impossibility not to imitate is the most constant and one of the simplest to imitate which of us all can measure the significance that lies in that one word by virtue of which the infant man born at grows up not to be a hairy savage and of but an and of systems thus both in a celestial and sense are we a such as there is no other nay looking away from the base and ludicrous to the sublime and sacred s life of johnson side of the matter since in every matter there are two sides have not we also a if we will but hear his voice of those stupid multitudes there is no one but has an immortal soul within him a and living image of god s whole universe strangely from its dim the light of the highest looks through him for which reason indeed it is that we claim a brotherhood with him and so love to know his history and come into clearer and clearer union with all that he feels and says and does however the chief thing to be noted was this amid those dull millions who as a dull flock roll hither and thither they are led and seem all and attempting little save what the animal instinct in its somewhat higher kind might teach to keep themselves and their young ones alive are scattered here and there superior natures whose eye is not	37
he is through the world what such a mind stamped of nature s noblest metal though in so a die was specially and best of all fitted for might still be a question to none of the world s few could he have adjusted himself without difficulty without in none been a brother well at ease perhaps if we look to the strictly practical nature of his faculty to the strength decision method that itself in him we may say that his calling was rather towards active than life that as in the higher now sense ruler in short as of the work he had shone even more than as speaker of the word his honesty of heart his courageous temper the value he set on things outward and material s life of johnson might have made him a king among kings had the golden age of those new french when it shall be a sa d but arrived indeed even in our brazen and age he himself regretted that he had not become a lawyer risen to be which he might well have done however it was otherwise appointed to no man does fortune throw open all the of this world and say it is thine choose where thou wilt dwell to the most she opens hardly the smallest or and says not without there that is thine while thou keep it there and bless heaven alas men must fit themselves into many things some forty years ago for instance the noblest and man in all the british lands might be seen not swaying the royal or the s on the of the world but ale in the little of johnson came a little nearer the mark than burns but with him too strength was mournfully denied its he too had to fight fortune at strange odds all his life long johnson s disposition for had the so ordered it is well seen in early boyhood his says used to receive very liberal assistance from him and such was the submission and deference with which he was treated that three of the boys of whom mr was sometimes one used to come in the morning as his humble attendants and carry him to school one in the middle stooped while he sat upon his back and one on each side supported him and thus was he borne triumphant the sand blind and with his open mouth and face of bruised yet already dominant imperial irresistible not in the king s chair of human arms as we see do his three carry him s miscellaneous writings along rather on the tyrant s the back of his fellow creature must he ride prosperous the child is father of the man he who had seen fi y years into coming time would have felt that little spectacle of mischievous to be a great one for us who look back on it and what followed it now from afar there arise questions enough how looked these what and had they felt or of leather what was old doing then what thinking and so on through the whole series of trim s a picture of it all fashions itself together only unhappily we have no brush and no fingers boyhood is now past the of waves harmless in the distance samuel struggled up to uncouth bulk and with disease and poverty all the way which two continue still his companions at college we see little of him yet thus much that things went not well a rugged wild man of the desert awakened to the feeling of himself proud as the poor as the poorest shut up silently enduring the what a world of gloom with sun and pale tearful moon and of a celestial and an infernal splendor was this that now opened for him i but the weather is wintry and the toes of the man are looking through his shoes his muddy features grow of a purple and sea green color a flood of black indignation beneath a raw figure meat he has probably little hope he has less his feet as we said have come into brotherhood with the cold shall i be particular sir john and relate a circumstance of his distress that cannot be to him as an effect of his own extravagance or and consequently no disgrace on his memory he had scarce any change of and ia a short time after him but one pair s life op of shoes and those so old that his feet were seen through them a gentleman of his college the of an eminent clergyman now living directed a one morning to place a new pair at the door of johnson s chamber who seeing them upon his first going out so far forgot himself and the spirit which must have his unknown benefactor that with all the indignation of an insulted man he threw them away how exceedingly surprising the rev dr hall remarks as far as we can judge from a view of the weekly account in the books johnson appears to have lived as well as other and scholars alas such view of the books now from the safe distance of a century in the safe chair of a college is one thing the continual view of the empty or locked itself was quite a different thing but hear our knight how he farther johnson sir john could not at this early period of his life himself of an idea that poverty was disgraceful and was very severe in his of that economy in both our which at meals the attendance of poor scholars under the several of in the one and in the other he thought that the ar s like the christian life all distinctions of rank and worldly but in this he was mistaken civil c too true it is man s lot to however destiny in all ways	37
means to prove the mistaken samuel and see what stuff is in him he must leave these of oxford want like an armed man compelling him retreat into his father s mean home and there abandon himself for a season to disappointment shame and nervous melancholy nigh run mad he is probably the man in wide england in all ways ho too must become perfect through suffering high thoughts have visited him his college exercises have b en s writings praised beyond the walls of college pope himself has seen that translation and approved of it samuel had to himself i too am one and somewhat false thoughts that leave only misery behind the fever fire of ambition is too painfully extinguished but not cured in the frost bath of poverty johnson has knocked at the gate as one having a right but there was no opening the world lies all encircled as with brass nowhere can he find or force the smallest entrance an at market and a between him and sir the patron of the school him bread of tion and water of affliction but so bitter that human nature cannot swallow them young will grind no more in the mill of hold of sir and the domestic so far at least as to say grace at table and also to be treated with what he represented as intolerable and so after months of such complicated misery feeling doubt less that there are worse things in the world than quick death by famine a situation which all his life he recollected with the strongest aversion and even horror men like johnson are properly called the forlorn hope of ae judge whether his hope was forlorn or not by this i to a dull who called himself sir as you appear sensible than your readers of the of your poetical article you will not be displeased if in order to the improvement of it i communicate to you the of a person who will undertake on reasonable terms sometimes to fill a column his opinion is that the public would c c if such a correspondence will be agreeable to you be pleased to inform me in two posts what the conditions are on which you shall expect it your late offer for a prize poem gives me no s of johnson to distrust your generosity if you engage in any literary projects besides this paper i have other designs to impart reader the generous person to whom this goes addressed is mr cave at st john s gate london the of it is samuel johnson in nevertheless life in the man its right to be even to be enjoyed better a small bush say the scotch than no shelter johnson to be contented with humble human things and is there not already an actually realized human existence all stirring and living on very hand of him go thou and do likewise in itself with his own purchased goose he can earn five pounds nay finally the good a friend who will be wife to him johnson s marriage with the good widow porter has been treated with ridicule by many mortals who apparently had no understanding thereof that the faced lonely woe stricken like some irish with club whose speech no man knew whose look all men both laughed at and shuddered at should find any brave female heart to acknowledge at first sight and hearing of him this is the most sensible man i ever met with and then with generous courage to take him to itself and say be thou mine be thou warmed here and to life in all this in the kind widow s love and pity for him in johnson s love and gratitude there is actually no matter for ridicule their wedded life as is the lot was made up of and dry weather but innocence and worth dwelt in it and when death had ended it a certain johnson s affection for his was always venerable and noble however be this as it might johnson is now minded to wed and will s miscellaneous writings live by the trade of for by this also may life be kept in let the world therefore take notice at near in young gentlemen are ed and taught the latin and greek languages by johnson had this enterprise how might the issue have been johnson had lived a life of unnoticed or into some dr of no avail to us would have into official or risen by some other elevation old had never been afflicted with that a or obliged to hospitality by a do god sir he kings ken that there was a in their neck but the enterprise did not prosper destiny had other work appointed for samuel johnson and young gentlemen got board where they could elsewhere find it this man was to become a teacher of grown gentlemen in the most surprising way a man of letters and ruler of the british nation for some time not of their bodies merely but of their minds not over them but in them the career of literature could not in johnson s day any more than now be said to lie along the shores of a whatever else might be gathered there gold dust was the chief produce the world from the times of st paul and far earlier has always had its teachers and always treated them in a peculiar way a shrewd town clerk not of once in a when the question came how the should be maintained delivered this brief counsel d n them keep them poor considerable wisdom may lie in this at all events we see the world has acted on it long and indeed improved on it putting many a of its great to a death which even cost it something the world it is true had for some s	37
life of johnson time been too busy to go out of its way and put any author to death however the old sentence pronounced against them was found to be pretty sufficient the first writers being were sworn to a vow of poverty the modern authors had no need to swear to it this was the epoch when an could still die of hunger not to speak of your innumerable whom muse found stretched beneath a rug with rusty grate unconscious of a fire floor and all the other of the time out of mind the of however seems to have been but an not at all so as worthy mr whom we might have seen sitting up in bed with his of blanket about him and a hole in the same that his hand might be at liberty to work in its the worst was that too frequently a of temper ensued incapable of turning to account what good the gods even here had provided your acted on some principle of as men do in towns and seasons of raging and so had lost not only their life and presence of mind but their as persons of respectability the trade of author was about one of its lowest when johnson embarked on it accordingly we find no mention of in the city of london when this same ruler of the british nation arrived in it no cannon are fired no flourish of drums and trumpets his appearance on the scene he enters quite quietly with some copper in his pocket into lodgings in street strand and has a ck also of not less peculiar whom with all he must wait upon in his of st john s gate this is the dull alluded to above s miscellaneous cave s temper says our knight was though he assumed as the of the magazine the name of he had few of those qualities that constitute judge of his want of them by this question which he once put to an author mr i hear you have just published a and am told there is a very good paragraph in it upon the subject of music did you write that yourself his was also slow and as he had already at his command some writers of prose and verse who in the language of are called good hands he was the in making advances or an intimacy with johnson upon the first approach of a stranger his practice was to continue sitting a posture in which he was ever to be found and for a few minutes to continue if at any time he was inclined to begin the discourse it was generally by putting a leaf of he magazine then in the ess into the hand of his visitor md asking his opinion of it he was so a judge of johnson s abilities that meaning at one time to him with the splendor of some of those in literature who favored him with their correspondence he told him that if he would in the evening be at a certain in the neighborhood of he might have a chance of seeing mr and another or two of those illustrious johnson accepted the invitation and being introduced by cave dressed in a loose s coat and such a great wig as he constantly wore to the sight of mr whom he found sitting at the upper end of a long table in a cloud of tobacco smoke had his curiosity gratified in fact if we look seriously into the condition of at that period we shall find that johnson had undertaken one of the of all possible that here as elsewhere fortune had given him unspeakable to reconcile for a man of johnson s stamp the problem was not only as the humble but indispensable condition of all else to keep himself if so might be alive but secondly to keep himself alive by m s life op johnson speaking forth the truth that was in him and speaking it truly that is in the and utterance the heavens had enabled him to give it let the earth say to this what she liked of which problem if it be hard to solve either member separately how more so to solve it when both are and work with endless into one another he that finds himself already kept can sometimes unhappily not always speak a little truth he that finds himself able and willing to all to speak lies may by watching how the wind sits scrape together a sometimes of great splendor he again who finds himself provided with neither has but a game to play and shall have praises if he win it let us look a little at both faces of the matter and see what front they then offered our adventurer what front he offered them at the time of johnson s appearance on the field literature in many senses was in a state chiefly in this sense as respects the pecuniary of its it was in the very act of passing from the protection of into that of the public no longer to supply its necessities by to the great but by judicious with the this happy change has been much sung and celebrated many a lord of the lion heart and eagle eye looking back with scorn enough on the system of so that now it were perhaps well to consider for a moment what good might also be in it what gratitude we owe it that a good was in it admits not of doubt whatsoever has existed has had its value without some truth and worth lying in it the thing could not have hung together and been the organ and and method of action for men that reasoned and were alive a falsehood which is wholly false into practice the result comes out there s miscellaneous writings is no	37
fruit or issue to be derived from it that in an age when a nobleman was still noble still with his wealth the protector of worthy and humane things and still as such a poor man of genius his brother in should with reverence address him and say i have found wisdom here and would fain proclaim it abroad wilt thou of thy abundance afford me the means in all this there was no it was wholly an hon est proposal which a free might make and a free man listen to so might a with a in his hand or in his head speak to a duke of so might a to his and continental artists generally to their rich in some countries down almost to these days it was only when the reverence became feigned that entered into the action on both sides and indeed flourished there with rapid till that became disgraceful for a dry den which a could once practise without offence neither it is very true was the new way of worthless which opened itself at this juncture for the most important of all transport trades now when the old way had become too and remark moreover how this second sort of after carrying us through nearly a century of time appears now to have well nigh discharged t function also and to be working pretty rapidly towards some third method the exact conditions of which are yet visible thus all things have their end and we should part with them all not in anger but in peace the system during its peculiar century the whole of the did carry us handsomely along and many good works it has left us and many good men it maintained if it is now by as the patronage system did by flattery for lying is ever the of s life of johnson death nay is itself let us not forget its benefits how it nursed literature through boyhood and school years as patronage had wrapped it in soft bands till now we see it about to put on the could it but find any such there is tolerable travelling on the beaten road run how it may only on the new road not yet and and on the old road all broken into and is the travelling bad or the difficulty lies always in the transition from one method to another in which state it was that johnson now found literature and out of which let us also say he carried it what remarkable first paid in england we have not ascertained perhaps for almost a century before some scarce visible or of wages had occasionally been yielded by the of books to the writer of them the original to produce paradise lost on the one hand and five pounds sterling on the other still lies we have been told in white for inspection and purchase by the curious at a m lane thus had the matter gone on in a mixed confused way for some years as ever in such things the old system the new by some generation or two and only dies quite out when the new has got a complete organization and weather worthy surface of its own among the first authors the very first of any significance who lived by the day s wages of his and faced the world on that basis was samuel johnson at the time of johnson s appearance there were still two ways on which an author might attempt proceeding there were the proper in the west end of london and the of st john s gate and row to a considerate man it might seem uncertain vol iii s miscellaneous writings which method were neither had very high attractions the patron s aid was now necessarily by before it could come to hand the s was with greedy stupidity not to say entire wooden and disgust so that an even required to be knocked down by an author of spirit and could barely keep the thread of life together the one was the wages of suffering and poverty the other unless you gave strict heed to it the wages of sin in time john son had opportunity of looking into both methods and what they were but found at first trial that the former would in no wise do for him listen once again to that far blast of doom into the ear of lord and through him of the listening world that patronage should be no more seven years my lord have now past since i waited in your outward rooms or was from your door during which time i have been pushing on my work through difficulties of which it is useless to complain and have brought it at last to the v of publication without one act of assistance one word of encouragement or one smile of favor the shepherd in grew at last acquainted with love and found him a native of the rocks is not a patron my lord one who looks with on a man struggling for life in the water and when he has reached ground him with help the notice which you have been pleased to take of my labors had it been early had been the english dictionary t were time and s space of no value it were easy to wash away certain foolish dropped here as notes especially two the one on this word and on s note to it the other on the paragraph which follows let ed look a second time he will find that johnson s sacred regard for truth is the only thing to be noted in the former case also in the latter that this of love s being a native of the rocks actually has a meaning b ll life of johnson kind but it has been delayed till i am indifferent and cannot enjoy it	37
till i am solitary and cannot impart it till i am known and do not want it i hope it is no very cynical not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received or to be unwilling that the public should consider me as owing that to a patron which providence has enabled me to do for myself carried on my work thus far with so little obligation to any of learning i all not be disappointed though i should conclude it if less be possible with less for i have long been awakened from that dream of hope in which i once boasted myself with so much exultation my lord your s most humble most obedient servant sam johnson and thus must the rebellious sam johnson turn him to the and the wondrous chaos of author by trade and though ushered into it only by that dull with loose s coat and such a great wig as he constantly wore and only as to some commanding officer sitting amid tobacco smoke at the head of a long table in the at himself together for the warfare having no alter native little less contradictory was that other branch of the problem now set before johnson the speaking forth of truth nay taken by itself it had in those days become so complex as to puzzle strongest heads with nothing else imposed on them for solution and even to turn high heads of that sort into mere hollow speaking neither truth nor falsehood nor anything but what the and player put into them alas for poor johnson contradiction in and in within and without born with the strongest love of just insight he must begin to live and learn in a scene where prejudice with rank england was all confused enough and yet restless s miscellaneous writings take it where you would but figure the best intellect in england nursed up to manhood in the idol of a poor s house in the cathedral city of what is truth said what is truth might earnest johnson much more emphatically say truth no longer like the in rainbow poured from her glittering such tones of sweetest melody as took captive every ear the old had ceased her singing arid empty wearisome and monotonous innumerable also and on the pretended they were repeating her it was wholly a divided age that of johnson unity existed nowhere in its heaven or in its earth society through every fibre was rent asunder all things it was then becoming visible but could not then be understood were moving with an impulse received ages before yet now first with a decisive rapidity towards that great gulf where whether in the shape of french reform bills or what shape bloody or the descent and assume we now see them and boiling already cant as once before hinted had begun to play its wonderful part for the hour was come two ghastly unreal both and are already in silence parting the world opinion and action which should live together as wedded pair one flesh more properly as soul and body have commenced their open quarrel and are for a separate maintenance as if they could exist separately to the earnest mind in any position firm footing and a life of truth was becoming daily more difficult in johnson s position it was more difficult than in almost any other if as for a devout nature was inevitable and indispensable ll s life of he looked up to religion as to the pole star of his voyage already there was no fixed pole star any longer visible but two stars a whole of stars each itself as the true there was the red of the and burning uncertain now whether not an of which of these to choose the of europe had almost without exception ranged themselves the former for some half century it had been the general effort of european speculation to proclaim that destruction of falsehood was the only truth daily had denial stronger and stronger belief sunk more and more into decay from our and the fever had passed into france into scotland and already it far and wide secretly eating out the heart of england had played his part on a wider theatre was playing his johnson s senior by some fifteen years and johnson were children of the same year to this order of did johnson s belong was he to join them was he to oppose them a complicated question for alas the church itself is no longer even to him wholly of true but of and baked mud the devout must find his church tottering and pause amazed to see instead of inspired priest many a swine feeding at her altar it is not the least curious of the which johnson had to reconcile that though by nature contemptuous and he war at that time of day to find his safety and glory in defending with his whole might the traditions of the elders not less intricate and on both sides hollow or questionable was the aspect of politics struggling blindly forward holding blindly back s miscellaneous writings each with some of a half truth neither with any of the whole admire here this other contradiction in the life of johnson that though the most and in practice the most independent of men he must be a and of the divine eight in politics also there are enough for him as indeed how could it be otherwise for when ion is torn asunder and the very heart of man s existence set against itself then in all subordinate there must needs be the english nation had against a tyrant and by the hands of religious stern vengeance of him had risen iron and like an infant in its cradle but as yet none knew the meaning or extent of the phenomenon europe was not ripe for it	37
not to be for it but by the culture and various experience of another century and half and now when the king were all swept away and a second picture was painted over the of the first and glorious revolution who doubted but the catastrophe was over the whole business finished and gone to its long sleep yet was it like a business finished and not finished a lingering uneasiness dwelt in all minds the deep lying tendency which had still to be no longer be recognised thus was there half ness uncertainty in men s ways instead of heroic and heroic came now a set of and a set of deaf each half foolish each half false the were false and without basis inasmuch as their whole object was resistance criticism they knew not why or towards what issue in ever since a charles and his had ceased to with it and to have any or to with there s life of johnson could be no of character not till in these latter days it took the figure of a thorough going all was there any solid footing for it to stand on of the like uncertain half hollow nature had become in johnson s time preaching forth indeed an everlasting truth the duty of loyalty yet now ever since the final of the having no person but only an office to be loyal to no living soul to worship but only a dead velvet chair its attitude therefore waa stiff refusal to move as that of was command to move let rhyme and on both say to it what they might the consequence was floods of tending false conviction false resistance to conviction decay ultimately to become of whatsoever was once understood by the words principle or honesty of heart the louder and louder triumph of half and over ness and truth at last this of which we now see with all its and killing fruits in all its branches down to the lowest how between these extremes wherein the rotten lay so with the sound and as yet no eye could see through the meaning of the matter was a faithful and true man to himself that johnson in spite of all adopted the side stationed himself as the opponent of resolute to hold fast the form of sound words could not but in no small measure the he had to strive with we mean the for in economical respects it might be pretty equally balanced the tory servant of the public had perhaps about the same chance of promotion as the and all the promotion aimed at was the privilege s miscellaneous writings to live but for what though was no less in for his peace of conscience and the clear and feeling of his duty as an of god s world the case was rendered much more complex to resist is easy enough on one condition that you resist inquiry this is and was the common expedient of your common but it would not do for johnson he was a zealous and of inquiry once for all could not and would not believe much less speak and act a falsehood the form of sound words which he held fast must have a meaning in it here lay the difficulty to behold a mixture of true and false and feel that he must dwell and fight there yet to love and defend only the true how worship when you cannot and will not be an yet cannot help that the symbol of your divinity has half become this was the question which johnson the man both of clear eye and devout believing heart must answer at peril of his life the or on the other hand had a much part to play to him only the side of things the divine one lay visible not therefore nay in the strict sense not heart honesty only at most lip and hand honesty is required of him what spiritual force is his he can employ in the work of of pulling down what is false for the rest that there is or can be any truth of a higher than nature has not occurred to him the utmost therefore that he as man has to aim at is respectability the of his fellow men such he may weigh as well as count or count only according as he is a or a but beyond these there lies nothing divine for him these attained all is attained thus is his ht e world distinct and rounded s life of johnson in a clear goal is set before him a firm path or at worst a firm region wherein to seek a path let him up his and travel on without for the honest again nothing is distinct nothing rounded in respectability can be his highest not one aim but two conflicting aims to be continually reconciled by him has he to strive after a difficult position as we said which accordingly the most did even in those days but half defend by the surrender namely of their own too honesty or even understanding after which the com pie test defence was worth little into this difficult position johnson nevertheless threw himself found it indeed full of difficulties yet held it out as an honest hearted open sighted man while the life was in him such that same problem set before samuel johnson consider all these moral difficulties and add to them the fearful which lay in that other circumstance that he needed a continual appeal to the public must continually produce a certain impression and on the public that if he did not he ceased to have provision for the day that was passing over him he could not any longer live how a vulgar character once launched into this wild element driven by fear and famine without other aim than to clutch what	37
of enjoyment in any kind he could get always if possible keeping quite clear of the gallows and that is to say both person and character would have floated hither and thither in it and contrived to eat some three daily and wear some three suits yearly and then to depart and disappear having consumed his last all this might be worth knowing but were in itself a trivial knowledge how a noble man resolute for the truth to whom and lies were once for all s miscellaneous writings an was to act in it here lay the mystery by what methods by what gifts of eye and hand does a heroic samuel johnson now when cast forth into that waste chaos of of things a mingled and fleet ditch with its floating lumber and sea and mud shape himself a voyage of the transient and the enduring iron build him a sea worthy life boat and sail therein through the roaring mother of dead dogs to an eternal and city that hath foundations this high question is even the one answered in s book which book we therefore not so have named a heroic poem for in it there lies the whole argument of such glory to our brave samuel he this wonderful problem and now through long generations we point to him and say here also was a man let the world once more have assurance of a man had there been in johnson now when afloat on that confusion worse confounded of grandeur and no light but an earthly outward one he too must have made with his body and vehement heart how easy for him to become a philosopher like the rest and live and die as miserably as any of that brotherhood but happily there was a higher light for him shining as a lamp to his path which in all paths would teach him to act and walk not as a fool but as wise in those evil days also the time under or clearer a truth had been revealed to him i also am a man even in unutterable element of i may live as a man that wrong is not only different from right but that it is in strict scientific terms infinitely different even as the gaining of the whole world set against the losing of one s own soul or as johnson had it a heaven set against a s life of johnson hell that in all situations out of the pit of wherein a living man has stood or can stand there is actually a prize of quite infinite value placed within his reach namely a duty for him to do this highest gospel which forms the basis and worth of all other whatsoever had been revealed to samuel johnson and the man had believed it and laid it faithfully to heart such knowledge of the character of duty we call the basis of all the essence of all religion he who with his whole soul knows not this as yet knows nothing as yet is properly nothing this happily for him johnson was one of those that knew under a certain symbol it stood for ever present to his eyes a symbol indeed old as doth a garment yet which had guided forward as their banner and celestial pillar of fire innumerable saints and witnesses the fathers of our modem world and for him also had still a sacred significance it does not appear that at any time johnson was what we call but in his sorrows and when hope died away and only a long vista of suffering and toil lay before him to the end then first did religion forth in its meek everlasting clearness even as the stars do in black night which in the and dusk were hidden by inferior lights how a true man in the midst of errors and shall work out for himself a sure life truth and the transient to the eternal amid the fragments of ruined build up with toil and pain a little altar for himself and worship there how samuel johnson in the era of can and his soul and hold real communion with the highest in the church of st this too stands all unfolded in his biography and is among the most touching and memorable things there a thing to be looked at with pity admiration awe johnson s s miscellaneous writings ion was as the light of life to him without it his heart was all sick dark and had no guidance left he is now or impressed into that unspeakable shoe black army of authors but can feel that he fights under a celestial flag and will quit him like a man the first grand requisite an assured heart he therefore has what his outward and are is the next question an important though inferior one his intellectual stock viewed is perhaps the of an english school and english university good knowledge of the latin tongue a more uncertain one of greek this is a rather slender stock of education wherewith to front the world but then it is to be remembered that his world was england that such was the culture england commonly supplied and expected besides johnson has been a reader though a one and in strange too he has also rubbed shoulders with the press of actual life for some thirty years now views or of innumerable to and fro in him above all be his weapons what they may he has an arm that can them nature has given him her an open eye and heart he will look on the world he can catch a glimpse of it with eager curiosity to the last we find this a striking characteristic of him for all human interests he has a sense the meanest could interest him even in extreme age by speaking of his craft	37
the ways of men are all interesting to him any human thing that he did not know he wished to know reflection moreover meditation was what he practised incessantly with or without his will for the mind of the man was earnest deep as well as humane thus would the world such fragments of it as he could survey form itself s life of d or continually tend to form itself into a whole on any and on all phases of which his vote and voice must be well listening to as a speaker of the word he will speak real words no idle or hollow will issue from him his aim too is clear ble that of working for his wages let him do this honestly and all else will follow of its own accord with such into such a warfare did johnson go forth a rugged hungry or as we called him yet in whom lay the true spirit of a soldier with giant s force he toils since such is his appointment were it but at of wood and drawing of water for old cave himself by mere quantity if there is to be no other distinction he can write all things frosty latin verses if these are the book political review articles all things he does rapidly still more sur all things he does thoroughly and well how he sits there in his rough bulk in that upper room at st john s gate and off sheet after sheet of those of to the ter s devils waiting for them with down stairs himself perhaps all the while admire also the greatness of literature how a grain of seed cast into its waters shall settle in the mould and be found one day as a tree in whose branches all the fowls of heaven may lodge was it not so with these in that project and act be the fourth estate whose wide embracing influences what eye can take in in whose boughs are there not already fowls of strange feather d such things and far stranger were done in that wondrous old even in latter tunes and then figure iii s miscellaneous samuel dining behind the screen from a handed in to him at a nod from the great wig samuel too ragged to i ow face yet a happy man of by hearing his praise spoken if to johnson himself then much more to us may that st john s grate be a place we can never pass without veneration all johnson s places of resort and abode are and now indeed to the many as well as to the few for his name has become great and as we must often with a kind of sad admiration recognise there is even to the man no greatness so venerable as intellectual as spiritual greatness nay properly there is no other venerable at all for example what soul magic for the very or of our england lies in the word scholar he is a scholar he is a man wiser than we of a wisdom to us boundless infinite who shall speak his worth such things we say fill us with a certain pathetic admiration of and yet glorious man though in ruins or rather though in of and mud which also are not to be perpetual nevertheless in this mad whirling all forgetting london the haunts of the mighty that were can seldom without a strange difficulty be discovered will any man for instance tell us which it was in s inn buildings that ben s hand and laid no man it is to b feared and also grumbled at with samuel johnson may it prove otherwise a gentleman of the british museum is said to have made drawings of all his the blessing of old be upon him we ourselves not without labor and risk lately discovered square between fleet street and adjoining both to bolt court and johnson s court and on the second day of search the very house there wherein the english composed it is the first or comer house on the right hand as you enter through the arched way from the north west the actual an elderly well washed decent looking man invited us to enter and courteously undertook to be though in his memory lay nothing but the and it is a stout old f oak house i have spent many a pound and penny on it since then said the worthy landlord here you well s life of johnson poverty distress and as yet obscurity are his so poor is he that his wife must leave him and seek shelter among other relations johnson s household has accommodation for one only to all his ever varying ever troubles moreover must be added this continual one of ill health and its a load which would have crushed most common mortals into desperation is his appointed and he could not remember the day he had passed free from pain nevertheless life as we said before is always life a healthy soul it as you will in shabby coat bodily sickness or whatever else will assert its heaven granted freedom its right to conquer difficulties to do work even to feel gladness johnson does not over his but makes the most and best of it he said a man might live in a garret at eighteen pence a week few people would inquire where he lodged and if they did it was easy to say sir i am to be found at such a place by spending in a coffee house he might be for some hours every day in very good company he might dine for sixpence breakfast on bread and milk for a penny and do without supper on clean shirt day he went abroad and paid visits think by whom and of whom this was uttered and ask then whether there is more	37
pathos in it than in see this bedroom was the doctor s study that was the garden a plot of ground somewhat larger than a bed where he walked for exercise these three garret where his three sat and wrote were the place he kept his pupils in also for our friend now added with a wistful look which strove to s em merely historical i let it all in lodgings to respectable gentlemen by the quarter or the month it s all one to me to me also whispered the ghost of as we went our ways s miscellaneous writings a whole library of and or less pathos on another occasion when dr johnson one day read his own satire in which the life of a scholar is painted with the various thrown in his way to fortune and to fame he burst into a passion of tears mr s family and mr scott only were present who in a way clapped him on the back and said what s all this my dear sir why you and i and you were all troubled with melancholy he was a very large man and made out the with johnson and her enough these were sweet tears the sweet victorious remembrance lay in them of toils indeed frightful yet never from and now over one day it shall delight you to remember labor done ther though johnson is obscure and need the highest enjoyment of existence that of heart freely with heart be denied him savage and he wander less through the streets without bed yet not without friendly converse such another not it is like in the drawing room of london nor under the void night upon the hard pavement are their own woes the only topic they will stand by their country the two back woods men of the brick of all outward evils obscurity is perhaps in itself the least to johnson as to a healthy minded man the article sold or given under the title of fame had little or no value but its one he it as the means of getting him employment and good wages scarcely as anything more his light and guidance came from a source of which in honest aversion to all or talk he spoke not to men nay perhaps being of a healthy mind had never spoken to himself we reckon it a striking fact in johnson s history this carelessness of his to fame most authors speak of their fame as if it s life of johnson were a quite matter the grand and heavenly s banner they had to follow and conquer under thy fame unhappy mortal where will it and thou both be in some fifty years himself has lasted but two hundred partly by accident three thousand and does not already an eternity every me and every thee cease then to sit on that fame of thine and flapping and shrieking with fierce like brood goose on her last egg if man shall or dare approach it quarrel not with me hate me not my brother make what thou of thy egg welcome god knows i will not steal it i believe it to be johnson for his part was no man to be killed by a review concerning which matter it was said by a benevolent person if any author can be to death let it be with all convenient despatch done johnson receives any word spoken in his favor is by a but will lock at it if point ed out to him and show how it might have been done bet ter the itself is indeed a soap that next moment will become a drop of sour but in the meanwhile if it do anything it keeps him more in the s eye and the next bargain will be all the richer sir if they should cease to talk of me i must starve sound heart and understanding head i these fail no man not even a man of letters obscurity however was in johnson s case whether a light or heavy evil likely to be no lasting one he is animated by the spirit of a true workman resolute to do his work well and he does his work well all his work that of writing that of living a man of this stamp is unhappily not so common in the literary or in any other department of the world that he can continue always unnoticed by slow degrees johnson at first huge and dim s s in the eye of an observant few at last disclosed in his real proportions to the eye of the whole world and with a light of glory so that is not blind must and shall behold him by slow degrees we said for this also is notable slow but sure as his fame not by exaggerated of what he s em to be but by better and better ii of what he so it will last and stand wearing being genuine thus indeed is it always or nearly always with true fame the heavenly rises amid star enough must it with critical it makes no blazing the world can either look at it or forbear looking at it not till alter a time and times does its celestial eternal nature become pleasant on the other band is the of a the crowd dance merrily round it with loud universal three times three and like s bless the useful light but unhappily it so soon ends in darkness foul choking smoke and is kicked into the a nameless of and du but indeed from of old johnson has enjoyed all or nearly all that fame can yield any man the respect the obedience of those that are about him and inferior to him of those whose opinion alone can have any forcible impression on him a little circle round the	37
wise man which gradually as the report thereof and more can come to see and to believe for wisdom is precious and of irresistible attraction to all an inspired idiot gk hangs strangely about him though as says he loved not johnson but rather envied him for his parts and once entreated a friend to from him for in doing so said he yon up my very soul yet on the whole there is no evil in the fool but rather much good of a fin life of johnson if of a weaker sort than johnson s and all the more that he himself could never become conscious of it though unhappily never cease attempting to become so uie author of the genuine of he will he must needs fly towards such a mass of genuine manhood and dr minor keep round dr major alternately attracted and then there is the top with his sharp wit and gallant ways there is an gentleman and worthy though once laughed louder almost than mortal at his last will and testament and could not stop his merriment but continued it all the way till he got without the temple gate then burst into such a fit of laughter that he appeared to be almost in a and in order to support laid hold of one of the posts at the side the and sent forth so loud that in the silence of the night his voice seemed to from temple bar to i lastly comes his solid thinking solid feeding the well beloved man with a bright creature whom the elephant loved to play with and wave to and fro upon hb trunk not to speak of a for what need is there farther or of the spiritual with tongue or pen who made that age remarkable or of drinking in fierce your health still less of many such as that poor mr f older in date of whose birth death and whole this only and strange enough this actually sir he lived in london and hung loose upon society a in his fifty third year he is by the royal with a of three hundred pounds loud is always more or less insane but probably the of m the century was this that s miscellaneous was raised about johnson s men seem to be led by the noses but in reality it is by the ears as some ancient slaves were who had their ears bored or as some modem may be whose ears are long very was it said do not change things names do change things nay for most part they are the only sub which mankind can discern in things the whole sum that johnson during the remaining twenty two years of his life drew om the public funds of england would have supported some supreme priest for about half as many weeks it very nearly to the of our poor est church for one of of provinces and horse and we shall not so much as speak but who were the of england and the of all england during johnson i days no man has remembered again is the of all england something or is he nothing if something then what but the man who in the supreme degree teaches and and leads towards heaven by guiding wisely through the earth the living souls that england we touch here upon deep matters which but concern us and might lead us into still deeper clear in the meanwhile it is that the true spiritual and soul s father of all england was and till very lately continued to be the man named samuel johnson whom this and lot paying world reproachfully to see like a of if destiny had beaten hard on poor samuel and did never cease to visit him too roughly yet the last section of his life might be victorious and on the whole happy he was not idle but now no longer on by want the light which bad shone the dark haunts of poverty now the circles of wealth s life of johnson oi a certain culture and elegant intelligence he who had been admitted to speak with cave and to now admits a and a to speak with him loving friends are there listeners even the fruit c his long labors lies round him in fair writings of philosophy eloquence morality some excellent all worthy and genuine works for which too a deep earnest murmur of thanks reaches him from all ends of his nay there are works of goodness of mercy which even he has possessed the power to do what i gave i have what i spent i had early friends had long sunk into the grave yet in his soul they ever lived fresh and clear with soil pious towards them not without a still h of one day meeting them again in purer union such was johnson s life the victorious battle of a free true man finally he died the death of the free and true a dark cloud of death solemn and not with of immortal hope took him away and our eyes could no longer behold him but can still behold the trace and impress of bis courageous honest spirit deep in the world s business he walked and was to estimate the quantity of work that johnson performed how much poorer the world were had it wanted him can as in all such cases never be accurately done cannot till some longer space be done all work is as seed sown it grows and and itself anew and so in endless lives and works to johnson s writings good and solid and still profitable as they are we have already his life and conversation as superior by the one and by the other who shall what effects have been produced and are still and into deep time producing	37
other virtues and without it could not live in spite of our innumerable and and such as there has been courage we allude to and call the only true one is in these last ages than it has been in any other since ihe saxon invasion under altogether extinct it never be among men otherwise the man wore no longer for this world here and there in all times under various men are hither not to but exhibit it and testify as from heart to heart that it i still possible still practicable johnson in the century and as man of letters was one of such and in good truth the of the brave what mortal could have more to y t as we saw he yielded not faltered not j he fought d even such was his prevailed will understand what it is to have a man s may find that since the time of john milton no heart had beat in any english bosom than samuel johnson now bore ob too that he never called himself brave never felt himself to be so the more completely so no giant despair no death dance or s sabbath of literary life ia london this pilgrim he works resolutely for in still steps stoutly vol iii s writings along the thing that is given him to do he can make himself do what is to he endured he can endure in silence how the great soul of old samuel daily his own of misery and toil shows beside the poor little soul of young one day in the ring of vanity by the and crying the wine is red the next day his night shaded quite poor estate and thinking it unkind that the whole movement of the universe should go on while his apparatus had stopped we reckon johnson s talent of silence to he among his great and too rare gifts where there is nothing farther to be done there shall nothing farther be said like his own poor blind he accomplished somewhat and also endured fi y years of wretchedness with fortitude how grim was life to him a sick prison house and doubting castle his great business he would profess was to escape from himself yet towards all this he has taken his position and resolution can dismiss it all with indifference having little to hope or to fear friends are stupid and and wearied of his stay yet offended at his departure it is the manner of the world by popular delusion remarks he with a gigantic calmness writers will rise into renown it is portion of the history of english literature a thing this same popular delusion and will alter the character of the language closely connected with this quality of partly as springing from it partly as protected by it are the more qualities of in word and thought and honesty in action there is a of influence here for as the of and honesty is the life light and great aim of so without they cannot in be realized now in spite of all s life of johnson practical no one that sees into the significance of johnson will say that his prime object was not truth in conversation doubtless you may observe him on occasion fighting as if for victory and pardon these of a careless hour which were not without and provocation remark likewise two things that such prize were ever on merely superficial questions and then that they were argued generally by the fair laws of battle and logic fence by one cunning in that same if their purpose was their was harmless perhaps that of noisy and showing it another side of a matter to see both sides of which was for the first time to see the of it in his writings themselves are errors enough enough yet these also of a quite and accidental nature nowhere a wilful shutting of the eyes to the truth nay is there not everywhere a singular almost admirable if we consider through what confused conflicting lights and it had to be attained of the highest everlasting truth and beginning of all truths this namely that man is ever and even in the age of and a revelation of god to man and lives moves and has his being in truth only is either true or in strict speech is not at all quite on the other hand is s love of truth if we look at it as expressed in practice as what we have named honesty of action clear your mind of cant clear it throw cant utterly away such was his emphatic repeated and did not he himself faithfully to it the life of this man has been as it were turned inside out and examined with by friend and foe yet was there no lie found in him his doings and writings are not shows but performances you s miscellaneous writings may weigh them in the balance and they will stand weight not a line not a sentence is done is other than it to be alas and he wrote not oat of inward inspiration but to earn his wages and with that grand tide of popular delusion flowing by in whose waters he nevertheless refused to fish to whose rich the was too muddy for observe again with what innate hatred of cant he takes for himself and to others the lowest possible view of his business which he followed with such motive for writing he had none as he often said but money and yet he wrote into the region of poetic art he indeed never rose there was no ideal without him itself in his work the nobler was that ideal which lay within him and commanded saying work out thy in the spirit of an artist they who talk about the of art and fancy that they too are artistic brethren	37
and of the let them consider well what of man this was who felt himself to be only a hired day a that was worthy of his hire that has labored not as an eye but as one faithful neither was johnson in those days perhaps wholly a unique time was when for money you might have ware and needed not in all in that of the poem in that of the bottle to rest con tent with the persuasion that you had ware it was a happier time but as yet the seventh of had not been rent open to whirl and grind as in a west indian all earthly trades and things into wreck and dust and and tion be it quickly since it must be that mercy can dwell only with is old sentiment or proposition which in johnson again receives few men on record have had a more s life of johnson tenderly affectionate nature old samuel he was called the bear and did indeed too often look and roar like one being forced to it in his own defence yet within that shaggy exterior of his there beat a heart warm as a mother s soft as a little child s nay generally his very roaring was but the anger of affection the rage of a bear if you will but of a bear of her touch his religion glance at the church of england or the divine right and he was upon you these things were his of all that was good and precious for men his very ark of the laid hand on tore asunder his heart of hearts not out of hatred to the opponent but of love to the thing opposed did johnson grow cruel fiercely contradictory this is an important tion never to be forgotten in our censure of his but observe also with what humanity what of love he can attach himself to all things to a blind old woman to a doctor to a cat his thoughts in the latter part of his life were frequently employed on his deceased friends he often muttered these or such like sentences poor man and then he died how he patiently his poor home into a for long years the contradiction of the miserable and unreasonable with him save that they had no other to yield them refuge old man worldly possession he has little yet of this he gives freely from his own hard earned shilling the half pence for the poor that waited his coming out are not withheld the poor waited the coming out of one not quite so poor i a can write on dead johnson has a rough voice but he finds the wretched daughter of vice fallen down in the streets carries her home on his own shoulders and like a good gives help to the help worthy or unworthy ought not charity s miscellaneous writings even in that sense to cover a of sins na penny a week committee lady no manager of soup at charity balls was this rugged stern man but where in all england could there have been found another soul so full of pity a hand so as his the widow s we know was greater than all the other s perhaps it is this divine feeling of affection throughout manifested that principally us towards johnson a true brother of men is he and filial lover of the earth who with little bright spots of attachment where lives and works some loved one has rough earth into a peopled garden with its mostly dull and limited inhabitants is to the last one of the sunny for him or read those letters on his mother s death what a genuine solemn grief and pity lies recorded there a looking back into the past mournful tender and yet calm sublime for be must now act not look his mother has been taken from him but he must now write a to her again in this little incident recorded in his book of devotion are not the tones of sacred sorrow and greatness deeper than in many a blank verse tragedy as indeed the fifth act of a tragedy though does lie in every death bed were it a peasant s and of straw sunday october yesterday at about ten in the morning i took my leave for ever of my dear old friend chambers who came to live with my mother about and been but little parted from us since she buried my my brother and my mother she is now fifty eight years i desired all to withdraw then told her that we were to past for ever that as christians we should part with prayer and that i would if she was willing say a short prayer beside her she s life of johnson expressed great desire to hear me and held up her poor hands she lay in with great while i prayed kneeling by her i then kissed her she told me that to part was the greatest pain she had ever felt and that she hoped we should meet again in a better place expressed witli swelled eyes and great emotion of tenderness the same hopes we kissed and parted i humbly hope to meet again and to part no more tears down the granite rock a soft well of pity springs within still more is this other scene johnson mentioned that he could not in general accuse himself of having been an son once indeed said he i was i refused to attend my father to market pride was the source of that l and the remembrance of it was painful a few years ago i desired to for this fault but by what method what method was now possible hear it the words are again given as his own though here evidently by a less capable	37
it but to himself take small thanks melancholy it was indeed that the noble johnson could not work himself loose from these that he could only them and wear them with some yet let us understand how they grew out from the very centre of his being nay moreover how they came to in him with what formed the business and worth of s life of johnson his life the sum of hi whole spiritual endeavor for it is on the same ground that he became throughout an and not as the others of his make were a that in an age of universal england was still to produce its mark too his even here while a dr with placid surprise asks have we not evidence enough of the soul s immortality johnson answers i wish for more but the truth is in prejudice as in all things johnson was the product of england one of those good whose limbs were made in england alas the last of such their day being now done his culture is wholly english that not of a but of a scholar his interests are wholly english he sees and nothing but england he is the john bull of spiritual europe let him live love him as he was and could not but be pitiable it is no doubt that a samuel johnson must s philosophy by some story from a clergyman of the of should see nothing in the great but s in himself but a man literal rum in but one worthy to be hanged and in the universal long prepared inevitable tendency of european thought but a s of for variety s sake the bull our good dear john observe too what it is that he sees in the city of paris r no glimpse of those d and or of the strange questionable work they did solely some priests to talk kitchen latin with them about ones our dear foolish john yet is there a lion s heart within him pitiable all these things were we say yet nay as basis or as foil to much else that was in johnson almost venerable ought we not indeed to honor england and english institutions and way of life that s miscellaneous they could still such a man could furnish in heart and head to he a samuel johnson and yet to love them and fight for them what truth living vigor must such once have had when in the middle of the century there was still led in them for this it is worthy of note that in our little british isle the two grand of europe should have stood embodied under their very highest in two men produced simultaneously among ourselves samuel johnson and david as was observed were children of the same year through life they were spectators of the same of en inhabitants of the same city greater contrast in all things between two great men could not be well bom provided for whole in body and mind of his own determination forces a way into literature johnson poor for is forced into it with the of necessity at his back and what a part did they play there as johnson became the father of all succeeding so was the father of all succeeding his own was but an accident as worthy to be named prejudice as any of johnson s again if johnson s culture was exclusively english s in scotland became european for which reason too we find his influence spread deeply over all quarters of europe deeply in all speculation french german as well as domestic while johnson s name out of england is hardly any to be met with in spiritual stature they are almost equal both great among the greatest yet how unlike in likeness has the comprehensive eye johnson the keenest for and minute detail so had perhaps chiefly their education ordered it neither of the two rose into poetry yet both to some s life of johnson t to something of aa clearness and method as in his of the wars johnson to many a deep tone of and impetuous graceful power scattered over his fugitive both rather to the general surprise had a certain rugged humor shining through their earnestness the indication indeed that they were earnest men and had subdued their wild world into a kind of temporary home and safe dwelling both were by principle and habit yet johnson with the greater merit for he alone had very much to triumph over farther he alone his into devotion to johnson life was as a prison to be endured with heroic faith to it was little more than a foolish fair show with the foolish and wings of which it was not worth while to quarrel the whole would break up and be at liberty so soon both realized the highest task of manhood that of living like men each died not in his way as one with half false gaiety taking leave of what was itself wholly but a lie johnson as one with awe struck yet resolute and expectant heart taking leave of a reality to enter a reality still higher johnson had the harder problem of it from first to last whether with some hesitation we can admit that he was the better gifted may remain these two men now rest the one in westminster abbey here the other in the hill churchyard of through life they did not meet as like in unlike love each other so might they two have loved and kindly had not the and darkness that was in them one day their spirits what truth was in each will be found working living in harmony and free union even here below they were the two half men of their time should com iii s the and decisive scientific clearness of with the reverence the love and devout	37
humility of johnson were the whole man of a new time till such whole man arrive for us and the distracted time admit of such might the heavens but bless poor england with worthy to tie the shoe of these resembling these even from afar be both attentively regarded let the true effort of both prosper and for the present both lake our affectionate farewell death of death of new monthly magazine in the of these days stands one article of quite peculiar import the time the place and particulars of which will have to be often repeated and re written and continue in remembrance many centuries this namely that von died at on the d march it was about eleven in the morning he expired says the record without any apparent suffering having a few minutes previously called for paper for the purpose of writing and expressed his delight at the arrival of a beautiful death like that of a soldier found faithful at his post and in the cold hand his arms still grasped the poet s last words are a greeting of uie earth his last movement is to work at his appointed task beautiful what we might call a classic sacred death if it were not rather an translation in a chariot not of fire and terror but of hope and soft it was at on the on the th of august that this man entered the world and now gently the birth day of his eighty second spring he his eyes and takes farewell so then our greatest has departed that melody of life with its cunning tones which took captive ear and heart has gone silent the heavenly force that dwelt here victorious over so much is here no longer thus far not farther by speech and by act shall the wise man utter himself forth the end what solemn meaning lies in that sound as it mournfully through the soul when a living friend has s miscellaneous writings passed away all now is closed the life picture growing daily into new under new touches and hues has suddenly become completed and there as it lay it is dipped from this moment in the of the heavens and shines to endure even so for ever time and time s empire stern wide devouring yet not without their grandeur the week day man who was one of us has put on the garment of eternity and become radiant and triumphant the present is all at once the past hope is suddenly cut away and only the backward of memory remain shone on by a light that proceeds not from this earthly sun the death of even for the many hearts that personally loved him is not a thing to be lamented over is to be viewed in his own spirit as a thing full of greatness and for all men it is appointed once to die to this man the full measure of a man s life had been granted and a course and task such as to only a few in the whole generations of the world what else could we hope or require but that now he should be called hence and have leave to depart having finished the work that was given him to do if his course as we may say of him more justly than of any other was like the sun s so also was his going down for indeed as the material sun is the eye and of all things so is poetry so is the world poet in a spiritual sense s life too if we examine it is well represented in that emblem of a day beautifully rose our summer sun gorgeous in the red east scattering the and sickly of both of which there were enough to scatter strong in his noon day clearness walking triumphant through the upper and now mark also how he sets so held an j so dies a hero sight to be worshipped and yet when the material sun has sunk and death of disappeared it will happen that we stand to gaze the still glowing west and here rise great pale motionless clouds like or curtains to close the flame theatre within and then in that death pause of the day an unspeakable feeling will come over us it is as if the poor sounds of time those of tired labor on his those voices of simple men had become awful and supernatural a if in listening we could hear them mingle with the ever p tone of old eternity in such mo ments the secrets of life he to us mysterious things over the soul life itself seems wonderful and fearful how much more when our sunset was of a living sun and its bright countenance and shining return to us not on tiie morrow but no more again at all for ever i in such a scene silence as over the mysterious great is for him that has some feeling thereof the mood never by silence the distant is not brought into communion the feeling of each is without response from the bosom of his brother there are now what some years ago ther were not english hearts that know something of what those three words death of mean to such men among their many thoughts on the event which are not to be translated into speech may these few through that imperfect medium prove acceptable death says the philosopher is a of with time in the death of a good man eternity is seen looking through time with such a here to eye and heart it is not unnatural to look with new earnestness before and behind and ask what space ia those years and of time this man with may influence what relation to the world of change and l r which the earthly name life he who ia	37
even now called to the has borne and may bear it is commonly said made a era in s s writ n is ture a poetic era began with him the end or tendencies of which are yet generally this common saying is a true one and true with a far deeper meaning than to the most it were the poet but a sweet sound and singer the ear of the idle with pleasant songs and the new poet one who could sing his idle pleasant song to a new air we should account him a small matter and his performance small but this man it is not unknown to many was a poet in such a sense as the late generations have witnessed no other as it is in this generation a kind of distinction to believe in the existence of in the possibility of the true poet is ever as of old the whose eye has been gifted to discern the mystery of god s universe and some new lines of its celestial writing we can still call him a and for he sees into this greatest of secrets the open secret hidden things become clear how the future both resting on eternity is but another of the pr ent thereby are hie words in very truth prophetic j what he has spoken shall be done it begins now to be everywhere that the real force which in this world all things must obey is insight spiritual vision and determination the thought is parent of the deed nay is living soul of it and last and continual as well ai first of it is the foundation and beginning and therefore of man s whole existence here below in this sense it has been said the word of man the uttered thoughts of man is still a magic whereby he rules the world do not the winds and waters and all tumultuous powers and obey him a poor quite mechanical speaks and fire winged ships cross the ocean at his bidding or mark above all that raging of the nations wholly in desperation and dark fury how the meek of a hebrew martyr and death of l it into order and a savage earth becomes kind and beautiful and the habitation of horrid cruelty a temple of peace the true sovereign of the world who the world like soft wax according to his pleasure is he who lovingly sees into the world the inspired whom in these days we name poet the true sovereign is the wise man however as the moon which can heave up the atlantic sends not in her obedient at once but gradually and for example the tide which to day on our shores and every creek rose in the bosom of the great ocean assure us eight and forty hours ago and indeed all world movements by nature deep are by nature calm and flow and swell with a certain majestic so too with the impulse of a great man and the effect he has to manifest on other men to such an one we may grant some generation or two before the celestial impulse he impressed on the world will universally proclaim itself and become like the working of the moon if still not intelligible yet palpable to all men some generation or two more wherein it has to grow and and all things before it can reach its and thereafter mingling with other movements and new impulses at length cease to require a specific observation or longer or shorter such period may be according to the nature of the impulse itself and of the elements it works in according above all as the impulse was great and deep reaching or only wide spread superficial and transient thus if david is at this hour of the world and rules most hearts and guides most tongues tlie hearts and in those that in vain against him there are nevertheless symptoms that hie task draws towards completion and now id the distance his successor visible on the other h nd we have seen a s writings napoleon like some force with which sort he indeed was appointed chiefly to work bis whole virtue suddenly and thunder himself out and silent io a space of five and twenty years while again for a man c true greatness working with spiritual implements two is no uncommon period hay on this earth of ours there have been men whose impulse had not completed its development till een hundred years and might perhaps be seen still two thousand but as was once written though our clock strikes when there is a change m hour to no hammer in the of time through the universe to proclaim that there is a change from era to era the true beginning is unnoticed and thus do men go wrong in their reckoning and hither and thither not knowing where they are in what coarse their history runs within this last century for instance with its wild doings and destroy what hope in ending in disappointment how many world famous were gained and lost founded and accomplished sworn to and ever the new era was come was coming yet still it came not but the time continued sick alas all these were but of the death sick time the crisis of cure and to the time was not there indicated the real new era was when a wise man came into the world with clearness of vision and greatness of soul to accomplish this old high enterprise amid these new difficulties yet again a life of wisdom such a man became by heaven s in very deed the c the time did he not bear the curse of the time he was filled full with its bitterness and till his heart was like to break but he all this rose over this and by word of and act showed others	37
that come how to do the ike honor to him who through the a road such indeed is the task of every great man nay of every good man in one or the other sphere since goodness is greatness and the good man high or humble is ever a martyr and a spiritual hero that forward into the gulf for our the gulf into which this man ventured which he tamed and rendered was the greatest and most perilous of all wherein truly all others lie included the whole distracted existence of man is an age of lives with earnest mind studies to live wisely in that mad element may yet know perhaps too well what an enterprise was here and for the chosen of our time who could prevail in that same have the higher reverence and a gratitude such as belong to no other how far he prevailed in it and by what means with what and achievements will in due season be estimated those volumes called s works will receive no further addition or alteration and the record of his whole spiritual endeavor lies written there were the man or men but ready who could read it rightly a glorious record wherein he that would understand himself and his and struggles for escape out of darkness into light as for the one thing needful will long study for the whole time what it has attained and after stands there interpreted into poetic clearness from the passionate and of spoken as from the heart of all europe through the wild melody of like the spirit song of falling worlds to that serenely smiling wisdom of and the german what an interval and all in an ethereal music as from unknown s miscellaneous writings ting all a long interval and wide as well as long for this was a al man history science art human activity under every aspect the laws of light in his the laws of wild italian life in his nothing escaped him nothing that he did not look into that he did not see into consider too the of whatsoever he did his hearty way simplicity with and and grace pure works of art completed with an antique polish as as sayings which since the hebrew were closed we know not where to match in whose homely depths lie the materials for volumes to measure and estimate all this as we said the time is not come a century hence will be the time he who it best will find its meaning greatest and be the to acknowledge that it him let the reader have een before he attempts to a poor reader in the meanwhile were he who discerned not here the of that same new era whereof we have so often had false warning the and rubbish of ancient things institutions forgotten made alive again by the breath of genius lie here in new and union the spirit of art working through the mass that chaos into which the century with its wild war of and had reduced the past begins here to be once more a world this the highest that can be said of written books is to be said of these there is in them a new time the prophecy and beginning of a new time the corner stone of a new social edifice for mankind is laid there firmly as before on the natural rock far extending traces of a ground plan we can also see which future centuries may go on to and death of work into reality these sayings seem strange to some nevertheless they are not empty but expressions in their way of a belief which is not now of yesterday perhaps when has been read and meditated for another generation they will not seem so strange precious is the new light of knowledge which our teacher for us yet small to the new light of love which also we derive from him the most important element of any man s performance is the life he has accomplished under the intellectual union of man and man which works by lies a union of affection working by example the influences of which latter mystic all embracing can still less be for love is ever the beginning of knowledge as fire is of light works also more in the manner o that was a great teacher of men means already that he was a good man that he himself learned in the school of experience had and proved victorious to how many hearers nigh dead in the of a true and has the assurance that there was such a man that such a man was still possible come like tidings of great joy he who would learn to reconcile reverence with clearness to deny and defy what is false yet believe and worship what is true amid raging bent on what is either altogether empty or has substance in it only for a day which and tear hither and thither a distracted system of society to himself aright and working for the world and in the world keep himself from the world let him look here this man we may say became morally great by being in his own age what in some other ages many might have been a genuine man his grand was this that he was genuine as his faculty the foundation of all others was intellect depth and force of s miscellaneous writings vision so his vii was justice was the courage to he just a giant s strength we admired in him yet strength into even like that silent rock bound strength of a world on whose bosom that rests on the grow flowers the greatest of hearts was also the fearless p invincible a completed man the trembling sensibility the wild enthusiasm of a can with the scornful of a and each side	37
of many sided life receives its due from him reckoned happy that he died young in the full vigor of his days that he could figure him as a youth for ever to himself a different higher destiny was appointed through all the changes of s life to its extreme verge ho was to go and through them all nobly in youth of fortune outward prosperity cannot corrupt him a wise observer must remark only a at the sum of earthly happiness can keep his wings through manhood in the most complex relation as poet man of business man of speculation in the middle of and counter outward and spiritual with the world loudly for him with the world loudly or silently against him in all seasons and situations he holds equally on his way old itself which is called dark and feeble he was to render lovely who that looked upon him there venerable in and in the world s reverence ever the clearer the purer but could have prayed that he too were such an old man and did not the kind heavens continue kind and grant to a career so glorious the end such was s life such has his departure been he sleeps now beside his and his august so had the prince willed it that between these two should be his own final rest in life they were united in death they death of are not divided the workman now rests from his labors the fruit of these is left growing and to grow his earthly years have been numbered and ended but of his activity for it stood rooted in the eternal there is no end all that we mean by the higher literature of germany which is the higher literature of europe already round this man as its creator of which grand object dawning mysterious on a world that hoped not for it who is there that can assume the significance and far reaching influences the literature of europe will pass away europe itself the earth itself will pass away this little life boat of an earth with its noisy crew of mankind and all their troubled history will one day have vanished faded like a cloud speck from the of the all what then is man what then is man he but for an hour and is crushed before the yet in the being and in the working of a faithful man is there already as all faith from the beginning gives assurance a something that not to this wild death element of time that triumphs over time and is and will be when time shall be no more and now we turn back into the world withdrawing from this new made grave the man whom we love lies there but glorious worthy and his spirit yet lives in us with an life could each here vow to do his little task even as the departed did his great one in the manner of a true man not for a day but for eternity i to live as he and commanded not in the the plausible the half but resolutely in the whole the good the true im vol iii s miscellaneous s works foreign review it is now four years since we specially invited attention to this book first in an essay on the graceful little of then in a more general one on the merits and workings of himself since which time two important things have happened in reference to it for the publication advancing with successful regularity reached its and last volume in and now still more emphatically to conclude both this completed final edition and all other and of one in whose hands lay so much come tidings that the venerable man has been recalled from our earth and of his long labors and high faithful we have had what was appointed us the greatest epoch in a man s life is not always his death yet for such as it is always the most noticeable all other are from one visible condition to another visible the days of their occurrence are like any other days from which only the clearer sighted will distinguish them bridges they are over which the smooth highway runs continuous as if no were there but the day in a which is like no other is his death day here too is a transition what we may call a bridge as at other but now from the half the arch rests on this is a transition out of visible time into invisible eternity hand s works completed final edition and s works since death as the palpable revelation not to be overlooked by the of the mystery of wonder and depth and fear which everywhere from beginning to ending through its whole course and movement lies under life is in any case so great we find it not unnatural that a new look of greatness a new interest should be impressed on whatsoever has preceded it and led to it that even towards some man whose history did not then first become significant the world should turn at his departure wit a quite peculiar earnestness and now seriously ask itself a question perhaps never seriously asked before what the purport and of his presence here was now when he has gone hence and is not present here and will remain absent for it is the conclusion that crowns the work much more the conclusion wherein all is concluded thus is there no life so mean but a death will make it memorable at all accordingly the doings and of the departed are the theme rude souls rude tongues grow busy with him a whole of are striving to render in such dialect as they have the small bible or of his existence for the general perusal the least famous of mankind will for once become public and have his name printed	37
and read not without interest in the newspaper on some frail memorial under which he has crept to sleep foolish girls know that there is one method to impress the false and his bosom the method of drowning foolish ruined whom the tailor will no longer trust and the world turning on its heel is about forgetting can it to attention by report of pistol and so in a worthless death if in a worthless life no more the of renown for one day death is ever a and supernatural wonder were there no other left s miscellaneous writings the last act of a most strange drama which is not dramatic but has now become real wherein god have in actual person risen from the abyss and do verily dance there in that terror of all terrors and wave their dusky glaring and shake their out of which heart thrilling so tragic act there goes as we said a new meaning over all the other four making them likewise tragic and and memorable in some measure were they formerly the farce but above all when a great man dies then has the time ome for putting us in mind that he was alive and sketches characters anecdotes reminiscences issue forth as from opened springing fountains the world with a passion by impossibility will yet a while retain yet a while speak with though only to the what it has lost without remedy thus is the last event of life often the and real spiritual who have been named men as false imaginary are to do vanish in thunder for ourselves as regards the great if not seeking to be foremost in this natural movement neither do we to mingle in it the life and ways of such men as he are in all seasons a matter profitable to contemplate to speak of if in this death season long with a sad reverence looked forward to there has little increase of light little change of feeling arisen for the writer a attention nay a certain from some readers is call sufficient meditations and on this subject must yet pass through the minds of men on all sides must it be taken up by various by successive generations and ever a new light may itself why should not this observer on this side set down what he partially has seen into and the necessary process thereby be forwarded j at any rate continued s works a continental of deep piercing resolute though strangely perverse faculty whose works are as yet but if at all in english literature has written a chapter somewhat in the manner of on the greatness of great men which topic we agree with him in reckoning one of the most the time indeed is come when much that was once found visibly without must anew be sought for within many a human feeling and to man s well being indispensable which manifested itself in expressive forms to the sense now lies hidden in the depths of the spirit or at best out in forms become altogether and from which imprisoned state often the best effort of the i required and moreover were well applied to deliver it for if the present is to be the living sum total of the whole past nothing that ever lived in the past must be let wholly die whatsoever was done whatsoever was said or written was done and written for our in such state of imprisonment and as compared with its condition in the old ages lies this our feeling towards great men wherein and in the much else that belongs to it some of the deepest human interests will be found involved a few words from professor if they help to set this preliminary matter in a clearer light may be worth here let us first with him however how wonderful ii all cases great or little is the importance of man to deny it as he will says man reverently loves man and daily by action evidences hia belief in the of man what a more than mystery the poorest of living souls for us the highest is not independent of him his value could the highest monarch convince himself s the beggar with sincere mind despised him no ranks of and body guards could shut out some little of pain some from the low had pierced into the bosom of the high of a truth men are united a mystic bond of brotherhood makes all men one thus too has that fierce false hunting after popularity which you often wonder at and laugh at a basis on something true nay under the other aspect what is that spirit of interference were it but manifested as the scandal and tea table other than or directly a sympathy of man with man hatred itself is but an love the philosopher s wife complained to the philosopher that certain two legged animals without feathers evil of him his out and in wherein she too failed not of her share light of my life answered the philosopher it is their love of us unknown to themselves and taking a foolish shape thank them for it and do thou love them more wisely were we mere steam engines working here under this they would scorn to speak of us once in the last stage of human it has been said is when sympathy itself into envy and the interest we take in men s doings has become a joy over their faults and misfortunes this is the last and lowest stage lower than this we cannot go the absolute of is not on this side total death and now continues the professor rising from these lowest tea table regions of human communion into the higher and highest is there not still in the world s towards great men enough to make the old practice of hero worship intelligible nay significant i	37
thin i say the apparel the the existing popularity and whatever else can combine there are bank notes which whether there be gold behind them or only and empty drawers pass current for gold but how now could they so pass if gold itself were not and believed and known to be somewhere produce the actual gold visibly and mark how in these days your most bank paper in the market no holy alliance though and and to the utmost that the time be hung round it can gain for itself a dominion in the heart of any man some thirty or forty millions of men s hearts being on the other hand subdued into loyal reverence by a lieutenant of such is the difference between god creation and tailor creation great is the tailor but not the greatest so too in matters spiritual what it that a man be doctor of the doctor of laws s miscellaneous writings of both laws and can cover half a square foot in type with the list of his arranged as at the an d c over and above and with the of his could the whole street he lives in what it the man is but an owl of gravity indeed much respected by simple neighbors but to whose sorrowful no creature eager to listen while again let but some riding arrive under cloud of night at a inn and word be whispered that it is robert in few all beds and beds from garret to cellar are left vacant and gentle and simple with open eyes and erect ears are gathered together whereby at least from amid this questionable more like a than a language so much have become apparent what unspeakable importance the world has ever attached expressing the same by all possible methods and will ev r attach to its great men deep and venerable whether looked at in the manner or otherwise is this love of men for great men this their exclusive admiration of great men a quality of vast significance if we consider it well for as in its origin it reaches up into the highest and even provinces of man s nature so in his practical history it will be found to play the most surprising part does not for one example the fact of such a temper existing in all men point out man as an essentially and creature and for ever that of his being by nature prone to rebellion men seldom or rather never for a length of and deliberately rebel against anything that does not deserve against ready ever zealous is the obedience and they to the great to the really high their whole possession and self body heart soul and spirit under the feet of whatsoever is above nay in times it is rather a to those who s works only seem and pretend to be above them that th ir fault but why seek special instances is not love from of old known to be the beginning of all things and what is admiration of the great but love of the truly the first product of love is imitation that all important peculiar of man whereby mankind is not only held together in the present time but connected in like union with the past and the future so that the of the innumerable departed can be conveyed down to the living and with increase to the now great men in particular great men for all men have a spirit to guide though all have not to govern and battles to fight are the men universally and learned of the glass in which whole generations survey and shape themselves thus is the great man of an age beyond comparison the most important phenomenon therein all other phenomena were they of the year one glorious new of the golden age in what sort you will are small and trivial alas all these pass away and are left extinct behind like the tar barrels they were celebrated with and the new born golden age proves always to be still born neither is there was there or will there be any other golden age possible save only in this in new increase of worth and wisdom that is to say therefore in the new arrival among us of wise and worthy men such are the great though unnoticed ones all else that can occur in what kind is but the road up hill or down hill or the power that will nerve us for travelling forward so little comparatively can or the mechanical do for a nation for a world ever must we wait on the of time and s miscellaneous writings see what leader shall be born for us and whither he will lead thus too in defect of great men noted men become important the noted man of an age is the emblem and living summary of the ideal which that age has fashioned for itself show me the noted man of an age you show me the age that produced him such figures walk in the van for great good or for great evil if not leading then driven and still farther the of beau has many a pretty youth landed him not at goal where oak earned by faithful labor and carry men to the immortal gods but by a fatal at the king s bench where he that has never shall not any longer reap still less any longer bum his barn but scrape himself with among the ashes thereof and consider with all deliberation what he wanted and what he wants to this principle of reverence for the great to teach us reverence and whom we are to and admire should ever be a chief aim of education indeed it is that instruction properly both begins and ends and in these late ages perhaps than ever so indispensable is now our need of clear reverence	37
so poor our supply clear reverence it was once responded to a of light all want it perhaps thou what wretched of cloth stuffed out with of one kind or other do men either worship or being tired of so without fruit in pieces and kick out of doors amid loud shouting and what they call tremendous cheers as if the feat were miraculous in private life as in public delusion in this sort does its work the blind leading the blind both fall into the ditch for alas cries on this occasion though in hearts it is that a great man is great the specific marks of him are mournfully mistaken thus s works journey in toil and hope to where there is no healing on the fairer half of the creation above all such error presses hard women are bom in their good little hearts lies the most craving relish for greatness it is even said each chooses her husband on the of his a great man in his way the good creatures yet the foolish for their no insight or next to none being vouchsafed them are unutterable yet how touching also to see for example ladies of quality all rustling in and visit the condemned cell of a fierce and in silver accents and with the looks of angels beg locks of hair from him as from the greatest were it only in the profession of still more fatal is that other mistake the commonest of all whereby the youth seeking for a great man to worship finds such within his own worthy person and proceeds with all zeal to worship there unhappy enough to realize in an age of such gas light illumination this superstition of the ages of egyptian darkness remark however not without emotion that of all and divine services and ever for the worship of s self worship is the most faithfully observed trouble enough has the with his and and perplexed tying him up at every function of his existence but is it greater trouble than that of his german self brother is it trouble even by the so honestly undertaken and fulfilled i answer no the german s heart is in it the german for whom does he work and scheme and struggle and fight at his rising up and lying down in all times and places but for his god only can he escape fi om that divine presence of self or his had wax faint in that sacred service the hebrew prophet as he was rather than take a message to took ship to hoping to hide there from his but in what ship or whale s belly shall the german cherish hope of hiding from himself consider too the temples he and the services of shoulder knotted priests he and the smoking sacrifices thrice a day or with perhaps a or two d broken and vol iii s miscellaneous writings if such are to be had nor are his gifts of rings and jewels and gold such as our lady of might grow to look upon a perpetual worship gone through and then with what issue alas with the worst the old had it is to be hoped seasons of light and faith his god seems to smile on him he is and in humility exalted before the majesty of something were it only tiiat of physical nature seen through a not the self again has no seasons of light which are not of blue light hungry envious pride not humility in any sort is the fruit of his worship his self god on him with the perpetual wolf cry give give i and your devout as the hunt with a wise simplicity once said must sit like a great in pet because they have given him a plain and not a one his was a life rent of god s universe with the tasks it offered and the tools to do them with d one might have fancied it could be put up with for once after which wondrous glimpses into the on the of great men it may now be high time to proceed with the matter more in hand and remark that our own much age so fruitful in noted men is also not without its great in noted men undoubtedly enough we all ages since the creation of the world and from two plain causes first that there has been a french revolution and that there is now pretty rapidly proceeding a european whereby everything as in the term day of a great city when all mortals are removing has been so to speak set out into the street and many a foolish vessel of unnoticed and worth no notice in its own dark corner has become universally when once mounted on the summit of some furniture wagon and tottering there as committee president or other head with what is put under it slowly to its new lodging and arrangement itself alas s works hardly to get thither without secondly that the press with and loose leaves has now come into full action and makes as it were a sort of universal day light for removal and revolution and everything else to proceed in far more yet also far more a complaint has accordingly been heard that famous men abound that we are quite with famous men however the remedy lies in the disease itself crowded succession already means quick oblivion for wagon after wagon rolls off and either arrives or is and so in either case the vessel of which at worst we saw only in crossing some street will us no more of great men among so many of noted men it is that in our time there have been two one in the practical another in the province napoleon and von in which number as it is our time may perhaps specially pride itself and take	37
of many others in particular reckon itself the flower time of the whole last century and half every age will no doubt have its superior man or men but one so superior as to take rank among the high of all ages this is what we call a great man this rarely makes his appearance such of nature and accident must combine to produce and him of napoleon and his works all ends of the world have heard for such a host marched not in silence through the deep few heads there are in this planet which have not formed to themselves some or image of him his history has been written about on the great scale and on the small some of times and still remains to be written one of our highest literary problems for such a light of glory and renown encircled the man the he walked in was itself so s miscellaneous writings that the eye grew and his ns or quite turned away from him in pain and temporary blindness thus even among the clear sighted there is no about napoleon and only here and there does his own greatness begin to be interpreted and accurately separated from the mere greatness of his fame and fortune again though of longer continuance in the world of much more greatness and even importance there could not be so noted by the world for if the explosion of powder mines and naturally every eye and ear the approach of a new created star dawning on us in new created radiance from the eternal though and not the is to shape our destiny and rule the lower earth is notable at first only to certain star and weather among ourselves especially had little recognition indeed it was only of late that his existence as a man and not as a mere sound became known to us and some shadow of his high and of the high meaning that might lie therein arose in the general mind of england even of intelligent england five years ago to rank him with napoleon like him as rising beyond his class like him and more than he of quite peculiar moment to all europe would have seemed a wonderful even and enlightened liberality to grant him place beside this and the other home born ready writer blessed with that special privilege of english cultivation and able thereby to write novels heart heart or of interest since which time however let us say the progress of clearer apprehension has been rapid and satisfactory voices have already fallen silent on this matter for in fowls of every feather even in the s works and there a singular reverence of the eagle no is so courageous but if you once show it any gleam of a heavenly it will at lowest shut its eyes and say nothing so it here with the old established british critic who indeed in these days of ours begins to be strangely situated so many new things rising on his horizon black shapes or not the old where he insufficient bricks all stirring under his feet mad making tones in the earth and air with all which what shall an old established british critic and do but at wisest put his hands in his pockets and with the face and heart of a british though amid dismal enough see what it will turn to in the younger more hopeful minds again in most minds that can be considered as in a state f growth german literature is taking its due place in such and in generations of other such that are to follow some thankful appreciation of the greatest in german literature cannot fail at all events this feeling that he is great and the greatest whereby appreciation and what alone is of much value first becomes rightly possible to forward such on their way towards what excellence this man realized and created for them somewhat has already been done yet not much much still waits to be done the field indeed is large there are forty volumes of the most significant writing that has been produced for the last two centuries there is the whole long life and heroic character of him who produced them all this to and into in both which the deepest and most far sighted may find scope enough nevertheless in these days of the ten pound when all the world perceiving now the irish that death and destruction are coming in will have f s m us writings itself represented in parliament and the wits of so many are gone in this direction to gather wool and must more or less it were foolish to invite either young or old into great depths of thought on such a remote matter the tendency of which is neither for the e form u nor against it but quietly through it and beyond it to this or that mode of members but o ly to produce a few members worth not for many years who knows how many iii these harassed hand to mouth circumstances can the world eyes open themselves to study the true import of such topics of this topic the highest of such as things stand some quite glances and considerations close on the to remind a few parties interested that it lies over for study are all that can be attempted here could by any method in any measure for such the wondrous wonder working element it in the light it is to be studied and inquired after in what is at present were accomplished one class of considerations near enough the surface we avoid all that of an character true nothing can be done or suffered but there is something to be s wisely or departure of our greatest contemporary man not be other than a t event fitted to awaken in all who with understanding it feeling sad but high	37
and sacred of and immortality of mourning and of triumph far into the past and into the future so many changes fearful and i of fleeting time glimpses too of the eternity t e rest on which knows no change at the present and distance however this not to us has uttered elsewhere or may be left for utterance there let us the as that the high with scented wood amid the wail of music eloquent to s works i aloft heaven kissing in sight of all the and that now the ashes of the hero are gathered into their urn and the host has marched to new and new toils ever to be of the dead not to mourn for him any more the host of the in this case was all thinking europe whether their funeral games were appropriate and worthy we stop not to inquire the time in regard to such things is empty or ill provided and this was what the time could conveniently do all and solemn are gone by and as yet nothing suitable nothing that does not border upon has appeared in their room a his remains to be over in a school of and perhaps even in this way finds as chief of the a really nobler funeral than any other which the age rich only in and hollow of timber as of words could have afforded him the matter in hand being s works and the greatest work of every man or rather the summary and net amount of all his works being the life he has led we ask as the first question how it went with in that what was the practical basis of want fulfilment of joy and sorrow from which his spiritual productions grew forth the characters of which they must more or less bear in which sense those volumes entitled by him und wherein his personal history what he has thought fit to make known of it stands will long be valuable a noble instructive in many ways lies opened there and yearly increasing in worth and interest which all readers now when the true quality of it is ascertained will rejoice that circumstances induced and allowed him to write surely if old counsel have any propriety it is doubly proper in this case the a practice he of which the s miscellaneous writings last century in particular has seen so many worthy and worthless examples was never so much in place as here all men of what rank thus counsels the brave who have accomplished virtuous or virtuous like should provided they be conscious of really good purposes write down their own life nevertheless not put hand to so worthy an enterprise till after they have reached the age of forty all which had abundantly fulfilled the last as abundantly as any for he had now reached the age of sl ty two this year says he itself for me by outward activity the of went to press the papers committed to me all carefully as the case required by this task i was once more attracted to the south the which at that period had befallen me there in s company or neighborhood became alive in the imagination i had cause to ask why this which i was doing for another should not be attempted for myself i turned accordingly before completion of that volume to my own earliest personal history and in truth found here that i had delayed too long the work should have been undertaken while my mother yet lived thereby had i got those scenes of childhood and been by her great strength of memory transported into the midst of them now however must these vanished be recalled by my own help and first with labor many an to recollection like a necessary magic apparatus be devised to represent the development of a child who had grown to be remarkable how this exhibited itself under given circumstances and yet how in general it could content the student of human nature and his views such was the thing i had to do in this sense enough to a work treated with anxious fidelity i gave the name und truth and fiction deeply convinced that man in immediate presence still more in remembrance and models the external world according to his own peculiarities the business as with historical studying and otherwise re s works calling of places and persons i had much time to spend on it busied me i went or stood at home and abroad to such a degree that my actual condition became like a secondary matter though again on all hands when summoned by occasion i with full force and sense proved myself present these volumes with what other matter has been added to them the rather as s was a life of manifold relation of the with important or elevated persons not to be carelessly laid before the world and he had the rare good fortune of arranging all things that regarded even his with the existing generation according to his own deliberate judgment are perhaps likely to be for a long time our only reference by the last will of the deceased it would seem all his papers and effects are to lie exactly as they are till after another twenty years looking now into these recalled scenes of childhood and manhood the student of human nature will under all manner of shapes from first to last note one thing the singularly complex possibility offered from without yet along with it the deep never failing force from within whereby all this is conquered and realized it was as if accident and had to produce a character on the great scale a will is cast abroad into the wildest element and also in an extreme degree to prevail over this to fashion this to its own form in which and self of its circumstances	37
a character properly consists in external situations it is true in such as could be in the newspapers s existence is not more complex than other men s outwardly rather a pacific smooth existence but in his inward and depth of faculty s miscellaneous writings and temper in his position spiritual and towards the world as it and the world as he could have wished it the observant eye may discern perplexity enough an extent of greater perhaps than had lain in any life problem for some centuries and now as mentioned the force for this was in like manner granted him in extraordinary measure so that we must say his possibilities were faithfully and with wonderful success turned into and this man fought the good fight not only victorious as all true men are but victorious without damage and with an ever increasing strength for new victory as only great and happy men are not wounds and loss beyond fast healing skin deep wounds has the to suffer only ever enduring toil weariness from which after rest he will rise stronger than before good fortune what the world calls good fortune him from beginning to end but also a far deeper felicity than this such worldly gifts of good fortune are what we called possibilities happy he that can rule over them but doubly unhappy that cannot only in virtue of good guidance does that same good fortune prove good wealth health fiery light with of mind peace honor length of days with all this you may make no but only some with the most that was in all this make only some short lived unhappy at no period of the world s history can a gifted man be born when he will not find enough to do in circumstances come into life but there will be for him to reconcile difficulties which it will task his whole strength to if his whole strength suffice everywhere the human soul stands between a of light and another of darkness on the of two hostile necessity and a pious says the s works back is made for the burden we might with no less truth it and say the burden was made for the back nay so perverse is the nature of man it has in all times been found that an external superior to the common was more dangerous than one inferior thus for a hundred that can bear there is hardly one that can bear prosperity of riches in particular as of the species of prosperity the perils are recorded by all and ever as of old must the sad observation from time to time occur easier for a to pass through the eye of a needle i in a community are the strangest of things a power all moving yet which any the most powerless and can put in motion they are the of possibilities the to become a great blessing or a great curse beneath gold and mountains says paul who knows how many giant spirits lie the first fruit of riches especially for the man born rich is to teach him faith in them and all but hide from him that there is any other faith thus is he trained up in the miserable eye service of what is called honor respectability instead of a man we have but a one who always kept a two wheeled or four wheeled consider too what this same issues in consider that first and most of the son of who drove the brightest of all conceivable yet with the result alas was his father s heir born to attain the highest fortune without earning it he had built no sun chariot could not build the simplest but could and would insist on driving one and so broke his own stiff neck sent and horses spinning through infinite space and set the universe on fire i or to speak in more modest figures poverty we may say a man with ready s miscellaneous writings made which if they mournfully and do at least for him and force on him a sort of course and goal a safe and beaten though a course great part of his guidance is secure against fatal error is withdrawn from his control the ri ih again has his whole life to guide without goal or barrier save of his own choosing and tempted as we have seen is too likely to guide it ill often instead of walking straight forward as he might does but like wax fat and kick in which process it is clear not the circle of necessity whereon the world is built but only his own limb bones must go to pieces truly in plain prose if we us what a road many a and especially in these latter generations have gone it is proof of an uncommon inward wealth in that the outward wealth whether of money or other happiness which fortune offered him did in no case exceed the power of nature to appropriate and that all outward grew to inward strength and produced only blessed effects for him those gold mountains of paul to the giant that can rise above them are excellent both fortified and heights and do in fact become a throne where happily they have not been a s childhood is throughout of joyful character kind plenty in every sense security affection manifold excitement instruction him wholly an element of sun and wherein the young spirit awakening and on all hands richly itself a beautiful boy of earnest serenely deep nature with the peaceful completeness yet infinite incessant of a boy has in the begun to he beautiful he looks and moves rapid gracefully prompt like the son of wise noble like s son nay s works as all men may now see he is in very truth a miniature world poet of all heavenly figures the we know of	37
that can visit this lower earth lovely enough shine for us those years in old in the far remembrance of the real yet ideal they are among our most genuine poetic no smallest matter is too small for us when we think who it was that did it or suffered it the little long clothed enough with all his stillness can throw a whole cargo of new piece by piece from the balcony into the street once the feat is suggested to him and cheap ware with the same right hand which wrote and hurled forth the scorn of or as right hand of smote the universe to ruins neither smile more than enough if thou be wise that the all experienced remembers how the boy walked on the bridge and liked to look at the bright on the barrier there that foolish piece of gilt wood there glittering sun lit with its wavering in the waters is awakening quite another glitter in the young gifted soul is not this foolish sun lit splendor also now when there is an eye to behold it one of nature s doings the eye of the young is here through the looking into the infinite of nature where one day himself is to enter and dwell s mother appears to have been the more gifted of the parents a woman of altogether genial character great spiritual faculty and worth whom the son at an after time put family friends in mind of it is gratifying for us that she lived to witness his maturity in works and honors to know that the little infant she had nursed was grown to be a mighty man the first man of his nation and time in the father as prosperous citizen of skilled in many vol iii s writings things improved by travel by studies both practical and ornamental decorated with some title but passing among his books paintings and household possessions social or intellectual spiritual or material a quite independent life we become acquainted with a german not country but city gentleman of the last century a character scarcely ever familiar in our islands now perhaps almost among the too a positive man sound headed honest hearted sharp tempered with an uncommon share of among other things so that scarcely any obstacle would turn him back but whatsoever he could not mount over he would struggle round and in any case he at the end of his journey many or all of whose good qualities passed also over by inheritance and in fairer combination on nobler objects to the whole world s profit were seen a second time in action family incidents house buildings or in any case new year s days and are not wanting nor city incidents many colored tumult of expected and witnessed or that glorious of the yearly wherein the grandfather himself plays so imperial a part world incidents too roll forth their into the remotest creek and alter the current there the earthquake of the little boy into wondrous depths of another sort dark problems which no of his will solve direction instruction in like manner him in the great s seven years war especially in that long of king s lieutenant de with his and with his painters and picture his quick precision and decision his dry gallantry and stately spanish bearing though with the house works whose german house stairs though he silently en the inevitable were not new built to be made a french highway of who besides loves not the french but the great invincible they are striving to beat down think for example of that singular on the victory at so then at last after a restless passion week passion friday arrived a deep stillness announced the approaching storm we children were forbidden to leave the house our father had no rest and went out the battle began i mounted to the top story where the field indeed was out of my sight but the thunder of tlie cannon and the of the small arms could be discerned after some hours we saw the first tokens of the battle in a row of whereon wounded men in all sorts of sorrowful and gesture were driven softly past us to the which had been changed into a hospital the compassion of the citizens forthwith awoke beer wine bread money were given to such as had still power of but when ere long wounded and captive also were noticed in that train the pity had no limits it seemed as if each were bent to strip himself of whatever thing he had to aid his countrymen in their extremity the prisoners meanwhile were the symptom of a battle for the my father in his partiality quite certain that these would gain had the passionate to go out to meet the expected visitors not reflecting that the beaten side would in that case have to run over him he went first into his garden at the gate where he found all quiet and solitary then ventured forth to the heath where soon however various scattered and baggage men came in sight who took the satisfaction as they passed of shooting at the stones and sent our eager wanderer the lead singing about his ears he reckoned it wiser therefore to come back and learned on some inquiry what the sound of the firing might already have taught him that for the french all went well and no retreat was thought of arriving home full of black humor he quite at sight of his wounded and s miscellaneous countrymen lost all composure from him also many a gift went out for the passing but only were to taste of it which arrangement as fate had so huddled friends and foes together could not always be to our mother and we children who had from the first built upon the count s word and so passed a tolerably	37
quiet day were greatly rejoiced and our mother doubly comforted as she that morning on questioning the of her jewel box by the scratch of a needle had obtained a most answer not only for the present but for the future we wished our father a similar belief and disposition we flattered him what we could we entreated him to take some food which he had all day he refused our caresses and every enjoyment and retired to his room our joy in the meanwhile was not disturbed the business was over the king s lieutenant who to day contrary to custom had been on horseback at length returned his presence at home was more needful than ever we sprang out to meet him kissed his hands our joy it seemed to please him greatly well said he with more softness than usual i am glad too for your sake dear children he ordered us sweet wine the best and went to his chamber where already a mass of were we held now a dainty our good father who could not therein and pressed our mother to bring him down she however knew better and how such gifts would be to him meanwhile she had put some supper in order and would fain have sent him up a little to his room but such was a thing he never not in cases so the sweet gifts being once put aside she set about him to come down in his usual way he yielded at last unwillingly and little did we know what mischief we were making ready the stairs ran free through the whole house past the door of every anti chamber our father in descending had to pass the count s apartments his anti was so full of people that he had at length resolved to come out and several at once and this happened alas just at the instant our father was passing down the count cheerfully out saluted s works him and said you will congratulate us and yourself that this dangerous has gone off so happily not at all replied my father with grim emphasis i wish they had chased you to the had i myself gone too the count held in for a moment then burst forth with you shall repent this you shall not father however has in the meanwhile quietly descended and sat down to sup than formerly he little caring we little knowing in what questionable way he had rolled the stone from his heart and how official friends must interfere and secret enough go on to keep him out of military prison and worse things that might have befallen there on all which may we be permitted once again to make the simple reflection what a and world with its battles and wars and of war which sow or r ap no ear of corn for any man this is the boy who here watches the and cannon of the great shall as man witness the siege of fly with before and his through a country into one red world of mud like for the carriage too breaks down through the ed sea and become involved in the universal of napoleon and by skill defend himself from hurt therein the father with occasional private is his son s a somewhat with ambition enough and faithful good will bu more of than of insight who however works on a subject that he cannot spoil languages to the number of six or seven with whatsoever to them histories made easy not to speak of dancing music or in due time riding and all is in with boundless appetite and all is but fuel s miscellaneous writings piled and of wet quality yet under which works an greek fire that will feed itself that will one day make it all clear and glowing the paternal grandmother recollected as a pale thin ever white and clean dressed figure the children many a satisfaction and at length on some night the crowning one of a show whereupon a long course of theatrical and somewhat as for another party in the first book of s in which work indeed especially in the earlier portion of it some shadow of the author s personal experience and culture is more than once thus s desperate burnt offering of his young poems on various occasions was the image of a reality which took place in made desperately enough on the kitchen hearth the thick smoke from which flowing through the whole house filled our good landlady with alarm old imperial is not without its tragic or comic in any case impressive and the young heart is filled with to look into the jew gate where painful are banished to old clothes and in hate and and old hebrew obstinacy and work out a wonderful prophetic existence as a people terrible from the beginning however to get to their and see a wedding and a on its aloft on one of the for the last two hundred years the skull of a and ti properly indeed not so much a traitor as a radical whose reform bill could not be carried through the future book writer o on one occasion sees the execution of a book how the huge printed rustle in the flames are stirred up with oven forks and fly half aloft the sport of winds from which half leaves diligently the s works picked up he pieces himself a copy together as did many others and with double earnestness reads it as little is the old deficient in notable men all accessible to a of the who besides is a youth like no other of which curious enough and long since vanished from the sale take only these two specimens von of an old noble house able downright but stiff a lean black brown man whom i never saw smile the misfortune him that	37
shape myself into the circumstances of others to feel every s miscellaneous writings species of human existence and with satisfaction therein i spent many hours in such places grew to understand the of each and what of joy and of advantage or the indispensable conditions of this or that way of life brought with them the household economy of the various which took its figure and color from the occupation of each was also silently an object of attention and unfolded so confirmed itself in me the feeling of the equality if not of all men yet of all men s situations existence by itself appearing as the head condition all the rest as indifferent and accidental and so manifold instructive influences has the boy grown out of boyhood when now a new figure enters on the scene bringing far higher revelations as at last the wine was failing one of them called tlie maid but instead of her there came a maiden of uncommon and to see her in this of incredible beauty what is it said she after kindly giving us good evening the maid is ill and gone to bed can i serve you our wine is done said one thou get us a couple of bottles over the way it were very good f thee do it said another it is but a cat s leap surely said she took a couple of empty bottles from the table and hastened out her figure when she turned away from you was almost prettier than before the httle cap sat so neat on the little head which a slim neck so gracefully united with back and shoulders everything about her seemed select and you could follow the whole form more calmly as attention was not now attracted and arrested by the true still eyes and the lovely mouth alone it is at the very threshold of youth that this episode of mar re occurs the young critic of slim necks and true still eyes shall now know something of natural magic and the importance of one mortal to another the wild flowing sea of human passion glorious in light which alas may become infernal lightning itself a little to him a graceful little s works episode we reckon it and better than most first loves wholly an innocent wise dainty maiden pure and poor who from us here but we trust in some quiet nook of the became wife and mother and was the joy and sorrow of some brave man s heart according as it is appointed to the boy himself it ended painfully almost had not sickness come to his and here too he may experience how a shadow us in all manner of sunshine and in this what call it of existence the tragic element is not wanting the name of not her story which had nothing in it of that guilt and terror has been made world famous in the play of university has the honor of him the name of his mother she may boast of but not of the reality alas in these days the university of the universe is the only mother of such all other mothers are but fallen from whom the has to steal even bread and water if he will not die whom for most part he soon takes leave of giving perhaps as in s case for farewell thanks some rough of the nose and rushes desperate into the wide world an orphan the time is advancing slower or faster when the dry nurse will and be succeeded by a walking and stirring wet one s and culture at lay in quite other groves than the he listened to the with eagerness but the life giving word flowed not from his mouth to the sentimental the divinity of all moral philosophers of both sexes witnessed the pure soul the genuine will of the noble man heard his and entreaties uttered in a somewhat hollow and melancholy tone and then the frenchman s miscellaneous writings say to it all le il des in logic it seemed to me very strange that i must now take up those spiritual operations which from of old i had executed with the utmost convenience and them asunder and as if destroy them that their right employment might become plain to me of the thing of the world of god i fancied i knew almost about as much as the doctor himself and he seemed to me in more than one place to dreadfully however he studies to some profit with the painter hears one day at the door with horror that there is no lesson for news of s have come with the ancient too he has an interview alas it is a young come to old whose time in the literary heaven is nigh run for on itself one away and another had introduced the reign of water in all shapes liquid and solid and long presided over the same but now there is enough of it and the majesty had he been prophetic here beheld the ray d one before whom he was to melt away we announced ourselves the servant led us into a large room and said his master would come immediately whether we a motion he made i cannot say at any rate we fancied he had beckoned us to advance into an adjoining we did advance and to a singular scene for at the same moment the huge broad gigantic man entered from the opposite door in green lined with red but bis enormous head was bald and without covering this however was the very want to be now supplied for the servant came springing in at a side door with a full wig on his hand the locks fell down to his elbow and held it out with terrified gesture to his master without uttering the smallest complaint	37
face a fine brow a somewhat short blunt nose a somewhat projected yet highly characteristic pleasant amiable mouth under black eye brows a pair of coal black eyes which failed not of their though one of them was wont to be red and with this gifted man by five years his senior whose writings had already given him a name and announced the much that lay in him the open hearted could communicate learning and enduring ere long under that manner there disclosed itself a of of almost noisy the blunt nose was too often curled in an manner whatsoever of self complacency of acquired attachment and insight of self well or ill lay in the youth was exposed we can fancy to the trial in too as in an expressive he might see the whole wild world of german literature of european thought its old workings and mis workings its best recent tendencies and what its past and actual perplexity confusion worse confounded was in all which the yet inquiring brave young man had quite other than a interest being himself minded to dwell there it is easy to conceive that s presence stirring up in that fashion so many new and old matters would s miscellaneous the former and thereby it is true ly or not forward the same towards clearness in fact with the glance over the then position of the world spiritual we shall find that as disorder is never wanting and for the young spiritual hero who is there only to destroy disorder and make it order can least of all be wanting so at the present juncture it specially why dwell on this oi en epoch over all europe the reign of earnestness had now wholly into that of the voice of a certain modern closet logic which called itself and could not but call itself philosophy had gone forth saying let there be darkness and there was darkness no divinity any longer dwelt in the world and as men cannot do without a divinity a sort of one had been got together and named taste with and picture and enlightened letter and men enough for priests to which worship with its and hungry results must the earnest mind like the hollow and shallow one itself as best might be to a new man no the earth is always new never wholly without interest knowledge were it only that of dead languages or of dead actions the foreign tradition of what others had acquired and done was still to be searched after fame might be enjoyed if above all the and arts remained in completeness their results could be with vigor life along better or worse in pitiful discontent not yet in decisive desperation as through a dim day of languor and already too on the horizon might be seen clouds might be heard murmurs which by and by proved themselves of an electric character and were to cool and clear that same in wondrous to a man standing in the midst of german literature and s works y looking out thither for his highest good the view was troubled perhaps with various peculiar for two centuries german literature had lain in the leaf the whose words were half battles and such half battles as could shake and half europe with their had long since gone to sleep and all other words were but the miserable of in quarrel over the of the slain slept silent in the little island of the lake the weary and heavy laden had the sweat from his brow and laid him down to rest there the fire tempered heart with all its woes and loves arid loving cold forgotten with such a pulse no new heart rose to beat the and of a succeeding era had in like manner long fallen one unhappy generation after of living on roots greek or hebrew of farce writers gallant verse writers and other of sort wandered in wise whither w s to be had among whom if a passionate go with some emphasis to ruin if an illuminated earlier than the general herd deny we ar to esteem it a felicity this too however has passed and now in manifold signs a new time itself well born have again rendered the character of author honorable the polish of correct and have smoothed away the old a pious to the general enthusiasm rises anew into something of music though by methods wherein he can have no the brave spirit of a in many a life giving ray through the dark germany has risen to a level with europe is henceforth of all european influences nay it is now appointed though not yet s miscellaneous writings that germany is to be the leader of spiritual europe a deep movement the universal mind of germany as yet no one sees towards what issue only that and confused conflicting tendencies work everywhere the movement is begun and will not stop but the course of it is yet far from ascertained even to the young man now looking on with such anxious intensity had this very task been allotted to find it a course and set it flowing whoever will represent this confused condition of all things has but to fancy how it would act on the most and comprehensive of living minds what a chaos he had taken in and was dimly struggling to body forth into a creation add to which his so confused contradictory personal condition appointed by a positive father to be of law by a still more positive mother old nature herself to be of wisdom and captain of spiritual europe we have confusion enough for him doubts and doubts doubts moral and a whole world of confusion and doubt nevertheless to the young student the gods had given their most precious gift which is worth all others without which all others are worth nothing a seeing eye and a faithful	37
blessed nay to this man without the world s consent given or asked a still higher function had been committed but on the whole we name his external life happy among the happiest in this that a noble courtesy could dwell in it based on the worship by speech and practice of truth only for his victory as we said above was so complete as almost to hide that there had been a struggle and the worldly could praise him as the most agreeable of men and the spiritual as the highest and but happy above all in this that it forwarded him as no other could have done in his inward life the good or evil hap of which was alone of permanent importance the inward life of from this epoch nobly recorded in the long series of his writings of these meanwhile the great bulk of our english world has yet got to such understanding and mastery that we could with much hope of profit go into a critical examination of their merits and characteristics such a task can stand over till the day for it arrive be it in this generation or the next or after the next what has been elsewhere set forth the present want or needs only to be repeated and enforced the of things must say with judicious in the play first recover that then shalt thou know more a glance over the grand outlines of the matter and more especially under the aspect suitable to these days can alone be in place here in s works arranged we see this above all a mind working itself into clearer and works s clearer a more and more perfect dominion of its world the fever of runs through its stages but happily it ends and at the last stage not in death not in malady the commonest way but in clearer henceforth health we called the voice of the world s despair passionate is this voice not yet melodious and supreme as nevertheless we at length hear it in the wild like a death song of departing worlds no voice of joyful morning stars together over a creation but of red nigh extinguished midnight stars in swan melody it is ended i what follows in the next period we might for want of a term call pagan or in character meaning thereby n character akin to that of old greece and is of that stamp warm hearty sunny human endeavor a free recognition of life in its depth variety and majesty as yet no divinity recognised there the are of the like old tone musical joyfully strong true yet not the whole truth and sometimes in their blunt on the sense as in this oftener perhaps by a certain class of wise men them the due demanded why so the people and would find itself children too would feed on the best may be had mark in thy traveller this and at home go do likewise farther no man make he what stretching he will doubt reduced into denial now lies prostrate under foot the fire has done its work an old world is in ashes but the smoke and the flame are blown away and a sun again shines clear over the ruin to raise a new nobler and till at length in the third or final period melodious reverence becomes triumphant a deep all s writings faith with mild voice grave as gay speaks forth to us in a in a in many a little and true hearted little rhyme which it has been said for and genial significance except in the hebrew you will nowhere match as here striking in almost at a venture like as a star that not haste that not rest be each one his god given i hasty um die last so stands it in the original however hangs a tale a fact says one of our fellow in this german has but now come to our knowledge which we take pleasure and pride in stating fifteen englishmen entertaining that high consideration for the good which the labors and high deserts of a long life employed so richly merit from all mankind have presented him with a highly wrought seal as a token of their veneration we must pass over the description of the gift for it would be too elaborate suffice it to say that amid carving and enough stood these words on a gold belt on the four sides to the german master from friends in england th august finally that the impression was a star encircled with a serpent of eternity and this motto hast ra st the following is the letter which accompanied it to the poet on the th of august sir among the friends whom this so interesting calls round you may we english in thought and since personally it is impossible present ourselves to offer s works or this small which the reader if he will may substitute for whole horse loads of essays on the origin of evil a spiritual manufacture which in these enlightened times ought ere now to have gone out of fashion what shall i teach thee the foremost thing teach me off my own shadow to spring or the pathetic of this a breach is every day which many mortals are fall in the gap who may of the slain no heap is forming you our affectionate congratulations we hope yon will do us the honor to accept this little birth day gift which as a true testimony of our feelings may not be without value we said to ourselves as it is always the highest duty and pleasure to show reverence to whom reverence is due and our chief perhaps our only benefactor is he who by act and word us in wisdom so we feeling towards the poet as the taught towards their spiritual teacher are desirous to	37
express that sentiment openly and in common for which end we have determined to his acceptance of a small english gift proceeding from us all equally on his approaching birth day that so while the venerable man still dwells among us some memorial o the gratitude we owe him and think the whole world owes him may not be wanting and thus our little tribute perhaps among the purest that men could offer to now stands in visible shape and to be received may it be welcome and speak permanently of a most close relation though wide seas flow between the parties we pray that many years may be added to a life so glorious that all happiness may be yours and i given to complete your high task even as it has hitherto proceeded like a star without haste yet without rest we remain sir your friends and servants fifteen the wonderful old man to whom distant and unknown friends had paid such homage could not but be moved at sentiments ex s miscellaneous writings nine iti die da die in such spirit and with an eye that takes in all provinces o human thought feeling and activity does poet stand forth as the true prophet of his time victorious over its contradiction possessor of its wealth the of the past into a new whole into a new vital for the present and the future antique in all kinds yet worn with new clearness the spirit of it is preserved and again revealed in shape when the former shape and had become old as do and was dead and cast forth and we mourned as if the spirit too were gone this we are aw are is a high saying to no other man living or that has lived for some two centuries ranks not only as the highest man of his time but as a man of universal time important for all generations one of the in the history of men pressed in such terms we hear that he the token highly and has condescended to return the following lines for answer d n die der in dock er ob in die hast und so t d august s magazine xxii j and thus as it chanced was the poet s last birth day celebrated by an outward ceremony of a peculiar kind wherein too it is to be hoped might lie some inward meaning and sincerity s works thus from our point of view does rise on us as the and victorious of the distracted elements of the most distracted and divided age that the world has witnessed since the introduction of the christian religion to which old era of world confusion and world of darkness succeeded by a dawn of light and nobler from on high this wondrous era of ours is indeed often to the faithful heart let no era be a desperate one it is ever the nature of darkness to be followed by a new nobler light nay to produce such the woes and of an time of a world sunk in wickedness and and wherein also physical wretchedness the and broken of whole classes struggling in ignorance and pain will not fail all this the view of all this falls like a question on every earnest heart a life and death for every earnest heart to deliver itself from and the world from of wisdom strength only when there is no vision do the people perish but by natural the age of goes out and that of earnest endeavor must come in for the ashes of the old fire will not warm men anew the new generation is too desolate to indulge in mockery unless perhaps in bitter mockery of itself thus after enough have laughed and at what is false appear some to ask what is true wo to the land where in these seasons no prophet arises but only and to make the evil worse at best but to a which in they have old europe had its and but these availed not new europe too has had its and and and innumerable red flaming shaking from their hair and s writings and and chaos come again but the clear star day s the of light had not yet been recognised that in there lay force to out of such contradiction as man is now born into marks him as the strong one of his time the true early though now with quite other weapons than those old steel were used to such of indeed is the task of every man the somewhat old elements into new higher order ever according to faculty and endeavor brings good out of evil consider now what faculty and endeavor must belong to the highest of such tasks which all others whatsoever the thing that was given this man to reconcile to begin and teach us how to was the inward spiritual chaos the centre of all other outward and inward he was to close the abyss out of which such manifold destruction moral intellectual social was proceeding the greatness of his manifested in such a work has long been plain to all men that it belongs to the highest class of human the thereof who so nobly used it to the in its sense of great man is also becoming plain a giant strength of character is to be traced here mild and kindly and calm even as strength ever is in the midst of so much till its is cracked how very different looks this symptom of strength he appeared to aim at pushing away from him everything that did not hang upon his individual will in his own firmness of character he had grown into the habit of never any one on the contrary he listened with a friendly air to every one s opinion and would himself and strengthen it by instances and reasons s works	37
of his own all who did not know him fancied that he thought as they did for he was possessed of a intellect and could transport himself into the mental state of any man and imitate his manner of beloved brethren who wish to be strong had not the man who could take this smooth method of it more strength in him than any teeth grinding glass eyed lone you have yet fallen in with consider your ways consider first whether you cannot do with being weak if the answer still prove negative consider secondly what strength actually is and where you are to try for it a certain strong man of former time fought stoutly at worked stoutly as slave stoutly delivered himself from such working with stout cheerfulness endured famine and and the world s ingratitude and sitting in jail with the one arm left him wrote our and all but our deepest modern book and named it don this was a genuine strong man a strong man of recent time fights little for any good cause anywhere works weakly as an english lord weakly himself from such working with weak despondency the of plucked at st james s and sitting in sunny italy in his coach and four at a distance of two thousand miles from them writes over many of paper the following sentence with variations saw ever the world one greater or this was a sham strong man choose ye of s spiritual looked at on the intellectual side we have as indeed lies in the nature of things for moral and intellectual are one and the same to pronounce a similar opinion that it is great among the very greatest as the first gift of all may be discerned here utmost clearness all piercing faculty of vision book vi s miscellaneous as we ever find it all other are nay properly they are but other forms of the same gift a nobler power of insight than this of you in vain look for since passed away in fact there ia much every way here in particular that these two minds have in common too does not look at a thing but into it through it so that he it can take it asunder and put it together again the thing as it were into light under his eye and anew es itself before him that is to say he is a in the highest of all senses he is a poet for as for the world lies all ow we might call it encircled with the natural in real ity the supernatural for to the s eyes both become one what are the and the and but glimpses accorded us into this world revelations of the mystery of all mysteries man s life as it actually is under other secondary aspects the poetical faculty of the two will still be found is full o ness this grand light giving intellect as all such are is an imaginative one and in a quite other sense than most of our unhappy will imagine the declared him to be a born popular orator both by the figure of his brow and what was still more decisive because he could not speak but a figure came saw what was high as his own nose reached high as the nose doth reach all clear i what higher lies they ask is it here a far different was this of than popular work for in figures of the kind throughout his writings at least is the most copious man known to us though on a scrutiny we may find him the richest of your s works ready made colored paper such as can be or on the surface by way of giving an ornamental to the rag web already woven we speak not there is not one such to be discovered in all his works but even in the use of genuine that are not ornament but the genuine new of new thoughts he to lower men for example to paul that is to say in fact he is more master of the common language and can oftener make it serve him s lies in the very centre of his being itself as the of the inward elements of a thought as the vital of it such figures as those of you will look for through all modern literature and except here and there in nowhere find a trace of again it is the same faculty in higher exercise that the poet to a character here too and unlike innumerable others are vital their construction begins at the heart and flows outward as the life streams do the surface as it were those and accordingly these and have a and life that them from all other of late ages all others in comparison have more or less the nature of hollow constructed from without painted uke and put in motion many years ago on finishing our first perusal of with a very mixed sentiment in other respects we could not but feel that here lay more insight into the elements of human nature and a more perfect of these than in all the other literature of our generation neither as an additional for the great is ever like itself let the majestic calmness of both be omitted their perfect for all men and all things this too proceeds from the same source perfect clearness of vision s miscellaneous writings he who an object cannot hate it has already begun to love it in respect of style no less than of character this calmness and graceful smooth flowing is again characteristic of both though in the is more complete having been by far more study s style is perhaps to be reckoned the most excellent that our modern world in any language can exhibit even to a foreigner says one it is full of character and polished yet and	37
cordial it sounds like the dialect of wise antique minded true hearted men in poetry brief sharp simple and expressive in prose perhaps still more pleasing for it is at once and full rich clear and melodious and the sense not presented in es piece after piece revealed and withdrawn rises before us as in continuous dawning and stands at last simultaneously complete and bathed in the and sunshine it brings to mind what the prose of bacon milton would have been had they written under the good without the bad influences of that french precision which has polished and trimmed and all modern languages made our meaning clear and too often shallow as well as clear finally as is to be considered as the greater nature of the two on the other hand we must admit him to have been the less cultivated and much the more careless what could have done we nowhere discover a careless mortal open to the universe and its influences not caring to open himself who will scale heaven if it so must be and is satisfied if he pay the rent of his london who had the justice let him hunt deer iv s works might for many years more have lived quiet on the green earth without such journeys an mortal in the great again we see a man through life at his utmost strain a man that as he says himself struggled laid hold of all things under all aspects scientific or poetic engaged passionately with the deepest interests of man s existence m the most complex age of man s his tory what s thoughts on god nature art would have been especially had he lived to number years were curious to know s delivered in many toned melody as the of our era are here for us to know such was the noble talent to this man such the noble employment he made thereof we can call him once more a clear and universal man we can say that in his as as singer as he lived a life of antique under these new conditions and in so living is alone in all europe the foremost whom others are to learn from and follow in which great act or rather great sum total of many acts who shall what treasure of new of faith become hope and vision lies secured for all the question can man still live in yet without blindness or in for the right yet without tumultuous against the wrong as an antique worthy yet with the and increased of a modem is no longer a question but has become a certainty and visible fact we have looked at as we engaged to do on this side and with the eyes of this generation that is to say chiefly as a world and spiritual for in our present so astonishing condition of of the species such is the under which we vol iii s miscellaneous writings r must try all things wisdom itself and indeed under this aspect too s life and works are doubtless of value and worthy our most earnest study for his spiritual history is as it were the ideal emblem of all true men s in these days the goal of manhood which he at we too in our degree have to aim at let us mark well the road he fashioned for himself and in the dim chaos rejoice to find a paved way here moreover another word of explanation is perhaps worth adding we mean in regard to the agitated as about many things to about his political creed and practice whether he was or in opposition let the political admirer of be at ease was both and also neither the rotten white washed condition of society was to few eyes than to his to few hearts than to his listen to the at to this i the land the hammer its ruler and the people that plate beaten between them that wo to the plate when nothing but wilful on hit at random and made no kettle to view but alas what is to be done no of liberty much to my heart ever found i license each for himself this was at bottom their want ai many first dare to be servant of many what a business is that would st thou know it go try let the following also be recommended to all of and the shameful parts of the constitution and let each be a little of his neighbor s and rejoice that he has himself found out freedom a thing much wanted walls i can see tumbled down walls i see also a building here sit prisoners there likewise do prisoners sit s is the world then itself a huge prison free only the madman his chains knitting still up into some graceful so that for the poet what remains but to leave and destructive pulling one another s locks and ears off as they will and can the issue being long since enough and for his own part strive day and night to forward the small suffering remnant of of those who in true endeavor were it under or under create somewhat with whom alone in the end does the hope of the world lie go thou and do likewise art thou called to politics work therein as this man would have done like a real and not an imaginary workman understand well meanwhile that to no man is his political constitution a life but only a house wherein his life is l ed and hast thou a nobler task than such e and smoke and pulling down of ancient rotten rat inhabited walls leave such to the proper honor the higher artist and good say with him all this is neither my coat nor my cake why fill my hand with other men s charges the fishes swim at ease	37
in the lake and take no thought of the s political practice or rather no practice except that of self defence is a part of his conduct quite with the rest a thing we could recommend to universal study that the spirit of it might be understood by all men and by all men nevertheless it is alone on this or progress of the species side that has significance his life and work is no painted show but a solid reality and may be looked at with profit on all sides from all imaginable points of view as a possession for ever s history and writings abide there a thousand s miscellaneous writings melody of wisdom which he that has ears may hear what the experience of the most situated deep searching every way far man has yielded him of insight lies written for all men here he who was of compass to know and feel more than any other man this is the record of his knowledge and feeling the deepest heart the highest head to was not his faculty thus then did he and interpret let many generations listen according to their want let the generation which has no need of listening and nothing new to learn there esteem itself a happy one to us meanwhile to all that wander in darkness and seek light as the one thing needful he this possession reckoned among our and distinctions learn of him imitate him so did he catch the music of the universe and it into clearness and in celestial tones bring it home to the hearts of men from amid that soul of this our new tower of era for now too as in that old time had men said to themselves come let us build a tower which shall reach to heaven and by our steam engines and logic engines and skilful and not only physical nature but the divine spirit of nature and scale the itself wherefore they must needs again be stricken with confusion of tongues or of presses and dispersed to other work wherein also let us hope their and shall better avail them of with a feeling such as can be due to no other man we now take farewell corn law corn law review throwing down his critical balance some years ago and taking leave of the function expressed himself in this abrupt way the end having come it is fit that we end poetry having ceased to be read or published or written how can it continue to be with your lake schools and border thief schools and and schools there has been enough to do and now all these schools having burnt or themselves out and led nothing but a wide spread wreck of ashes dust and or perhaps dying embers kicked to and fro under the feet of innumerable women and children in the magazines and at best blown here and there into transient with enough so as to form what you might name a boundless green sick or new sentimental or sleep awake school what remains but to ourselves to circumstances me not continues the able editor suddenly changing his figure with considerations that poetry as the inward voice of life must be only dead in one form to become alive in another that this still abundant of seeing there must needs be of poetry floating scattered in it ought still to be net at all events m i i i i i i i i j i i i m il i i corn law third yo london love a poem by the author of corn law edition vo london the village a poem by the author of corn la mo london s miscellaneous and taken note of the i of english at this epoch perhaps the human faculties to hire out the reading of it by estimate at a rate per page would in few quarters reduce the cash box of any review to the verge of what our distinguished contemporary has said remains said far be it from us to censure or counsel any able editor to draw aside the veil and into his interior mysteries the laws he walks by for as for others there are times of perplexity wherein the cunning of the wisest will suffice his own wants say nothing of his neighbor s to us on our side meanwhile it remains clear that poetry or were it but should be altogether neglected surely it is the s trade to sit watching not only the crop and good or evil of the earth but also the weather symptoms of the literary heaven on which those former so mu h depend if any promising or threatening phenomenon make its appearance and he proclaim not tidings thereof it is at his peril farther be it considered how in this singular poetic epoch a small matter a novelty if the whole hang in the light gleam or speck of blue cannot pass the works of this corn law we might rather to some little of a rainbow hues of joy and harmony painted out of tears no round full bow indeed the heavens shone on by the full sun and with seven striped gold crimson border as is in some sort the office of poetry dividing black from brilliant not such alas still far from it yet in very truth a little blush glowing genuine among the wet clouds which proceeds if you will from a sun cloud corn law hidden yet that a sun does shine and those a whole vault and celestial stretch serene strange as it may seem it is nevertheless true that here we have once more got sight of a book calling itself poetry yet which actually is a kind of book and no empty and or ghost of a book such as is too often on	37
the world and handed over with a demand of real money for it as if it too were a reality the speaker here is of that singular class who have something to say whereby though delivering himself in verse and in these days he does not deliver himself wholly in but and with a certain degree of meaning that has been believed and therefore is again to some the wonder and interest will be heightened by another circumstance that the speaker in question is not school learned or even furnished with pecuniary capital is indeed a quite speaker nothing or little other than a in brass and iron who describes himself as one of the lower little removed above the lowest class be of what class he may the man is provided as we can perceive with a rational god created soul which too has itself into some clearness some self and can actually see and know with its own organs in rugged substantial english nay with tones of poetic melody utter forth what it has seen it used to be said that lions do not paint that men do not write but the case is now here is a voice from the deep where labor in real and sweat beats with his thousand the red son of the furnace doing personal battle with necessity and her dark brute powers to make them reasonable and serviceable an intelligible voice from the hitherto mute and s miscellaneous writings to tell us at first hand how it is with him what in very deed is the of the world and of himself which he in those dim depths of his in that wearied head of his has put together to which voice in several respects significant enough let good ear he given here too be it that under the of poets or in any fashion of patronage can our friend be produced his position is for that so is ours genius which the french lady declared to be of no sex is much more certainly of no rank neither when the spark of nature s fire has been imparted should education take high airs in her artificial light which is too often but and in fact it now begins to be suspected here and there that this same aristocratic recognition which looks down with an obliging smile from its throne of bound volumes and gold and admits that it is wonderfully for one of the classes may be getting out of place there are times in the world s history when he that is the least educated will chiefly have to say that he is the least and with the multitude of false eye glasses green even yellow has not lost the natural use of his eyes for a generation that reads s prose and burns s poetry it need be no miracle that here also is a man who can handle both pen and hammer like a man nevertheless this serene attitude and temper is so frequent perhaps it were good to turn the tables for a moment and see what look it has under that reverse aspect how were it if we that for a man gifted with natural vigor with a man s character to be developed in him more especially if in the way of literature as and writer it is actually in these strange days no special misfortune to be trained up among the classes corn law and not among the educated but rather of two misfortunes the smaller for all men doubtless abound spiritual growth must be and and has to struggle through with difficulty if it do not wholly stop we may grant too that for a character the continual training and from language masters dancing masters posture masters of all sorts hired and which a high rank in any time and country there will be produced a certain superiority or at worst air of superiority over the corresponding character of low rank thus we perceive the vulgar do nothing as contrasted with the vulgar is in general a much prettier man with a wider perhaps clearer outlook into the distance in innumerable superficial matters however it may be when we go deeper he has a manifest advantage but with the man of uncommon character again in whom a of irrepressible force has been and will itself into some sort of freedom altogether the reverse ma hold for such too there is undoubtedly enough a proper soil where they will grow best and an improper one where they will grow worst true also where there is a will there is a way where a genius has been given a possibility a certainty of its growing is also given yet often it as if the and were worse than none at all and killed what the of blind chance would have spared we find accordingly that few or indeed none since the great alexander who unfortunately drank himself to death too soon for proving what lay in him were nursed up with an eye to their mostly with an eye quite the other way in the midst of and pain and nay in our own times have we not seen two men of genius a and a burns they both by man s miscellaneous of nature struggle and must struggle towards clear manhood enough for the space of six and thirty years yet only the can partially therein the gifted peer must toil and strive and shoot out in wild efforts yet die at last in boyhood with the promise of his manhood still but announcing itself in the distance truly as was once written it is only the that will not grow except in gardens the is cast carelessly abroad into the wilderness yet on the wild soil it itself and rises to be an oak all moreover will tell you that fat is the ruin of your oak likewise that the thinner	37
and your soil the more iron is your timber though unhappily also the smaller so too with the spirits of men they become pure from their errors by suffering for them he who has were it only with poverty and hard toil will be found stronger more expert than he who could stay at home from the battle concealed among the provision or even not un abiding by the stuff in which sense an observer not without experience of our time has said had i a man of clearly developed character clear sincere within its limits of insight courage and real force of head and of heart to search for arid not a man of distorted character with for courage and for insight and force speculation and plausible show of force it were rather among the lower than among the higher classes that i should look for him a hard saying indeed seems this same that he whose other wants were all beforehand supplied to whose no problem was presented except even this how to cultivate them to best advantage should attain less real culture than he whose first grand problem and obligation was spiritual culture but hard labor for his daily bread i la w sad enough must the be where preparations of such magnitude issue in and a so art with all its can accomplish nothing not so much as nature would of herself have supplied nevertheless so is life with evil as with good to such height in an age rich overgrown with means can means be accumulated in the wrong place and wrong tendencies instead of them this sad and strange result may actually turn out to have been realized but what after all is meant by in a time when books have come into the world come to be household furniture in every habitation of the civilized world in the poorest cottage are books is one wherein for several thousands of years the spirit of man has found light and nourishment and an response to whatever is deepest in him wherein still to this day for the eye that look well the mystery of existence itself if not resolved yet revealed and if not to the satisfying of the outward sense yet to the opening of the inward sense which is the far result in books lie the ashes of the whole past all that men have devised discovered done felt or imagined lies recorded in books wherein has learned the mystery of printed letters may find it and appropriate it nay what indeed is all this as if it were by and and lecture rooms that man s education what we can call education were accomplished solely or mainly by the dead letter and record of other men s force that the living force of a new man were to be awakened and into victorious clearness foolish that there on the of i had pen s miscellaneous writings into things far into nature with lier divine and infernal terrors her and mystic far into man s workings with nature into man s art and knew which in days still partially meant can innumerable things what men are and what the world is and how and what men aim at there from the dame quickly of modern to the caesar of ancient over many countries over many centuries of all this he had the understanding and comprehension all this was his learning and insight what now is thine insight into none of those things perhaps strictly considered into no thing whatever solely into thy own fat honors into and letters and but a little way into these the grand result of is a mind with just vision to discern with free force to do the grand is practice and now when can have become two altogether different words and this the first principle of human culture the foundation stone of all but false imaginary culture that men must before every other thing be trained to do somewhat has been for some generations laid quietly on the shelf with such result as we see consider what advantage those same working classes have over the educated in one particular namely that they must work to work what sources of cultivation lie in that process in that attempt how it lays hold of the whole man not of a small calculating of him but of the whole practical doing and daring and enduring man there by to faculties root out old errors at every step i he that has done nothing has known nothing vain is it to sit and up and be doing if thy knowledge be real put it forth from thee cork law with real nature try thy theories there and see how they hold out do one thing for the first time in thy life do a thing a new light will rise to thee on the doing of all things whatsoever truly a boundless significance in work whereby the comes to attain much which is of indispensable use but which he who is of no craft were he never so high runs the risk of missing once turn to practice error and truth will no longer together the result of error you in the square root of a negative quantity try to extract it or any earthly substance or from it if you will the honorable member can discover that there is a reaction and believe it and reason on it in spite of all men while he so pleases for still his wine and his oil will not fail him but the who discovered that brass was green cheese has to act on his discovery finds there fore that singular as it may seem brass cannot be for dinner green cheese will not beat into dishes that such discovery therefore has no legs to stand on and must even be let fall now take this e of through	37
the entire lives of two men and calculate what it will amount to i necessity moreover which we here see as the mother of accuracy is well known as the mother of invention he who wants ver must know many things do many things to procure even a few different enough with him whose indispensable knowledge is this only that a finger will pull the bell so that for all men who live we may conclude this life of man is a school wherein the naturally foolish will continue foolish though you him in a mortar but the naturally will gather wisdom under every disadvantage what meanwhile must be the condition of an era when the highest advantages there become into when if you take two men of genius and put the vol iii s miscellaneous writings one between the handles of a plough and mount the other between the painted of a coach and four and bid them both move along the former shall arrive a burns the latter a two men of talent and put the one into a s chapel full of usage hard toil and the other into oxford with and and hired and the former shall come out a dr the latter a dr however we are not here to write an essay on education or sing over a world in its but simply to say that our corn law educated or as nature and art have made him asks not the smallest patronage or compassion for his not the smallest for them in such attitude does he present himself not but sturdy defiant almost menacing wherefore indeed should he or it is out of the abundance of the heart that he has spoken praise or blame cannot make it truer or than it already is by the grace of god this man is sufficient for himself by his skill in can beat out a but a living go how it may has arrived too at that singular audacity of believing what he knows and acting on it or writing on it or thinking on it without leave asked of any one there shall he stand and work with head and with hand for himself and the world blown about by no wind of doctrine frightened at no s shadow having in his time looked enough in the face and remained what is left therefore but to take what he brings and as he brings it let us be thankful were it only for the day of small things something it is that we have lived to welcome once more a sweet singer wearing the likeness of law a man in humble guise it is true and of stature more or less in its development yet not without a genial strength and built on honesty and love on the whole a genuine man with somewhat of the eye and speech and bearing that a man to whom all other genuine men how different in subordinate particulars can gladly hold put the right hand of fellowship the great excellence of our be it understood then we take to consist even in this often hinted at already that he is genuine here is an earnest truth speaking man no but a practical man of work and endeavor man of and endurance the thing that he speaks is not a but a thing which he has himself known and by experience become assured of he has used his eyes for seeing uses his tongue for declaring what he has seen his voice therefore among the many noises of our planet will deserve its place better than the most will be well worth some attention whom else should we attend to but such the man who speaks with some half shadow of a belief and and to think and considers not with soul what is true but only what is plausible and will find audience and do we not meet him at every on all and is he not stale ineffectual wholly grown a weariness of the flesh so rare is his opposite in any rank of literature or of life so very rare that even in the lowest he is precious the insight and experience of any human soul were it but insight and experience in of wood and drawing of water is real knowledge a real possession and how small again were it a supreme s is wind merely and nothing or less than to a considerable degree this man we say has s miscellaneous worked himself loose from and idle and into a condition of sincerity wherein perhaps as above argued his hard social and fortune to be a workman born which brought so many other with it may have forwarded and him that a man workman or as in these days with persons in a state of willing or unwilling and as man is to learn whatever he does learn by these should nevertheless shake off and struggle out from that dim marsh atmosphere into a clearer and purer height in him a certain originality in which rare gift force of all kinds is to our su as hinted more than once vision and determination have not been denied a rugged understanding is in him whereby in his own way he has mastered this and that and looked into various things in general honestly and to purpose sometimes deeply and with a s eye strong thoughts are not wanting beautiful thoughts strong and expressions of thought as for instance in this new illustration of an old argument the mischief of commercial these o ye these are your for the rich a bread tax for the poor soul purchased on the thus the winged victor of a hundred fights the warrior ship bows low her banner d head when through her the its deadly way and sinks in ocean s bed d by worms what then the worms were fed	37
side to side button up one cause of and another thus for our keen hearted singer and sufferer has the bread tax in itself a considerable but no smoke pillar out to be a world embracing darkness that and the whole earth and has blotted out the heavenly stars into the merit of the corn laws which has often been discussed in fit season by competent hands we do not enter here least of all in the way of ar in the way of blame towards one who if he read such merit with some emphasis on the of his children may well be that the bread tax with various other taxes may ere long be altered and and the corn trade become as free as the poorest bread could wish it or the richest bread tax fed could fear it seems no extravagant would that the mad time could by such simple dose be healed alas for the diseases of a world lying in wickedness in heart sickness and quite another is needed a long painful course oi medicine and and not yet or indicated in the college books but if there is little novelty in our friend s political philosophy there is some in his political feeling and poetry the peculiarity of this radical is that with all his he a decided loyalty and faith if he despise and under foot on the one hand he and on the other the landed in his coach and four rolls all the more contrasted corn law with the and of the past with the and many a went worth s lord still a to the present this man indeed has in him the root of all reverence a principle of religion he believes in a not with the lips only but apparently with the heart who as has been written and often felt himself in parents in all true teachers and rulers as in false teachers and rulers quite another may be revealed our it would seem is no far enough from it he makes the in his hot headed way exclaim over the hundred of england s and adds by way of note in his own person some still stronger sayings how this dismal as its reign of terror is and long armed its holy must condescend to learn and teach what is useful or go where all go as little perhaps is he a the being to his mind scarcely however if at all does he show aversion to the church as church or among his many touch upon as one but in any case the black colors of life even as here painted and over do not hide from him that a god is the author and thereof that god s world if made a house of imprisonment can also be a house of prayer wherein for the weary and heavy laden pity and hope are not altogether cut away it is chiefly in virtue of this inward temper of heart with the clear disposition and which for all else results that our radical to be poetical that the harsh of one who unhappily has felt constrained to adopt such mode of utterance become into something of music if a of bondage this is still his father s land aiid the bondage s miscellaneous writings not for ever as and the captive can look with seeing eye the aspect of the infinite universe still fills him with an infinite feeling his chains were it but for moments fall away he free and the sunny regions of and freedom gleam golden afar on the horizon we say prophetic from those far regions spring up for him nay beams of actual radiance in his and dim rather of place than of organ he is not without touches of a feeling and vision which even in the sense is to be named poetical one deeply poetical idea above all others seems to have taken hold of him the idea of time as was natural to a poetic soul with few t of art in its and driven inward rather than invited outward for occupation this deep mystery of ever flowing time bringing forth and as the wisely devouring what it has brought forth rushing on in us yet above us all by us under it dimly visible it the eternal this is indeed what we may call the idea of poetry the first that itself into the poetic mind as here the bee shall seek to settle on his hand but from the vacant bench haste to the mourning the last of england s high soul d poor and bid the mountains weep for and for themselves of things that last d most for they shall pass away like though their iron roots seem fast bound to tlie eternal future as the past the died j and they shall be no more yes and the worlds which the unutterable deep that hath no shore will lose their splendor soon or late like d by him whose will is corn law yes and the angel of eternity who worlds and writes their names in light one day o earth will look in vain for thee and start and stop in his flight and with his wings of sorrow and veil his brow and heavenly tears and not the first idea only but the greatest properly the parent of all others for if it can rise in the ages in the states of culture wherever an inspired happens to exist it itself still with all great things with the highest results of new philosophy as of and for the poet in particular is as the wherein alone his can lake poetic form and the whole world become miraculous and we are stuff as dreams are made of and our little life is rounded with a sleep figure that believe that o reader then say whether the	37
numbers the world movement rolls on by what method shall the weak and help who has none to help him withstand it alas how many brave hearts ground to pieces in that unequal battle have already sunk in every sinking heart a tragedy less famous than that of the sons of wherein however if no house yet a manly house went to the dust and a whole manly was swept away must it grow worse and worse till the last brave heart is broken in england and this same brave has become a of wild howling god be thanked there is some feeble shadow of hopes that the change may have begun while it was yet time you may lift the pressure from the free man s shoulders and bid him go forth but the slave s burden he will only the more in his a nation of degraded men cannot be raised up except by what we rightly name a miracle under which point of view also these little indicating such a character in such a place are not without significance one faint symptom perhaps that clearness will return ths t there is a possibility of its return it is as if from that of from amid its loud roaring and cursing whereby nothing became nothing except this only that misery and malady existed there we heard now some tone of reason and determination wherein alone can there be profit or promise of in this corn law we seem to trace something of the antique spirit a spirit which corn law had long become invisible among our working as among other classes which here perhaps almost for the first time itself in an altogether modern political the of the isle of woe as he passionately names them are no longer if they have become men here is one man of their tribe in several respects a true man who has and yet not trodden and loyalty under foot not without of insight of resolve who in all circumstances even in these strange ones will be found himself like a man one such that has found a voice who knows how many mute but not brethren he may have in his own and in all other ranks seven thousand that have not bowed the knee to these are the men found who are to stand forth in england s evil day on whom the hope of england rests for it has been often said and must be said again that all reform except a moral will prove political reform enough wanted can indeed root out the weeds gross deep fixed lazy dock weeds poisonous ineffectual in abundance but it leaves the ground empty ready either for noble fruits or for new worse i and how else is a moral reform to be looked for but in this way that more and more good men are by a sent hither to goodness literally to sow it as in seeds shaken abroad by the living tree for such in all ages and places is the nature of a good man he is ever a mystic centre of goodness his influence if we consider it is not to be measured for his works do not die but being of eternity are eternal and in new and ever wider endure living and giving thou who over the horrors and of the time and how would now need two in s miscellaneous writings daylight think of this over the time thou hast no power to redeem a world sunk in has not been given thee solely over one man therein thou hast a quite absolute power him redeem him make honest it will be something it will be much and thy life and labor not in vain we have given no abstract of these little books su h as is the s wont we would gladly persuade many a reader high and low who takes interest not in rhyme only but in reason and the condition of his fellow man to purchase and them for himself it is proof of an innate love of worth and how willingly the public did not thousand so it would have to do with and not with shadows that these volumes carry third edition marked on them on all of them but the whose fate with the reading world we yet know not which however seems to deserve not worse but better than either of its nay it appears to us as if in this humble chant of the village might be traced of a truly great idea great though all the of is in its nature and unconscious tendency a whole world lies in it what we might call an inarticulate half audible the main figure is a blind aged man himself a ruin and encircled with the ruin of a whole era sad and great does that of a universal dissolution visible as a poetic background good old he could do so much was so wise so no ii ion had he destroyed yet somewhat he had built up where the mill stands noisy by its making corn into bread for men it was that reared it and made the rude rocks send it water corn law where the mountain torrent now in vain and is mere passing music to the traveller it was s cunning that it with that strong arch grim time where s hand or mind has been disorder has become order chaos has some little must give up some new of his realm too has seen his followers fall round him by stress of hardship and the arrows of the gods has performed funeral games for them and raised and carved his ad with his own hand tlie living chronicle and of a whole century when he a whole century will become dead historical of an we say and of the true of our time were the genius but	37
arrived that could sing ii not arms and the man tools and the man that were now our what indeed are tools from the hammer and of to this pen we now write with but arms wherewith to do battle against without or within and in pieces not miserable fellow men but the arch enemy that makes us all miserable henceforth the only legitimate battle which as we granted is here altogether imperfectly sung scarcely a few notes thereof brought freely out nevertheless with indication with that it will be sung such is the purport and merit of the village it struggles towards a noble utterance which however it can find old is from the first speechless heard of rather than heard or seen at best mute motionless like a stone pillar of his own carving indeed to find fit utterance for such meaning as lies struggling here i a problem to which the highest poetic minds may long be content to accomplish only meanwhile our honest with no guide but the instinct of a clear natural talent has created and adjusted somewhat s miscellaneous writings not without vitality of union has avoided somewhat the road to which lay open enough his village for example though of an strain is not wholly not without touches of rugged is like life itself with tears and toil with laughter and rude play such as sees it in which sense that wondrous courtship of the sharp tempered oft green may pass questionable yet with a air of stained and so has not a picture indeed yet a sort of genial study or come together for him and may endure there after some which we have seen framed with and hung up in proud galleries have become rags and rubbish to one class of readers especially such books as these ought to be interesting to the highest that is to say the richest class among our aristocracy there are men we trust there are many men who feel that they also are workmen born to toil ever in their great s eye faithfully with heart and head for those that with heart and hand do under the same great toil for them who have even this noblest and hardest work set before them to deliver out of that egyptian bondage to wretchedness and ignorance and sin the millions of whom this earnest witness and writer is here representative to such men his writing will be as a document which they will lovingly interpret what is dark and exasperated and in their humble brother they for themselves will and taking what is the real purport of his message and laying it earnestly to heart might an instructive relation and between high and low at length ground itself and more and more perfect itself to the unspeakable profit of all parties for if all parties are to love and help one another the first step towards this is that all thoroughly understand corn law one another to such rich men an message from the hearts of poor men from the heart of one poor man will be welcome to another class of our aristocracy again who unhappily feel rather that they are not workmen and profess not so much to bear any burden as to be themselves with utmost and if possible borne such a phenomenon as this of the corn law with a and much else pointing the same way will be quite unwelcome indeed to the clearer sighted astonishing and alarming it that they find themselves as napoleon was wont to say in a new position a position wonderful enough of extreme to which in the whole course of history there is perhaps but one case in some measure parallel the case alluded to stands recorded in the book of hers the case of the son of truly if we consider it there are few passages more notable and in their way than this of the truth speaker or as we should now say counsel and is forth as he has from of old quite done in the way of his not so much to curse the people of the lord as to earn for himself a comfortable penny by such means as are possible and expedient something it is hoped between cursing and blessing which shall not except in case of necessity be either a curse or a blessing or any thing so much as a nothing that will look like a something and bring wages in for the man is not far from it still less is he honest but above all things he is has been arid will be respectable did ever dare to fasten itself on the fair fame of in his whole walk and conversation has he not shown enough ever doing and speaking the thing that was decent with s miscellaneous writings proper spirit maintaining his so that friend and op must often compliment him and defy the world to say art thou a and now as he along in official comfort with brave official his heart filled with good things his head with schemes for the of vice and the cause of civil and religious liberty all over the world consider what a and life clutching ice pang must have shot through the brain and of when his ass not only on the sudden stood stock still spur and but began to talk and that in a reasonable manner did not his face and tremor occupy his joints for the thin crust of respectability has cracked asunder and a under him instead farewell a long farewell to all my greatness the spirit stirring vote ear piercing hear the big speech that makes ambition virtue soft palm first of and cheers that sphere music s occupation s gone as for our stout corn law what can we say by way of but this well done come again	37
doing better enough there were but all lie included under one to keep his eyes open and do honestly whatsoever his hand shall find to do we have praised him for sincerity let him become more and more sincere casting out all of imitation speculation resolutely clearing his mind of cant we advised a wider course of reading would he forgive us if we now suggested the question whether rhyme is the only dialect he can write in whether rhyme is after all the natural or dialect for him in good prose which from bad prose what may not be written what may not be read from a novel to an to an english bible rhyme corn law me has plain advantages which however are too dear if the inward thought speak itself and not sing itself let it especially in these quite days do the former in case if the inward thought do not sing itself that singing of the outward phrase is a false matter we could well dispense with will consider himself then and decide for what is best rhyme up to this hour never seems ther obedient to him and rhyme would ride on it that had once learned walking he takes amiss that some friends have him to quit politics we will not repeat that let him on this as on all other matters take solemn counsel with his own demon such as dwells in every mortal such as he is a happy mortal who can hear the voice of follow the of like an law at the same time we could truly wish to see such a mind as his engaged rather in considering what in his own sphere could be done than what in his own or other ought to be destroyed rather in producing or preserving the true than in and asunder the false let him be at ease the false is already dead or lives only with a mock life the death sentence of the false was of old from the first beginning of it written in heaven and is now proclaimed in the earth and read aloud at all market crosses nor are innumerable and wanting to execute the same for which needful service men inferior to him may suffice why should the heart of the law be troubled spite of bread tax he and his brave children who will their have yet bread the as we rejoice to fancy has into the safe distance and is now quite shut out from his poetic pleasure ground why should he himself with devices of or the rage of the vol iii s writings heathen imagining a vain thing this matter which he calls ck law will not have completed itself adjusted itself into clearness for the space of a century or two nay after twenty centuries what will there or can there be for the son of adam but work work two hands quite full of work meanwhile is not the corn law already a king though a one king of his own mind and faculty and what man in the long run is king of more not one in the thousand even among kings of so much be in business then fervent in spirit above all things lay aside anger hatred noisy tumult avoid them as worse than worse than bread tax itself for it well kings all mortals it well to possess their souls in patience and await what can review v the acts of the christian on which as we may say the world has now for eighteen centuries had its foundation are written in so small a compass that they can be read in one little hour the acts of the french the importance of which is already fast itself lie recorded in whole acres of and would furnish reading for a lifetime nor is the stock as we see yet complete or within distance of completion here are four quite new the labors voyages and of the it is but a year or two since a new contribution on came before us since had a new life written for him and then of those de what masses may yet lie in the library waiting only to be awakened and let slip reading for a lifetime thomas might begin reading in long clothes and stop in his last hundred and year without having ended and then as to when the process of addition will cease and the acts and ties of the church of will have completed themselves except in so far as the quantity of paper writ m et de d s les s en par k torn vo paris de d es de m et sa et sea par j a tom yo paris s ten on or even in those days being and not infinite the business one day or other must cease and the close for the last time we yet know nothing mean let us be understood as this but rather as it with patience and indeed with satisfaction so long as they are true how stupid can hardly be accumulated in excess the they are let them simply be the sooner cast into the oven if true they will always instruct more or less were it only in the way of confirmation and repetition and what is of vast moment they do not instruct day after day looking at the high which yet await literature which literature will ere long address herself with more than ever to it grows clearer to us that the proper task of literature lies in the domain of belief within which poetic fiction as it is named will have to take a quite new figure if allowed a settlement there whereby were it not reasonable to that this exceeding great multitude of novel writers and such like must in a new generation gradually do one of two things either retire	37
into and work for children and semi persons of both s or else what were far better sweep their novel fabric into the dust cart and them with such faculty as they have to understand and record what is of which surely there is and will for ever be a whole unknown to us of infinite importance to us i poetry it will more and more come to be understood is nothing but higher knowledge and the only genuine romance for grown persons reality the is the poet the let him who sees write down according to his of sight if deep and with inspired vision then if common and with only every day vision let him at least be faithful in this and write on us still so near at hand that century in paris presenting itself as portion of the magic web of universal history but only as the confused and mass of threads and in process of being woven into such a rather complex relation of which however as of all such the leading rules may be happily in this very plain one by nature herself to search in them so far as they seem worthy for whatsoever can help us forward on our own path were it in the shape of intellectual instruction of moral nay of mere and amusement the indeed took a shorter method the like of which has been often recommended elsewhere they shut up and hid the graves of the hoping that their lives and writings might likewise thereby go out of sight and out of mind and thus the whole business would be so to speak suppressed foolish these things were not done in a corner but on high places before the anxious eyes of all mankind hidden they can in be to conquer them to resist them our first indispensable preliminary is to see and comprehend them to us indeed as their immediate the right comprehension of them is of prime necessity for sent of god or of the devil they have plainly enough gone before us and left us such and such a world it is on ground of their with the of their harvest standing on it that we now have to plough before all things then let us understand what ground it is what manner of men and these were for which reason be all welcome each in its kind for which reason let us now without the smallest reluctance penetrate into this wondrous gospel s miscellaneous to and to see whether it will yield us aught in any phenomenon one of the most important moments is tbe end now this epoch of the or was properly the end the end of a social system which for a thousand years had been building together and that had begun for some centuries as human things all do to down the down of a system is no cheerful business either to form part of or to look at however at length in the course of it there comes a time when the changes into a rushing active hands drive in their set to their there is a comfortable appearance of work going on instead of here and there a stone falling out here and there a handful of dust whole masses tumble down whole clouds an l of dust too are applied and the rotten easily takes re so what with what with dust and the crush of falling towers the concern grows eminently interesting and our can encourage one another with and cries of speed the work add to this that of all no one can see such rapid extensive fruit of his labor as the can and does it will not seem unreasonable that measuring from to cause he should esteem his labor as the best and greatest and a for example be by his brethren and confidently accounted not only the greatest man of this age but of all i ages and perhaps the greatest that nature could produce old nature she goes on producing whatsoever is needful in each season of her course e nd produces with perfect composure that opinion that i can produce no more such a torch and period of quick rushing down and was this of the de louis when the social system having all fallen into rain holes and decay the shivering natives resolved to cheer their dull by the questionable step of setting it on fire questionable we call their manner of the thing itself as ail men may now see was one way or other whether by prior burning or the old house must needs be new built we behold the business of pulling down or at least of the rubbish still go resolutely on all over europe here and there some traces of new foundation of new building up may now to the eye of hope disclose themselves to get acquainted with and his life were to see the significant of all this as it works on the thinking and acting soul of a man fashions for him a lar element of existence gives himself therein a peculiar hue and figure unhappily after all that has been written the matter still is not luminous to us strangers much in that foreign economy and method of working and living remains obscure much in the man himself and his inward nature and structure but indeed it is several years since the present gave up the idea of what could be called understanding any man whatever even himself every man within that figure of his contains a whole spirit kingdom and of the all and though to the eye but some six standard feet in size reaches downwards and upwards fading into the regions of and of eternity life everywhere as woven on that ever marvellous loom of time may be said to fashion itself of a of light indeed yet on a of mystic darkness only	37
he that created it can understand it as to this had we once got so far that we could in the faintest degree him take upon ourselves his character and his of s miscellaneous writings and act his life over again in that small private of ours under our own hat with moderate and effect that were what in with common speech we should name understanding nm f and could be abundantly content with in his manner of appearance before the world has been perhaps to an extreme degree unfortunate his literary productions were invariably dashed off in haste and left generally on the waste of accident with an indifference he had to live in france in the sour days of a journal des of a suspicious he was too poor to set foreign presses at or elsewhere in motion too headlong and quick of temper to seek help from those that could thus must he if his pen was not to lie idle write much of which there was no his papers accordingly are found flying about s leaves in all corners of the world for many years no tolerable collection of his writings was attempted to this day there is none that in any sense can be called perfect two or rather were all that the world saw during his life did not hear of these for several years and then only it is said with of laughter and no other practical step whatever of the four that have since been printed or for s of is the great original no one so much as either to be complete or selected on any system s the latest of which alone we have much personal knowledge is a well printed book perhaps better worth buying than any of the others yet without arrangement without purport often in need of on the whole in reference to the wants and of this time as good as re seems indeed to have hired some person or thing to play the part editor or rather more things than one for they sign in the number and from time to time throughout the work some us to the bottom of the leaf and to some printed matter but unhappily the journey is for most part in vain in the course of a volume or two we learn too well that nothing is to be gained there that the note whatever it treat of will in strict logical speech mean only as much as to say reader thou that we to the number of at least two are alive and if we had any information would impart it for the rest these are polite people and with this uncertainty as to their being persons or things clearly before them continue to all appearance in good one service they or re for them if indeed is not himself they as we sometimes have accomplished for us sought out and printed the long looked for lost life of by the lovers of biography had for years over this concealed manuscript with a from which hope had nigh fled a certain the beloved of had if his own word in his own preface was to be written a life of him and alas whither was it now vanished surely all that was dark in the had there been illuminated nay was there not probably a glorious light street carried through that whole literary century and was not long as the most head that perhaps ever existed now to show himself as such in the new practical philosophic of life in three score and ten years or volumes too was known as the noblest of his time considering all that with his slender opportunities had made of johnson what was there we had not a right to expect s miscellaneous writings by s endeavor as we said the concealed manuscript of now lies as published volume on this desk alas a written i e too like many an acted life where hope is one thing fulfilment quite another perhaps indeed of all ever put together by the hand of man this of s is the most uninteresting foolish we wanted to see and know how it stood with the bodily man the clothed working and in that paris of his how he looked and lived what he did what he said had the foolish so much as told us what color his stockings were of all this beyond a date or two not a syllable not a hint i nothing but a dull sulky interminable lecture on philosophy how came upon how he taught it how true it is how important singular enough the zeal of the house hath eaten up a man of coarse mechanical perhaps rather feeble intellect and then with the vehemence of some pulpit or precious mr only that his is of the other complexion yet must he too see himself in a wholly world where much and other scandal still rules and many times be tempted to weep by the streams of withal however he is wooden thoroughly mechanical as if himself had made him and that singularly his fury let the reader finally admire the produce of this earth and how one element bears nothing but the other matches it here have we not the truest working quite in a of the everlasting nothing so much for what we looked for from him and what we have got must then be given up to oblivion or remembered not as man but merely as philosophic logic mill did not live as well as think an amateur in some of the declares that he heard him talk one day in and slippers for the space of two hours concerning earth sea and air with a almost beyond human rising from height to height and at length finish the climax by dashing his against the wall most readers will admit	37
this to be biography we alas must say it nearly all about the man that hitherto would abide with us here however comes with a quite new contribution a long series of letters extending over years unhappily only love letters and from a married yet still letters from his own hand amid these floods of and so forth like long small beer many a curious trait comes to light indeed we can see more of the individual and his and method of there than by all the other books that have yet been published of him forgetting or conquering the species of that such a business on the first announcement of it may occasion and in many of the details of it cannot but confirm the reader will find this well worth looking into nay is it not something of itself to see that spectacle of the in love or at least to fancy himself so for scientific purposes a considerable of noble sentiment and even worse things can be undergone how the most head that perhaps ever existed now on the borders of his grand and already provided with wife and child himself in that trying circumstance of and indeed at such age and with so many almost devotion to the queens of this earth may by the curious in science who have nerves for it be here seen there is besides a lively me s miscellaneous writings of him by though too brief and not very true looking finally in one large volume dream of d greatly regretted and upon by which we could have without for its bulk that little is the best of the whole as hinted resolute of all things to be writes or rather in a smart manner the for clearness or without suspicion of voluntary falsehood there is no that this is a picture or a portrait drawn by legitimate rules of art such resolution to be is the sin of innumerable persons of both sexes and any use there might otherwise be in their writing or their speaking it is or was the fault specially to the french in a woman and who besides has much to tell us it must even be borne with and now from these scattered materials let us try how a figure of and his earthly pilgrimage and performance we can piece together in the ancient town of in ihe month of october it begins fancy on its hill top roman ruins nigh the sources of the and of the with its coarse substantial houses and fifteen thousand inhabitants mostly engaged in knife grinding and one of the most and figures of that century just landed in the world there in this french s father was a master of his craft a much respected and respect worthy one of those ancient now alas nearly departed from the earth and sought with little l among e and elsewhere who in die school of practice have learned not only skill of bat the ht harder of head and c whose whole knowledge and virtue being by necessity a knowledge and virtue to do somewhat is true and has stood trial humble modem brave wise simple of worth rude but like genuine silver native from the mine loved his father as he well might and regrets on several occasions that he was painted in holiday clothes and not in the costume of his trade with apron and s wheel and spectacles pushed up even as he lived and labored and honestly made good for himself the small section of the universe he pretended to occupy a man of and integrity was this ancient master of great insight and patient discretion so that he was of en chosen as and adviser of great humanity so that one day crowds of poor were to follow him with tears to his long home an neighbor gratified the now philosopher with this saying ah you are a famous man but you will never be your father s equal truly of all the wonderful illustrious persons that come to view in the part of these six and twenty volumes it is a question whether this old is not the to us no other suggests himself whose worth can be admitted without lamentable and to be from it the mother also was a loving hearted just woman so might account himself well born and it is a credit to the man that he always and sometimes in the circle of kings and gratefully did so the were his at the age of twelve the head was he was quick in seizing strong in remembering and arranging otherwise enough fond of sport and from time to time getting into trouble one grand event significant of all this he hat himself his daughter records it in these terms vol in s miscellaneous writings he had chanced to have a quarrel with his comrades it had been serious enough to bring on him a sentence of from college on some day of public examination and distribution of the idea of passing this important time at home and his parents was intolerable he proceeded to the the porter refused him he presses in while some crowd is entering and sets off running at full speed the porter gets at him with a sort of he carried and wounds him in the side the boy will not be driven back arrives takes the place that belonged to him of all sorts for composition for memory for poetry he them all no doubt he had deserved them since even the resolution to punish him could not withstand the sense of justice in his several volumes a number of had fallen to his lot being too weak to carry them all he put the round his neck and with his arms full of books returned home his mother was at the door and saw him coming through the public square in this	37
and sur k by his one should be a mother to conceive what she must have felt he was he was but next sunday in dressing him for church a considerable wound was found on him of which he had not so much as thought of complaining one of the sweetest moments of my life writes himself of this same business with a slight was more than thirty years ago and i remember it like yesterday when my father saw me coming home from the college with my arms full of that i had carried of and my shoulders with the they had given me which being too big for my brow had let my head slip through them noticing me at a distance he threw down his work hastened to the door to meet me and could not help weeping it is a fine sight a true man and falling to weep in her quick sparkling way us that the school victor getting tired of c and whereof there were many said one morning to his father that he meant to give up school r thou rather be a then with all my heart they handed him an apron and he placed himself beside his father he spoiled whatever he laid hands on blades of all kinds it went on for four or five days at the end of which he rose proceeded to his room got his books there and returned to college and having it appear in this simple manner sown his college wild never stirred from it again to the reverend fathers it seemed that would make an excellent wherefore they set about and with intent to him here in some minds a certain comfortable reflection on the cunning and of these holy fathers now happily all dissolved and will suggest itself along with which may another melancholy reflection no less be in place namely that these devil serving should have shown a skill and zeal in their teaching such as no heaven serving body of what complexion anywhere on our earth now to the talent of a young vague who must one day be a man and a reality to take him by the hand and train him to a spiritual trade and set him up in it with tools shop and were doing him in most cases an unspeakable service on this one it is true that the trade be a just and honest one in which surely there should lie no to such service but rather a help nay could many a poor and such like have been trained to be a good were it greatly worse than to have lived painfully as a bad nothing at all but indeed as was said the are dissolved and of all sorts have perished from and now instead of the seven selfish spirits we have the one and thirty millions of selfish and the rule mind makes a and a scramble and crushing press with dead pressed figures and limbs enough into whose dark depths for human s miscellaneous writings life is ever one to look of all and worst in that world scramble is the extraordinary figure known in these times as man of letters it appears to be that this state of matters will alter and improve itself in a century or two but to return the thus employed the temptation which is always so of travelling and of liberty persuaded the youth to quit his home and set forth with a to whom he was attached had a friend a cousin of his own age he his secret to him wishing that he should accompany but the cousin a and personage discovered the whole project to the father the day of departure the hour all was betrayed my grandfather kept the silence but before going to sleep he carried off the keys of the street door and at midnight hearing his son descend he presented himself before him with the question whither bound at such an to paris replied the young man where i am to join the that will not be to night but your desires shall be fulfilled let us in the first place go to sleep next morning his father engaged two places ia the public conveyance and carried him to paris to the college d he settled the terms of his little establishment and bade his son ye but the worthy man loved his child too well to leave him without being quite satisfied about his situation he had the constancy to stay a fortnight longer killing the time and dying of in an inn without seeing the sole object he was at the end he proceeded to the college and my father has often told me that this proof of tenderness would have made him go to the end of the world if the old man had required it friend said he i am come to know if your health keeps good if you are content with your with your diet with others and with yourself if you are not well if you are not happy we will go back again to your mother if you like better to remain here i have but to speak a word with you to embrace you and give you my blessing the youth assured him that he was perfectly content that he his new abode very much my grandfather then took leave of him im d went to the principal to know if he was satisfied with his pupil on which side also th answer favorable the worthy father returned home saw little more of him never again resided under his roof though for many years and to the last a proper intercourse was kept up not as appears without a visit or two on the son s part and certainly with the most prudent and assistance on the father s indeed	37
too intent on sparkling is and rather than and how inferior for seeing with is your brightest train of to the candle who s companions friends enemies were what his way of life was what the paris he lived in and from his garret looked down on was we learn only in hints it is in general to be impressed on us that young as a sort of spiritual who went about conquering destiny in light fence by way of amusement or at lowest in gracefully insulting her with mock lived and acted like no other man all which being freely admitted we ask with small increase of knowledge how he did act then he gave lessons in we find but with the indifference as to payment was his scholar lively and prompt of conception he sat by him teaching all day did he chance on a he returned not back they paid him in books in in linen in money or not at all it was quite the same farther he made sermons to order as the devil is said to quote scripture a missionary half a dozen of him of that is for die colonies and paid for them very handsomely at fifty crowns each once a family came in his tray with tolerable but likewise with duties at the end of three months he waits upon the house father with this abrupt communication i am come to request you to seek a new i cannot remain with you any longer but what is your grievance have you too little salary i will double it are you ill lodged i choose your apartment is your table ill served order your own dinner all will be cheap to parting with you look at me a is not so yellow as my face i am making men of your children but every day i am becoming a child with them i feel a hundred times too rich and too well off in your house yet i must leave it the object of my wishes is not to live better but to keep from dying that if sometimes drunk with gay he was often enough plunged in bitterness but then ft problem a fine thought or any small of that sort would instantly cheer him again the gold mines had not yet come to light meanwhile between him and starvation we can still discern stretching out its hand of any man coming in his way and the good old father refuses not to pay the mother is still kinder at least softer she sends him direct help as she can not by the post but by a serving maid who travelled these sixty on foot delivered him a small sum from his mother and without mentioning it added all her own this journey she performed three times i saw her some years ago adds she spoke of my father with tears her whole desire was to see him again sixty years had neither her sense nor her s miscellaneous it is granted also that his company was sometimes good sometimes indifferent not to say bad indeed putting all things together we can easily fancy that the last sort was the it seems probable that during these ten years of walked chiefly in the shades of now from full now with haggard the hungry wind always sorely on from the neighboring hell in some of his writings a most intimate acquaintance with the world of de and their ways of doing comes to light among other things as may be seen in le and elsewhere a singular in what is named raising the wind which miracle indeed himself is expressly in this found once performing and in a style to require legal had not the worthy father sneered at the and paid the here was a whom the dog with professions of life weariness and turning which all once the money was in his hands on other occasions it might turn out otherwise and the hook some of prey literature except in the way of sermons for the colonies or other the like small private dealings had not yet opened her hospitable bosom to him and for such as had more cash than grammar he may have written also and in these latter cases even seen himself in print but now he forward with bolder step towards the interior mysteries and begins producing from the english literature it is true was then as now the universal free hospital and refuge for the destitute where all mortals of what color and kind had liberty to live or at least to die nevertheless for an man its resources at that time were comparatively limited newspapers were few existed not still less the inferior branches with their fixed rate per line and much more and and as yet the last century of their slumber in the of chaos literature had not yet come into being therefore could not be paid for talent wanted a free and where wages might be certain and too often like virtue was praised and left starving lest the reader the of the literary in france at this epoch let us lead him into a small historical scene that he may see with his own eyes is the historian the date too is many years later when times if anything were mended i had given a poor devil a manuscript to copy the time he had promised it at having expired and my man not appearing i grow uneasy set off to hunt him out i find him in a hole the size of my hand almost without daylight not the of to cover his walls two straw bottom chairs a flock bed the with worms without curtains a trunk in a corner of the chimney rags of all sorts above it a little white iron lamp with a bottle for to it on a deal shelf a	37
dozen of excellent books i with him of an hour my gentleman was naked as a worm un ver it was august lean dingy dry yet serene complaining of nothing eating his of bread with appetite and from time tor time caressing his beloved who on that miserable taking up two thirds of the room if i had not known that happiness in the soul my of the might have taught it me notwithstanding all which now in his twenty ninth year sees himself to fall desperately and over head and ears in love it was a virtuous pure attachment s his first of that sort his last who would see the and what talent had for such may read this scene in the once noted drama of the de it is known that he drew from the life and with few which too except in the french theatre do not act l scene father you shall know all alas how else can i move you the first time i ever saw her was at church she was on her knees at the foot of the altar beside an aged woman whom i took for her mother ah father what modesty what charms her image followed me by day haunted me by night left me rest nowhere i lost my my health my peace i could not live without seeking to find her she has changed me i am no longer what i was from the first moment all desires fade away from my soul respect and admiration succeed them without rebuke or restraint on her part perhaps before she had raised her eyes on me i became timid more so fix m day to day and soon i felt as little free to attempt her virtue as her life tht father and who are these women how do they live m ah if you knew it unhappy as they are imagine that their toil begins before day and often they have to continue it through the night the mother on the wheel hard coarse cloth is between the soft small fingers of and wounds them her eyes the brightest eyes in this world are worn at the light of a lamp she lives in a garret within four bare walls a wooden table a couple of chairs a bed that is their furniture o heavens when ye fashioned such a creature was this the lot ye destined her tlie father and how got you access speak me truth saint it is incredible what obstacles i had what i sur the real trade appears to have been a one in and the poverty is somewhat exaggerated otherwise the shadow may be faithful enough mounted though now lodged there under the same roof i at first did not seek to see them if we met on the stairs coming up going down i saluted them respectfully at night when i came home for all day i was supposed to be at my work i would go knock gently at their door ask them for the little services usual among neighbors as water fire light by degrees they grew accustomed to me rather took to me i to serve them in little things for instance they disliked going out at night i fetched and carried for them the real truth here is i ordered a set of shirts from them said i was a church just bound for the of st and above all had the tongue of the old serpent but to much and finish yesterday i came as usual was alone she was sitting with her elbows on the table her head on her hand her work had fallen at her feet i entered without her hearing me she sighed tears escaped from between her fingers and ran along her arms for some time of late i had seen her sad why was she weeping what was it that grieved her want it could no longer be her labor and my attentions provided against that threatened by the only misfortune terrible to me i did not hesitate i threw myself at her knees what was her surprise said i you weep what you do not hide your trouble from me speak to me oh speak to me she spoke not her tears continued flowing her eyes where calmness no longer dwelt but tears and anxiety bent towards me then turned away then turned to me again she said only poor unhappy i had laid my face on her knees i was her apron with my tears in a word there is nothing for it but marriage old joyous as he was to see his son once more started back in indignation and derision from such a proposal and young had to return to paris and be forbid the beloved house and fall sick and come to the point of death before the fair one s scruples could be subdued however she vol iii s miscellaneous sent to get news of him learnt that his room was a perfect dog that he lay without nourishment without attendance wasted d thereupon she took her resolution mounted to him promised to be his wife and mother and daughter now became his nurses so soon as he recovered they went to saint and were married at midnight it only remains to add that if the whom he had wedded fell much short of this whom he the fault was less in her qualities than in his own fancy as in youth she was tall beautiful pious and wise so through a long life she seems to have approved herself a woman of courage discretion faithful affection far too good a wife for such a husband my father was of too jealous a character to let my mother continue a traffic which obliged her to receive strangers and treat with them he begged her therefore	37
to give up that business she was very to consent poverty did not alarm her on her own account but her mother was old unlikely to remain with her long and the fear of not being able to provide for all her wants was nevertheless persuading herself that this sacrifice was for her husband s happiness she made it a looked in daily to sweep their little lodging and fetch provisions for the day my mother managed all the rest often when my father dined or out she would dine or sup on bread and took a great pleasure in the thought that next day she could double her little ordinary for him coffee was too considerable a luxury for a household of this sort but she could not think of his wanting it and every day gave him six to go and have his cup at the de la and see the playing there it was now that he translated the history of greece in three volumes by the english he sold it for a hundred crowns this sum brought a sort of supply into the house my mother had been brought to bed of a daughter she was now big a second time in spite of her precautions solitary life and the pains she had taken to off her husband as her brother his family in the seclusion of their province learnt that he was living with two women directly the birth the morals the character of my mother became objects of the he foresaw that by letter would be endless he found it to put his wife into the stage coach and send her to his parents she had just been delivered of a son he announced this event to his father and the departure of my mother she set out yesterday said he she will be with you in three days you win say to her what shall please you and send her back when you are tired of her singular as this sort of explanation was they determined in any case on sending my father s sister to receive her their first welcome was more than cold the evening grew less painful to her but next morning she went in to her father in law treated him as if he had been her own father her respect and her caresses charmed the good sensible old man coming down stairs she began working refused nothing that could please a family whom she was not afraid of and wished to be loved by her conduct was the only excuse she gave for her husband s choice her appearance had them in her favor her simplicity her piety her talents for household economy secured her their tenderness they promised her that my father s should be they kept her three months and sent her back loaded with whatever they could think would be useful or agreeable to her all this is beautiful told with a graceful simplicity the beautiful real ideal prose of a literary life but alas in the music of your prose there ever an accursed or the players make one where men are there will be mischief this journey writes cost my mother many tears what will the reader say when he finds that has in the taken up with a certain madame de and his brave wife worthy to have been a true man s with a heart and bosom henceforth from her madame made two journeys to and both were fatal to her peace this of the for whom he enough not only burned but toiled and made s ous writings money kept him busy for some ten years till at length finding that she played false he gave her up and minor miscellaneous seem to have succeeded but returning from her second journey the much enduring finds him in a glory with one the maiden daughter of a s y to whom we owe this present to whom indeed he mainly devoted himself for the rest of his life parting his time between his study and her to his own wife and household giving little save the trouble of cooking for him and of painfully with repressed or irrepressible discontent keeping up some appearance of terms with him alas alas and his seems to have been a hollow to whose scandalous soul he of books fit and the an elderly with sensible et and then those old on bread the six spared for his cup of coffee foolish scarcely a hard saying it is yet a one injustice and should be left to alone for thy wronged wife whom thou sworn far other things to ever in her here so and written of a true sympathy will awaken and sorrow that the patient or even impatient of such a woman should be matter of speculation and self to such another but looking out of doors now from an household which have fallen in had not a wife been wiser and stronger than her husband we find the making distinct way with the world and in the end to pick up a kind of living there the s history of greece the other english translated nameless medical dictionary are dropped by all as worthless a like fate might with little have overtaken the sur le et la fer m rendered or out of s characteristics in which with its notes of anxious and falsehood looking through it we have found nothing save a confirmation of the old twice repeated experience that in s book there lay if any meaning a meaning of such long and that like an it must for ever slip through our fingers and leave us al ie among the gravel one reason may partly be that was not only a but an amateur which sort a darker more earnest have long since swallowed and the meaning of a delicate gentlemanly individual standing there in that war of hill	37
meeting hill with all its woods and putting out hand tb it with a pair of however our has now emerged from the of into the heaven of his place book of it is said in the space of four days writes his on the de la nature an endless business to interpret and casts the money produce of both into the lap of hia scarlet woman then forthwith for the same object in a shameful fortnight puts together the of all past present or future dull novels a difficult un happily not an impossible one if any mortal creature even a be again compelled to glance into that book let him himself in running water put on change of and be until the even as yet the sur h et and sur les which brings glory and a three months lodging in the castle of are at years distance in the back ground but already by his gilded s miscellaneous writings tongue growing and projecting temper he has persuaded to pay off the with bis lean version of s dictionary of arts and convert it into an with himself and d for and is henceforth from the of grace a man of letters an and more and more conspicuous member of that surprising literature ever since its appearance in our european world especially since it emerged out of into the open market place and endeavored to make itself room and gain a there has offered the strangest phases and or unconsciously done the strangest work wonderful ark of the where so much that is precious nay to mankind carelessly through the chaos of distracted times if so be it may one day find an to rest on and see the waters the history of literature especially for the last two centuries is our proper church history the other church during that time having more and more decayed from its old functions and influence and ceased to have a history and now to look only at the outside of the matter think of the and older or later struggling to raise their from its of court and teach and the in with that other quite task of and some in cloak and other gilt or golden king tackle that they in uie might thereby consider the and a like trade but on a double material glad of any royal or noble patronage but as their stay some contribution from the thick many million now for a hundred gold now with en who blow the fire with their own mouth to make a s breakfast anon cast forth being and and dying of coupled with then the laws of the quarrels of authors the of authors the dining on boiled the on water the and on a day lastly the unutterable confusion worse confounded of our present existence when among other phenomena a young fourth estate whom all the three elder may try if they can hold is seen and staggering through the world as yet but a huge raw lean calf fast growing however to be a s lean cow of whom let the fat beware all this of the mere exterior or dwelling place of literature not yet glancing at the internal at the doctrines or after will the future and to record and in some small degree explain to us what it means is its meaning life mankind s life ever from its fountains rolls wondrous on another though the same in literature too the seeing eye will distinguish of the and still less will the or with the golden be wanting but all now is on an infinitely wider scale the elements of it all swim far scattered and still only striving towards union whereby indeed it happens that to the most under this new figure they are french literature in s time presents itself in a certain state of where causes long prepared are rapidly becoming and was doubtless in one of its more notable under the aspect in france as in england this was the age of when as a and miller could risk capital in an dictionary y a and could become put s miscellaneous and officers for a french the world for ever knowledge and would part its last sixpence in payment thereof this your and well saw moreover they could act on it for as yet was not alas must come from the first was inevitable woe to them nevertheless by whom it did come meanwhile as we said it slept in chaos the word of man and was still partially to man were therefore a possible were even a necessary class of mortals though a strangely one had they kept from lying or lied with any sort of moderation the might have lasted still longer for the present they managed in paris as elsewhere the timber headed could perceive that for thought the world would give money farther by mere cunning that true thought as in the end sure to be recognised and by nature infinitely more was better to deal in than false farther by tradition of public consent that such and such had the talent of furnishing true thought say rather truer as the more correct word on this hint the timber headed and nay let us say he and worked for most part with industrious with patience suitable prudence nay sometimes with touches of generosity and beautifully the mass of and for the rest the two high parties it out as they could so that if in their back parlor drank wine out of the of authors as they were to do authors in the front apartments from time to time gave them a for their a johnson can knock his on the head like any other bull of a commands his to leave the room and go to the devil au de under the or aspect again french literature we can see knew	37
far better what it was about than english that fable indeed first set afloat by some of that period and which has floated foolishly enough into every european ear since then of there being an association specially organized for the destruction of government religion society civility not to speak of rents life and property all over the world which hell serving association met at the baron d s there had its blue light and published transactions to all was and remains nothing but a fable president s hammer box punch bowl of such have not been produced to the world the of existed at paris but as other do held together by ties within which every one no doubt followed his own natural objects of of glory of getting a meanwhile whether in constituted association or not french philosophy resided in the persons of the french and as a mighty deep struggling force was at work there deep struggling irrepressible the fire which long heaved and shook all things with an ominous motion was here we can say forming itself a decided which by and by as french revolution became that world famous world appalling world as yet very far from closed said he wished he could live sixty years longer and see what that universal and dissolution of all ties would turn to in three score years might have seen strange things but not the end of the phenomenon perhaps in three hundred why france became such a what there were in the french national character and political moral intellectual condition by virtue whereof french s miscellaneous writings philosophy there and not elsewhere then and not sooner or later itself is an inquiry that has been often put and cheerfully answered the true answer of which might lead us far still deeper than this whence were the question of whither with which iso we not here enough for us to understand that there verily a scene of universal history is being a little living in the bosom of eternity and with the feeling due in that case to ask not so much why it is as what it is leaving and aside and effect to itself elsewhere conceive so many vivid spirits thrown together into the europe into the paris of that day and see how they themselves what they work out and attain there as the enjoyment of an object goes infinitely farther than the intellectual and we can look at a picture with delight and profit af er all that we can be taught about it is grown poor and wearisome so here and by far stronger reason these light letters of to the again and life are worth more to us than many a heavy laboriously struggling to explain it true we have seen the picture that same ten times already but can look at it an time nay this as we said is not a picture but a life picture of whose significance there is no end for us grudge not the elderly her existence then say not she has lived in vain for what of history there is in this correspondence should we not endeavor to forgive and forget all else th itself the curtain which had fallen for almost a century is again drawn up the scene is alive and busy figures grown historical are here seen face to face and again live before us a strange theatre that of french a strange dramatic corps such another corps for brilliancy and i levity for gifts and vices and all manner of sparkling the world is not like to see again there is of all the most french he whom the french had as it were long waited for to produce at once in a single life all that french genius most and most in of him and his wondrous ways as of one known we need say little instant enough to crush the he has his hunt over many lands and many centuries in many ways with an alacrity that has made him dangerous and him he now sits at withdrawn from the active toils of the chase cheers on his mostly from afar a of the first vehemence he has rather to restrain that all and possible be will not content the fell as surely it might have done the must address him a friendly on his and make him eat it again d too we may consider as one known of all the he who in speech and conduct best with our english notions an independent patient prudent man of great faculty especially of great clearness and method famous in no less so to the wonder of some in the intellectual provinces of literature a foolish wonder as if the could think only on one thing and not on any thing he had a call towards d s as the impress of a genuine spirit in peculiar position and have still instruction for us both of head and heart the man lives retired here in questionable seclusion with his the suspicion of because in the he saw no and celestial revelation but only a huge dictionary and would not venture life and limb on it without a consideration sad was it to to see his s writings fellow make for port and disregard when the sea rose round him i they did not quarrel were always friendly when they met but met only at the rate of once in the two years d died when was on his death bed my friend said the latter to the news a great light is gone out hovering in the distance with woe struck air stern comes poor alternately and cast to the dogs a deep minded high minded even noble yet mortal with all of nature to the verge of madness by fortune a lonely man his life a long the wandering of the time in whom	37
however did lie prophetic meaning such as none of the others offer whereby indeed it might partly be that the world went to such extremes about him that long after his departure we have seen one whole nation worship him and a in the name of another class him with the of the e his true character with its lofty and poor and how the spirit of the man worked so wildly like celestial fire in a thick dark element of chaos and shot forth ethereal radiance all piercing lightning yet could not was and did not conquer this with what lies in it may now be pretty accurately appreciated let his history teach all whom it concerns to themselves against the ills which mother nature will try them with to seek within their own soul what the world must for ever deny them and say to the prince of the power of this lower earth and air go thou thy way i go mine and were early friends who has forgotten how walked to the castle of where for and to the in and devised his first literary on the road thither their quarrel which as a hero of the time occupied all paris is likewise famous enough the reader that of to on that occasion and the sentence oh my friend let us continue virtuous for the state of those who have ceased to he so makes me shudder but is the reader aware what the fault of him who had ceased to be so was a series of ments and which says with much simplicity the devil himself could not understand alas the devil well understood it and tyrant too did who had the ear of and poured it his own unjust almost abominable clean paper need not be soiled with a foul story where the main is only le enough to know that the continually virtuous tyrant found extremely so poor must go his ways with both the and the scorn and among his many woes bear this also is not pitiable rather for who would be a pipe which not fortune only but any may play tunes on of this same tyrant desiring to speak we shall say little the man himself is less remarkable than his fortune changed times indeed since the quitted with the sound of cat calls in his ears the condemned tragedy in his pocket and fled southward on a thin travelling since met you a young man described as seeking a situation and whose appearance indicated the pressing necessity he was in of soon finding one of a truth you have flourished since then his of you to to black locked d where not only you are in but he is out have turned to somewhat the vol iii s miscellaneous writings thread bare has become and got and jewel rings and walks abroad in sword and bag wig and his brass countenance with and so as le himself to the fair and writes gossip to the kings and his s leaves copied to the number of twenty are bread of life to many and here and there and lives at his ease in the creation in an effective the d husband or custom of he country not poor borne the new german flying feels his mouth water at paris over these of reflecting with what heart he too could write leaves and be fed thereby borne my friend those days are done while northern courts were a it was well to have an stationed in their sun there but of all spots in this universe hardly excepting paris now is the one we at court could best dispense with news from never more in these centuries will a be thither never a leaf of borne be blown court wards by any wind as for the we can see that he was a man made to rise in the world a fair even handsome of talent wholly skill in music and the like in all saloon wit a head above all a heart ever in the right place in the market place namely and marked for sale to the highest really a managing man by hero worship and the cunning of alternate sweet and sullen he has brought to be his patient cow whom he can milk an essay from a volume from when he lists victorious he even escaped those same horrors of the revolution with loss of his and was seen at the court of sleek and well to live within the memory of man the world has heard of m le de saint considerable in literature in love and war he is here again singing the happily however only in the distance and the of his wires soon dies away of another worthy be the name mentioned and little more he wise in the field catching what he can and the light then there is the well fed his life with his revelations de and de v breathe the spirit with and sensibility enough the greater is our astonishment to find him here so ardent a of the game this madame de writes treating of the hot springs is a neighbor of she told us the philosopher was the man in the world on his estates he is surrounded there by neighbors and who him they break the windows of his mansion plunder his grounds by night cut his trees throw down his walls tear up his he dare not go to shoot a hare without a train of people to guard him you will ask me how it has come to pass by a boundless zeal for his game m his used to guard the grounds with two and two guns has and cannot do it these men have a small for every they can catch and there is no sort of mischief they will not cause to get more and more of	37
these besides they are themselves so many hired again the border of his woods was inhabited by a set of poor people who had got huts there he has caused all the huts to be swept away it is these and such acts of repeated tyranny that have raised him enemies of all kinds and the more insolent says madame de as they have discovered that the worthy philosopher is a coward i would not have his fine estate of as a present had i to live there in these perpetual what profits he draws from that mode of management i know not but he is alone there he is hated he is in fear ah how much wiser was our lady in when s miscellaneous writings speaking of a that tormented her she said to me get done with my they want money i have it give them money what better use can i make of my money than to buy peace with it in s place i would have said they kill me a few and let them be doing these poor creatures have no shelter but my forest let them stay there i should have reasoned like m and been adored like him alas are not s preserves at this hour all broken up and lying neither can the others in what latitude and remain but if a rome was once saved by need we wonder that an england is lost by we are sons of eve who paradise for an apple but to return to paris and its church here is a an active thereof who fights in a small way through the and in rose pink romance pictures to the moral sublime an busy with the corn laws walks in at intervals stooping shrunk together as if to get nearer himself pour de the rogue between and paris by good luck has for ever settled the question of the corn laws an idle fellow otherwise a spiritual full of wanton anti and wild italian humor the sight of his sharp face is the signal for laughter in which indeed the man himself has unhappily leaving no result behind him of the baron d thus much may be said that both at paris and at he gives good dinners his two or three score volumes of which he published at his own expense may now be forgotten and even forgiven a purse open and deep a heart kindly disposed quiet or even friendly these with excellent gain him a literary elevation which no thinking faculty he had could have pretended to an easy gentleman of grave politeness apt to lose temper at play yet on the whole good and there may he live and let live nor is heaven s last gift to man wanting here the natural of women your will play their part too there shall in all senses he not only philosophers hut strange enough is the figure these women make good souls it was a strange world for them what with and system of nature fashion of vanity curiosity jealousy sentiments and pots the vehement female intellect sees itself sailing on a chaos where a wiser might have wavered if not for the rest as an accurate observer has remarked they become a sort of lady in that society attain great influence and as well as receiving communicate to all that is done or said somewhat of their own peculiar tone in a world so wide and this little band of acting and speaking as they did had a most various reception to expect divided to the the mass of mankind busy enough with their own work of course them only when forced to do it these meanwhile form the great element in which the battle has to fight itself the two hosts according to their several success to themselves of the higher classes it appears the small proportion not wholly occupied in eating and dressing and therefore open to such a question are in their favor strange as to us it may seem the spectacle of a church pulled down is in times amusing nor do the on either side yet see whither it is tending the reading world which was then s writings than now the intelligent inquiring world reads eagerly as it will ever do whatsoever skilful word is written for it enjoying the same perhaps without fixed judgment or deep care of any kind careful enough fixed enough on the other hand is the brotherhood in these days sick unto death but only the and for that dangerous are the death of an ever and anon filling paris with agitation it your to walk and in many a critical circumstance to weep with the one cheek and smile with the other nor is lit itself wholly apart from the in their journals sermons and other or a considerable force consisting as usual of destitute persons who have been refused and other the like broken characters has organized itself and a bush warfare of these the is once in tolerable with the world had re not carrying too high a head struck his foot on stones and stumbled by the continual of talent grown at length he has sunk low enough in the can bring him on the stage and have him killed by laughter under the name sufficiently o in french another m still more hateful is who has written and got acted a comedy of les at which the spite of its have also laughed to laugh at m the so us heard mankind ever the like for poor had he fallen into hands serious bodily tar nd might have been apprehended as it was they do what the pen with its and can heaven and to witness the treatment of divine philosophy with which view in particular friend seems to have composed hm s nephew j wherein and	37
others of his are speaking and and left not in dog s likeness so divided was the world literal miscellaneous on this matter it was a confused time among its more notable may be reckoned the relations of french to foreign crowned heads in there is a king in russia a the whole north with and of the like temper nay as we have seen they entertain their special in their lion s to furnish spiritual and pay him well the great the great nursing father and nursing mother to this new church of in all straits ready with money honorable royal asylum help of every sort which however except in the money shape the wiser of our are shy of receiving had tried it in the and found it d and decline repeating the experiment what miracles are wrought by the arch time could these have looked forward some years and beheld the holy alliance in conference at but so goes the world kings are not doctors with gift of but only men with common in the influences of their generation kings too like all mortals have a certain love of knowledge still more a certain desire of applause a certain delight in one another thus what is persecuted here finds refuge there and ever one way or other the new works itself out full formed from under the old nay the old as in this instance sits a that will one day it s miscellaneous writings no less confused and contradictory is the relation of the to their own government how indeed could it be otherwise their relation to society being still so and the government which might have endeavored to and over this being itself in a state of death and the true conduct and position for a french sovereign towards french literature in that country might have been though perhaps of all things the most important one of the most difficult to discover and accomplish what chance was there that a thick blooded louis from his should discover it should have the faintest of it his soul was quite otherwise employed minister minister must consult his own several insight his own whim above all his own ease and so the whole business now when we look on it comes out one of the most inconsistent lamentable and even ludicrous objects in the history of state craft alas necessity has no law the without light perhaps even without eyes whom destiny nevertheless to govern what is still called governing his nation in a time of world what shall he do but if so may be collect the taxes prevent in some degree murder and and for the rest hither and thither return upon his steps up old rents and open new and on the whole eat his and let the devil take it of the pass to which had come in of let this one fact be evidence instead of a thousand m de writes to warn hat next day he will give orders to have all his papers seized impossible answers how shall i sort them where shall i hide them within four and twenty hours send them to me answers m de es thither accordingly they go under lock and seal and the hungry find nothing but empty drawers the was set forth first with approbation and privilege du next it was stopped by authority next the public murmuring suffered to proceed then again positively for the last time stopped and no whit the less printed and written and under thin some hundred and fifty working at it with open doors all paris knowing of it only authority hard in his resolute way bad now shut the eyes of authority and kept them shut finally to crown the whole matter a copy of the book lies in the king s private library and owes favor and a of the to the accident one of louis s told me says that once the king his master in private circle en at the conversation turned first on the chase and firom this on some one said that the best powder was made of and in equal parts the due de la re with better knowledge maintained that for good powder there must be but one part of one of coal with five of well well well it is pleasant said the due de that we who daily amuse ourselves with killing in the park of and sometimes with killing men or getting ourselves killed on the should not know what that same work of killing is done with a as we are in the like case with all things in this world answered madame de i know not what the i put upon my cheeks is made of you would bring me to a if you asked how the silk i wear are tis a pity said the due de la re that his n our which cost us our hundred we should soon find the decision of all our questions there the king justified the act of he had been informed that these twenty one volumes to be found lying on all ladies were the most things in the world for the king s miscellaneous writings of france he had resolved to look for himself if this were true before suffering the book to towards the end of the he sends three of his to bring a copy they enter struggling under seven volumes each the article powder is turned up the due de la re is found to be right and soon madame de the difference between the old with which the ladies of colored their cheeks and the des of fails e finds that the greek and roman ladies painted with a purple extracted from the and that consequently our scarlet is the purple of the that there is more purple in the d and more in that of france	37
she how stockings are woven the frame described there fills her with amazement ah what a glorious book cried she did you this magazine of all useful that you might have it wholly to yourself then and be the one learned man in your kingdom each threw himself on the volumes like the daughters of on the of each found forthwith whatever he was seeking some who had were to see the decision of them there the king reads there all the rights of his crown well in truth said he i know not why they said so much ill of the book ah said the due de does not your majesty see c c in such a confused world under such unheard of circumstances must friend his labors no is it penetrating into all subjects and waiting and in all nay for many years into all manner of and even working that the department of arts and trades might be perfect then seeking out and flattering them their getting payment for them quarrelling with and bearing all misfortunes of so many men for there all at l st lands on his single back surely this was with out having farther to do battle with the of office withstand them them them nevertheless he and will not but less perhaps with the deliberate courage of a man who has compared result and than with the passionate obstinacy of a woman who having made up her mind will shrink at no ladder of ropes but ride with her lover though all the four elements it at every new from the powers he say rather shrieks for there is a female in it murder robbery men and angels meanwhile proceeds with the it is a hostile building up not of the holy temple at but of the one at paris r thus must like come to strange and every workman works with his in one hand in the other his weapon of war that so in spite of all the work go on and the of it be brought out with shouting shouting ah what faint broken is that in the shout as of a man that shouted with the throat only and inwardly was bowed down with it is s faint broken he is sick and heavy of soul scandalous enough the loving as he says his head better even than his profit has for years gone at dead of night to the finished proof sheets and there with pen scratched out whatever to him seemed dangerous filling up the gap as he could or merely letting it fill itself up heaven and earth not only are the finer mostly cut out but has the work become a sunken mass little better than a hun of the book trade oh surely for this treason the of s were too temperate infamous art thou to all ages that read the s miscellaneous writings and not yet in clothes shall their teeth over thee and spit upon thy memory pockets the abuse and the cash and sleeps sound in a whole skin the able editor could never be said to get the better of it now however it is time that we go in this fine autumn weather to s at where the but with plenty of ink and writing paper is sure to be ever in the household his arrival is a holiday if a quarrel spring up it is only because he will not come or too soon goes away a man of social talent with such a tongue as s in a mansion where the only want to be guarded against was that of wit could not be other than welcome he articles there and walks and and plays cards and talks waits letters from his writes to her it is in these copious love that the whole matter is so painted we have an view of the interior life there and live it over again with him the in red silk tempered with snow white is beauty and grace itself her old mother is a perfect of or younger the house is lively with company the baron as we said speaks little but to the purpose is seen sometimes with his pipe in dressing gown and red slippers otherwise the best of remarkable figures drop in at fashionable gentlemen in the neighborhood such as perhaps and his other and guests too of less dignity acting rather as than as for it is the part of every one either to wit or to be the cause of having it among these latter many there is one whom for country s sake we must an ancient per named hope whom they by birth a seems to be a sort of at not therefore butt and is shot at for his lodging a most wind dried individual professor of life weariness sits there however with one eye open he to be called without a shrug over the fire at the warmest corner yet is there a certain in when he slowly his jaw we hear him with a sort of pleasure has been in various countries and situations in that voice of his can tell a distinct story apprehended he would one day hang himself if so what museum now holds his remains the parent it would seem still dwelt in the city of he the second son as merchant having helped them thither out of some proud house no longer can any ancient person of that city give us trace of such a man it must be inquired into one only of father s reminiscences we shall report as the highest instance on record of a national virtue at the battle of a of a gentleman with gold rings on his fingers stands fighting and for life with a rough the by some clever stroke the hand clear off and then it up from	37
the ground sticks it in his for future leisure and fights on the force of virtue could no further go it cannot be uninteresting to the general reader to learn that in the last days of october in the year of grace over ate himself as he was in the habit of properly the chief duty of man meant in old power of fighting means in modern rome ship in scotland ed vol iii s miscellaneous writings doing at and had an obstinate of bread he writes to that it is the worst of all to his fair that it lay more than hours on his with a weight like to crush the life out of him would neither nor nor indeed stir a for warm water de c te je la the warm water such things we grieve to say are of frequent occurrence the table is all too there are too we know who boast of their ability to cause the patient by successive of their art to eat with new and ever new appetite till he on the spot writes to his fair one that his clothes will hardly button that he is thus and thus and so such fill the heart of sensibility with amazement nor to the woes that this imperfect state of existence is the tear wanting the society at cannot be accounted very dull nevertheless let no man compare it with any neighborhood he may have drawn by lot in the present day or even with any no neighborhood if that be his affliction the at was of the kind that could not last were it not that some belief is left in mankind how could the sport of continue on which ground indeed swift in his argument against the christian religion not without pathos that innumerable men of wit enjoying a comfortable by virtue of jokes on the would be left without the staff of life cut away from their hand the were blind to this consideration and away as if it would last for ever so too with regard to talk where were the merit of a mother in law saying and doing in public these never imagined had not a devised fable of modesty been set afloat were there not some of modesty still among the classes the according to travellers have few double among stall cattle the witty effect of such is lost altogether be advised then foolish old woman burn not thy bed the light of it will soon go out and then apart from the common household topics which the daily household bring with them everywhere two main elements we regret to say come to light in the conversation at these with a of noble sentiment are unfortunately and whereby at this distance the whole matter grows to look poor and and we can honestly rejoice that it all has been and need not be again but now hastening back to paris friend finds proof sheets enough on his desk and notes and invitations and from distressed men of letters nevertheless runs over in the first place to seek news from tho will then see what is to be done he writes much talks and visits much besides the artists spiritual domestic or of the period he has a liberal allowance of associates especially a whole of young or mostly rather women in whose gossip he is perfect we hear the rustling of their the of their pretty tongues like their when they walk and the sound of it fresh as yesterday through this long vista of time has become significant almost prophetic life could not hang heavy on s hands he is a vivid open all embracing creature could have found occupation anywhere has occupation here forced on him enough and to he had much to do and did s writings much of his own says yet three of bis life were employed in helping had need of his purse of his talents of his management his study for the five and twenty years i knew it was like a well frequented shop where as one customer went another came he could not find in his heart to refuse any one he has reconciled brothers sought out settled advised and refreshed hungry authors instructed ignorant ones he has written for helpless he once wrote the to a pious due d of a against himself and so raised some five and twenty gold louis for the for all these things let not the light want his reward with us other reward except from himself he got none but often the reverse as in his little drama la pi ce et le may be seen and good set forth under his own hand indeed hia by a vast majority were of the scoundrel species in any case knew well that to expect gratitude is to deserve ingratitude well contented hear thanks my father both for his services and his sits another quarter of an hour and then takes leave my father shows him down as they are on stairs stops turns round and asks m ace you acquainted with natural history why a little i know an from a a pigeon from a do you know the history of the no it is a little insect of great industry it a hole in the ground like a reversed covers the top with light sand foolish insects to it takes them them then says to them m i have the honor to wish you good day my father stood laughing like to split at adventure thus amid labor and questionable literature n loves eating and better or worse in gladness and vexation of spirit in laughter ending in sighs does pass his days he has been hard toiled but then well flattered and is nothing of a what little service renown can do him may now be considered	37
as done he is in the centre of the literature science art of his nation not numbered among the forty yet in his heart entitled to be almost proud of the successful in criticism successful in nay highest of glories successful in the theatre vanity may whisper if she please that excepting the alone he is the first of high heads are in correspondence with him the low born from the to the player he is in honored relation with all manner of men with scientific d with artistic he was ambitious of being a and now the whole of look up to him as their head and to when he out of the diligence at the college d or afterwards when he walked in the shades of with uneasy steps over the burning a much smaller destiny would have seemed desirable within doors again matters stand rather as surely they might well do however madame is always true and if one daughter talk and at length though her father has written the die mad in a the other a quick intelligent graceful girl is into womanhood and takes after the father s leaving the mother s piety far enough aside to which elements of mixed good and evil from without add this so favorable one from within that of all literary men is the least a self listener none of your s le miscellaneous earnest but every fibre of him living lightly hand to mouth in a world mostly painted rose color the after nigh thirty years of endeavor to which only the siege of may offer some faint parallel is finished scattered of all sorts printed or manuscript making many volumes lie also finished the has no golden harvest from them he is getting old can live out of debt but is still poor thinking to settle his daughter in marriage he must resolve to sell his library money is not otherwise to be raised here however the northern steps forward purchases his library for its full value gives him a handsome as to keep it for her and pays him moreover fifty years thereof by advance in ready money this we call imperial in a world so as ours though the whole did not we find cost above three thousand pounds a trifle to the of all the in fact it is about the sum your first rate king eats as board wages in one day who however has seldom sufficient not to speak of charitable in admiration of his the vivid is now louder than ever he even breaks forth into rather singing who shall blame him the northern whom in any case he must regard with other eyes than we has stretched out a generous helping hand to him where otherwise there was no help but only and injury all men will and should more or less obey the proverb to praise the fair as their own market goes in it one of the last great scenes in s life is his personal visit to this there is but one letter from him with for date and that of ominous the was of open free and easy disposition prince and were singularly alike to him it was hail fellow well met with every son of adam be his clothes of one stuff or the other such a man could be no court was ill calculated to succeed at court we can imagine that the and the character of the water were not the only things to his nerves there for king who had dictated such wonderful anti in the history and himself in a moment of that surprising announcement surpassing all yet uttered or in the way how the s au di d un pour for such a one the climate of the must have had something oppressive in it the were indeed much at his service here could he get clutch of them but only for musical fiddle strings for a but who dare stand for this would exclaim i will i eagerly responded the do but proceed la de by de was the following one of the passages happily these perverse of kings ate sooner or later by the ingratitude and contempt of their pupils happily these pupils too miserable in the bosom of grandeur are tormented all their life by a deep which they cannot banish from their palaces happily the religious prejudices which have been planted in their souls return on them to them happily the mournful silence of their people teaches them from time to time the deep hatred that is borne them happily they are too cowardly to despise that hatred happily after a life which no mortal not even the meanest of their subjects would accept if he knew all its wretchedness they find black terror and despair seated on the pillow of their death bed les la et le au de lit de surely kings have poor times of it to he run foul of by the like of thee s miscellaneous writings nevertheless is an uncommon woman or rather an uncommon man and can put up with many things and in a gentle skilful way make the crooked straight as her presents himself in common apparel she sends him a splendid court suit and as he can now enter in a civilized manner she sees him often with him largely by happy chance too at length arrives and the winter passes without accident home in triumph he can express himself contented charmed with his reception has specimens and all manner of for friends unheard of things to tell how he crossed the half with the water boiling up round his wheels the ice bending like leather yet like mere ice and shuddered and got through safe how he was carried coach and all into the boat at on thirty wild men s backs who in the mud and nigh broke his how he	37
which indeed are properly but one for d especially of french birth in the mechanical era could not be other than a must never for a moment be left out of view in judging the works of s miscellaneous writings it is a great truth one side of a great truth that the man makes the circumstances and as well as is the of his own fortune but there is another side of the same truth that the man s circumstances are the element he is appointed to live and work in that he by necessity takes his complexion from these and is in all practical modified by them almost without limit so that in another no less genuine sense it can be said the make the man now if it continually us to insist on the former truth towards ourselves it equally us to bear in mind the latter when we judge of other men the most gifted soul appearing in france in the century can as little himself in the intellectual of an as in the one his thought can no more be greek than his language can he thinks of the things belonging to the french century and in the dialect he has learned there in the light and under the conditions prescribed there thus as the most original resolute and self directing of all the has written let a man be but born ten years sooner or ten years later his whole aspect and performance shall be different grant doubtless that a certain spirit true for all times and all countries can and must look through the thinking of certain men be it in what dialect understand meanwhile that strictly this holds only of the highest order of men and cannot be of inferior orders among whom if the most loving inspection disclose any even secondary symptoms of such a spirit it ought to seem enough let us remember well that the high gifted was born in the point of time and of space when of all uses he could turn himself to of all speak in this of and no other seemed the most promising and let us remember too that no earnest man in any time ever spoke what was wholly that in all human convictions much more in all human there was a true side a of truth which is precisely the thing we want to extract from them if we want anything at all to do with them such considerations which for the rest concern not now departed and indifferent to them hut only ourselves who could wish to see him and not to mis see him are essential we say through our whole survey of his opinions and proceedings generally so alien to our own hut most of all in reference to his head opinion properly the source of all the rest and more shocking even horrible to us than all the rest we mean his david dining once in company where w w remarked that he did not think there were any count us said a certain they were eighteen well said the it is pretty fair if you have out fifteen at the first cast and three others who know not what to think of it in fact the case was common your of the first water had grown to reckon a necessary accomplishment as we saw had made himself very perfect therein was an then stranger still a who esteemed the creed worth earnest preaching and with all vigor the unhappy man had sailed through the universe of worlds and found no maker thereof had descended to the where being no longer casts its shadow and felt only the down and seen only the gleaming rainbow of creation which originated from no sun and heard only the everlasting storm which no one and looked upwards for the divine eye and beheld only the black vol iii s miscellaneous writings glaring death s such with all his wide was the philosophic fortune he had realized sad enough horrible enough yet instead of shrieking over it or howling and cursing over it let us as the more profitable method keep our composure and inquire a little what possibly it may mean the whole phenomenon as seems to us will explain itself from the fact above insisted on that was a of decided in the mechanical age with great expenditure of words and in arguments as waste wild dismal as the chaos they would which arguments one now knows not whether to laugh at or to weep at and almost both have and his perhaps made this apparent to all who examine it that in the french system of thought called also the scotch and still familiar enough everywhere which for want of a better title we have named the mechanical there is no room for a divinity that to him for whom intellect or the power of knowing and believing is still with logic or the mere power of arranging and communicating there is absolutely no proof of a divinity and such a man has nothing for it but either if he be of half spirit as is the frequent case to trim all his days between two opinions or else if he be of whole spirit to anchor himself on the rock or of and further should he see fit proclaim to others that there is good riding there so much may have a conclusion at which we turn pale was it much to know that speculation by nature round in endless both creating and itself for so wonderful a self product of the spirit of the time could any result to arrive at be than this of the eternal no we thank heaven that the result t finally arrived at and so now we can look out for something other and further but above all things of a god a probable god the smallest	37
of struggling to prove to itself that is to say if we will consider it to picture out and arrange as and include within itself the highest infinite in by it lives and moves and has its being this we conjecture will one day seem a much more miraculous miracle than that negative result it has arrived at or any other result a still chance might have led it to he who in some singular time of the world s history were reduced to wander about in stooping posture with painfully constructed match and as or smoky tar link as searching for the sun and did not find it were he wonderful and his failure or the singular time and its having put him on that search two small consequences then we fancy may have followed or be following from poor s first that all speculations of the sort we call natural to prove the beginning of all belief by some belief earlier than the beginning are barren ineffectual impossible and may so soon as otherwise it is profitable be abandoned of final causes man by the nature of the case can prove nothing knows them if be know an of them not by glimmering flint sparks of logic but by an infinitely higher light of never long by heaven s wholly in the human soul and under th name of faith as regards this matter to us now or in conscious possession for upwards of four thousand years to all open men it will indeed always be a favorite contemplation that of watching the ways of being how itself to rational to and this that we name nature is not a desolate s miscellaneous writings of a chaos but a wondrous existence and reality if moreover in those same marks of design as he has called them the man find new evidence of a maker be it well for him meanwhile surely the still clearer evidence lay nearer home in the man s own head that seeks after such in which point of view our natural as our innumerable evidences of the christian religion and such like may in reference to the strange season they appear in have an value and be worth and only let us understand for whom and how they are valuable and be with the poor whom they have not convinced and could not and should not convince the second consequence to be that this whole current of the universe being a machine and then of an who constructed it sitting as it were apart and guiding it and seeing it go may turn out an and not much longer with which result likewise we shall in the manner reconcile ourselves think ye says that god made the universe and then let it run round his finger am finger on the whole that of our poor self listening time ought at length to compose itself that seeking for a god there and not here everywhere outwardly in physical nature and not inwardly in our own soul where alone he is to be found by us begins to get wearisome above all that faint possible which now forms our common english creed cannot be too soon swept out of the world what is the nature of that individual who with hysterical violence a god perhaps a revealed symbol and worship of god and for the rest in thought word and conduct meet with him where you will is found living as if his theory were some polite figure of speech and his god a mere distant with whom he for his part had nothing further to do fool the eternal is no god is not only there but here or nowhere in that life breath of thine in act and thought of thine and thou wise to look to it if there is no god as the fool hath said in his heart then live on with thy and lip and inward and falsehood and all the hollow devised that thee to the of this world if there is a god we say look to it but in either case what an thou the is false yet is there as we see a of truth in him he is true compared with thee thou unhappy mortal wholly in a lie art wholly a lie so that s comes if not to much yet to something we learn this from it and from what it stands connected with and may represent for us that the mechanical system of thought is in its essence that will admit no organ of truth but logic and nothing to exist but what can be argued of must even content himself with this sad result as the only solid one he can arrive at and so with the best grace he can of the make a gas of god a force of the second world a coffin of man an little better than a kind of if by bringing matters to this parting of the roads have enabled or helped us to strike into the truer and better road let him have our thanks for it as to what remains be pity our only feeling was not his creed miserable enough nay moreover did not he bear its so to speak in our stead so that it need now be no longer borne by any one in this same for him circumstance of the age he lived in and the system of thought universal then will be found the key to s whole spiritual character s miscellaneous writings and the excuse for much in him that to us is false and beyond the meagre rush light of closet logic recognised no guidance that the highest cannot be spoken of in words was a truth he had not of whatsoever thing he cannot debate of we might almost say and weigh and carry off with him to be	37
eaten and enjoyed is simply not there for him he dwelt all his days in the thin of the conscious the deep domain of the unconscious whereon the other rests and has its meaning was not under any shape by him thus must the of man s soul stand shut against this man where his hand ceased to the world ended within such strait conditions had he to live and labor and naturally to and more or less all things he labored on for in one way or another not that divine idea of the world which lies t the bottom of appearances can rightly interpret no appearance and whatsoever spiritual thing he does must do it partially do it mournful enough accordingly is the account which has given himself of man s existence on the duties relations possessions whereof he had been a in every conclusion we have this fact of his mechanical culture coupled too with another fact honorable to him that he stuck not at half measures but resolutely drove on to the result and held by it so that we cannot call him a he has the more decisive name of he may be said to have denied that there was any the smallest in man or in the universe and to have both and lived on this singular footing we behold in him the notable extreme of a man guiding himself with the least spiritual belief that thinking man perhaps ever had religion in all shapes and senses he has done what man can do lo clear out of him he believes that pleasure is pleasant that a lie is and there his nay there what perhaps makes his case almost unique his very fancy seems to fall silent for a consequent man all possible spiritual are included under that one of the rest of what kind and degree cannot any longer astonish us has them of all kinds and degrees indeed we might say the french take him at his word for much that was foreign to him do what he could has a scheme of the world to which all that oriental or have done in that kind is poor and feeble his whole and coming to his much tables of the moral law we shall glance here but at one minor external item the relation between man and man and at only one branch of this and with all the relation of for example the most important of these marriage has convinced himself and indeed as above became plain enough acts on the conviction that marriage contract it it in what way you will a which the amount of it to simple it is a itself in the very forming thou a vow says he twice or thrice as if the argument were a thou a vow of eternal constancy under a rock which is even then crumbling away true o the rock away all things are changing man changes faster than most of them that in the meanwhile an lies under all this and looks forth solemn and through the whole destiny and workings of man is another truth which bo mechanical in the dust of his logic mill can i e expected to s miscellaneous writings grind out for himself man changes and will change the question then arises is it wise in him to tumble forth in headlong obedience to this love of change is it so much as possible for him among the of man s wholly nature this we might fancy was an one that along with his tendency to change there is a no less tendency to were man only here to change let him far from marrying cease even to hedge in fields and plough them before the autumn season he may have lost the whim of them let him return to the state and set his house on wheels nay there too a certain restraint must his love of change or his cattle will perish by incessant driving without in the intervals o what things thou in thy sleep how in this world of perpetual shall man secure himself the smallest foundation except alone tliat he take pre assurance of his fate that in this and the other high act of his life his will with all solemnity its ri t to change voluntarily become involuntary and say once for all be there then no further on it nay the poor that very on whose loom thou now as amateur must not even he do as much when he signed his the fool who had such a relish in himself for all things for and yet made a vow under penalty of death by hunger of eternal constancy to yet otherwise were no possible only mostly gallows feeding but on the whole what feeling it was in the ancient devout deep soul which of marriage made a this of all things in the world is what will think of for without discovering unless perhaps it were to increase the indeed it must be granted nothing yet seen or of can the liberality of friend as nay often our poor feels called on in an age of such to step forth into the public and his made there whither let the curious in such matters follow him we having work elsewhere wish him good journey or rather safe return of s and there is for us but little to say is not what we call and he is utterly scandalous to declare with fury that this is wrong or with historic calmness that a pig of sensibility would go distracted did you accuse him of it may especially in countries where exposure is at police offices be considered superfluous the only question is ne in history whence comes it what may a man not otherwise without elevation of mind of kindly character of immense professed and doubtless of extraordinary insight mean thereby to	37
now gone silent named past which was once present and loud enough how much do we know our letter of instructions s miscellaneous writings to us in the state blotted out torn lost and but a of it in existence this too so difficult to read or spell precious meanwhile is our of a letter is our written or spoken message such as we have it only he who understands what has been can know what should be and will be it is of the last importance that the individual have ascertained his relation to the whole an individual helps not it has been written only he who with many at the proper hour how easy in a sense for your all instructed to work without waste of force or what we call fault and in practice act new history as perfectly as in theory he knew the old what the given world was what it had and what it wanted how might his clear effort strike in at the right time and the right point wholly increasing the true current and tendency nowhere itself in opposition unhappily such smooth running ever course is the one appointed us cross currents we have perplexed innumerable efforts every new man is a new effort themselves in thus is the river of existence so wild flowing and whole multitudes and whole generations in painful spend and are spent on what can never profit of all which does not one half in this which we have named want of perfection in history the other half indeed in another want still deeper still more here however let us grant that nature in regard to such historic want is taking up the other face of the matter let us rather admire the pains she has been at the truly magnificent provision she has made that this same message of instructions might reach us in boundless faculties enough we have it is her on history again wise will too that no faculty imparted to us shall from the miraculous faculty of speech once given becomes not more a gift than a necessity the tongue with or without much meaning will keep in motion and only in some la by unspeakable self restraint forbear as little can the fingers that have learned the miracle of writing lie idle if there is a rage of speaking we know also there is a rage of writing perhaps the more furious of the two it is said so eager are men to speak they will not let one another get to speech but on the other hand writing is usually in private and every man has his own desk and and sits independent and there lastly this power of the pen some ten thousand fold that is to say invent the press with its devils with its and see what it will do such are the means wherewith nature and art the daughter of nature have equipped their favorite man for himself to man consider now two things first that one tongue of average will publish at the rate of a thick volume per day and then how many enough tongues may be supposed to be at work on this planet earth in this city london at this hour i secondly that a literary if in good heart and urged by hunger will many times as we are informed accomplish his two magazine sheets within the four and twenty hours such being now not by the thousand but by the million nay taking history in its vulgar sense as the mere chronicle of of things that can be as we say calculation is still but a little altered simple narrative it will be observed is the grand of speech the common says paul is copious in narrative in iii s miscellaneous writings tion only with the cultivated man is it otherwise allow even the part of human for the of thought though perhaps the were enough we have still the nine hundred and employed in history proper in relating or of such that is to say either in history or prophecy which is a new form of history and so the reader can judge with what abundance this of the human intellect is furnished in our world whether nature has been to him or courage reader never can the historical want better or worse are there not forty eight feet of small printed history in thy daily newspaper the truth is if universal history is such a miserable as we have named it the fault lies not in our historic organs but wholly in our of these say rather in so many wants and varying with the various age that our right use of them especially two wants that press heavily in all ages want of honesty w of understanding if the thing published is not true is only a supposition or even a wilful invention what can be done with it except it and it but again truth says home means simply the thing the thing believed and now from this to the thing what a new fatal have we to suffer without understanding belief itself will profit little and how can your avail when there was no vision in it but mere blindness for as in political the man you is not he who was to discharge the duty but only he who was to be appointed so too in all historic and the work goes on the even to be known is perhaps of all others the least spoken of nay some say it lies in on history again the very nature of such events to be so thus in those same forty eight feet of history or even when they have stretched out into forty eight miles of the like quality there may not be the forty eighth part of a hair s breadth that will turn to anything truly in these times the	37
quantity of printed publication that will need to be consumed with fire before the smallest permanent advantage can be drawn from it might fill us with astonishment almost with apprehension where alas is the dr that will reduce all these into and extract the three drops of water for indeed looking at the activity of the historic pen and press through this last half century and what bulk of history it for that period alone and how it is henceforth like to increase in or one might feel as if a day were not distant when perceiving that the whole earth would not now contain those writings of what was done in the earth the human memory must needs confounded and cease remembering to some the reflection may be new and that this state of ours is not so as it seems that with memory and things memorable the case was always similar the life of some diamond pages of our but in the and of s generation how many did it fill the author of the de at this distance picking up a has with ease made two of it on the other hand were the contents of the then roman memories or going to the utmost length were all that was then spoken on it put in types how many feet of small had we in that would go round the globe history then before it can become universal history s miscellaneous writings needs of all things to be compressed were there no of history one could not remember beyond a week nay go to that with it and altogether we could not remember an hour or at all for time like space is infinitely and an hour with its events with its sensations and emotions might be diffused to such as should cover the whole field of memory and push all else over the limits habit however and the natural constitution of man do themselves serviceable rules for remembering and keep at a safe distance from us all such fantastic possibilities into which only some foolish his head in a bucket of enchanted water and so beating out one wet minute into seven long years of and hardship could fall the peasant has his complete set of annual printed in his brain and without the smallest training in the proper pauses and of the little to the great all introduced there memory and oblivion like day and night and indeed like all other in this strange life of ours are necessary for each other s existence oblivion is the dark page whereon memory writes her light beam characters and makes them were it all light nothing could be read there any more than if it were all darkness as with man and these annual of his so goes it with mankind and its universal history which also is its a like unconscious talent of remembering and of forgetting again does the work here the transactions of the day were they never so noisy cannot remain loud for ever the morrow comes with its new noises claiming also to be in the conflict and concert of this chaos of existence figure after figure sinks as all that has emerged must one day on history again sink what cannot be kept in mind will even go out of mind history itself into extent and at last in the hands of some or m the whole history of the world from the creation downwards has grown shorter than that of the ward of for one day whether such and is always wisely formed might admit of question or rather as we say admits of no question scandalous and and in proportion survive for memory while a scientific must write his book of arts lost and a moral were the vision lent him might write a still more mournful book of virtues lost of noble men doing and daring and enduring whose heroic life as a new revelation and development of life itself were a possession for all but is now lost and forgotten history having otherwise filled her page in fact here as elsewhere what we call accident much in any case history must come together not as it should but as it can and will remark nevertheless how by natural tendency alone and as it were without man s a certain fitness of selection and this even to a high degree becomes inevitable wholly worthless the selection could not be were there no better rule than this to guide it that men permanently speak only of what is and alive beside them thus do the things that have produced fruit nay whose fruit still grows turn out to be the things chosen for record and writing of which things alone were great and worth the battle of where met rome and the earth was played for at by two earth giants the sweep of whose swords cut in pieces dim in the languid remembrance of a few while the poor police court s miscellaneous writings ery of a wretched in the wretched land of centuries earlier for thirty pieces of silver lives clear in the heads in the hearts of all men nay moreover as only that which bore fruit was great so of all things that whose fruit is still here and growing must be the greatest the best worth remembering which again as we see by the very nature of the case is mainly the thing remembered observe too how this mainly always to become a solely and the continually approaches nearer for after as it from the living activity of men drops away from their speech and memory and the great and vital more and more exclusively survive there thus does accident correct accident and in the wondrous boundless of things an power over it say rather dwelling in it a result comes out that may be put up with curious	37
the law of another nature they never dream that there are which cannot be measured from their point of view they love they like or they hate the book is detestable absurd or ble noble of a most approved scope these statements they make with authority as those who bear the of pure taste and accurate judgment and need be tried before no human to them it seems that their present position commands the universe essay on july thus the essays on the works of others which are called are often in fact mere records of impressions to judge of their value you must know where the man was brought up under what influences his nation his church his family even he himself has never attempted to estimate the value of these circumstances and find a law or raise a standard above all circumstances permanent against all influence he is content to be the creature of his place and to represent it by his spoken and written word he takes the same und with the savage does not hesitate to say of the product of a civilization on which he could not stand it is bad or it is good the value of such comments is merely they the critic they give an idea of certain influences on a certain act of men in a certain time or place their absolute essential value is nothing the long review the eloquent article by the man of the nineteenth century are of no value by themselves considered but only as of their kind the writers were content to tell what they felt to praise or to without to convince us or themselves they sought not the divine truths of philosophy and she them not if j then there are the apprehensive these can go out of themselves and enter fully into a foreign existence they breathe its life they live in its law they tell what it meant and why it so expressed its meaning they the work of which they speak and make it better known to us in so as two statements are better than one there are beautiful specimens in this kind they are pleasing to us as bearing witness of the sympathies of nature they have the ready grace f love with somewhat of the dignity of disinterested friendship they sometimes give more pleasure than the production of which they treat as will sometimes ring in the echo besides there is a peculiar pleasure in a true response it is the assurance of in the universe these if not true critics come nearer the standard than the class and the value of their work is ideal as well as historical then there are the comprehensive who must also be apprehensive they enter into the nature of another being e en critics and his work by its own law but having done so having ascertained his design and the degree of his success in it thus measuring his judgment his energy and skill they do also know how to put that aim in its place and how to estimate its relations and this the critic can only do who the of the universe and how they are regulated by an absolute invariable principle he can see how far that work expresses this principle as well as how far it is excellent in its details sustained by a principle such as can be within no rule no he can walk around the work he can stand above it he can it and try its weight finally he is worthy to judge it critics are poets cut down says some one by way of but in truth they are men with the poetical temperament to apprehend with the philosophical tendency to the maker is divine the critic sees this divine but brings it down to humanity by the process the critic is the historian who records the order of creation in vain for the maker who knows without learning it but not in vain for the mind of his race the critic is beneath the maker but is his needed friend what tongue could speak but to an intelligent ear and every noble work demands its critic the richer the work the more severe would be its critic the larger its scope the more comprehensive must be his power of scrutiny the critic is not a base but the younger brother of genius next to invention is the power of invention next to beauty the power of beauty and of making others appreciate it for the universe is a scale of infinite and below the very highest every step is explanation down to the lowest religion in the two of poetry and music through an of waves to the lowest of human nature nature is the literature and art of the divine mind human literature and art the criticism on that and they too find their criticism within their own sphere the critic then should be not merely a poet not merely a philosopher not merely an observer but tempered of all three if he the poem he must want nothing of what the poet except the power of creating forms and speaking in music he must have as good an eye and as fine a sense but if he had aa fine an organ for essay on critics july expression also he would make the poem instead of ng it he must be inspired by the philosopher s spirit of inquiry and need of but he must not be constrained by the hard of method to which philosophers are prone and he must have the of the observer with a love of ideal perfection which him to be content with mere beauty of details in the work or the comment upon the work there are persons who maintain that there is no legitimate criticism except the that we have only to say what the work	37

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