The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 83, September, 1864, by Various This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 83, September, 1864 Author: Various Release Date: January 13, 2007 [EBook #20350] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY *** Produced by Joshua Hutchinson, Josephine Paolucci and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. (This file was produced from images generously made available by Cornell University Digital Collections). THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY. A MAGAZINE OF LITERATURE, ART, AND POLITICS. VOL. XIV.—SEPTEMBER, 1864.—NO. LXXXIII. ENTERED ACCORDING TO ACT OF CONGRESS, IN THE YEAR 1864, BY TICKNOR AND FIELDS, IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE OF THE DISTRICT Court of the District of Massachusetts. TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: MINOR TYPOS HAVE BEEN CORRECTED AND FOOTNOTES MOVED TO THE END OF THE ARTICLE. TABLE OF CONTENTS has been generated for the HTML version. Contents THE CADMEAN MADNESS. THE BRIDGE OF CLOUD. THE ELECTRIC GIRL OF LA PERRIÈRE. LITERARY LIFE IN PARIS. THE MASKERS. CULLET. WHAT WILL BECOME OF THEM? FORGOTTEN. WET-WEATHER WORK. REGULAR AND VOLUNTEER OFFICERS. THE TOTAL DEPRAVITY OF INANIMATE THINGS. WHAT SHALL WE HAVE FOR DINNER? BEFORE VICKSBURG. OUR VISIT TO RICHMOND. REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES. RECENT AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS THE CADMEAN MADNESS. AN OLD ENGLISH DIVINE FANCIED THAT ALL THE WORLD MIGHT GO MAD AND NOBODY KNOW IT. THE CONCEPTION SUGGESTS A QUERY WHETHER THE STANDARD OF SANITY, AS OF FASHIONS AND PRICES, BE NOT A PURELY ARTIFICIAL ONE, AN ACCIDENT OF CONVENTION, A LAW OF SOCIETY, AN ARBITRARY INSTITUTE, AND THEREFORE A POSSIBLE MISTAKE. A SAGE AND A MANIAC EACH THINKS THE OTHER MAD. THE decision is a matter of majorities. Should a whole community become insane, it would nevertheless vote itself wise; if the craze of Bedlam were uniform, its inmates could not distinguish it from a Pantheon; and though all human history seemed to the gods only as a continuous series of mediæval processions des sots et des ânes, yet the topsy-turvy intellect of the WORLD WOULD EVER WORSHIP FOLLY IN THE NAME OF WISDOM. ARTS AND SCIENCES, IDEAS AND INSTITUTIONS, LAWS AND LEARNING WOULD STILL ABOUND, TRANSMOGRIFIED TO SUIT THE REIGNING MADNESS. AND AS STATISTICS REVEAL THE LATE GRADUAL AND GENERAL INCREASE OF INSANITY, IT BECOMES A PROVIDENT PEOPLE TO CONSIDER WHAT MAY BE THE ULTIMATE RESULTS, IF THIS INCREASE SHOULD HAPPEN NEVER TO BE CHECKED. AND IF SANITY BE, INDEED, A GLORY WHICH WE MIGHT ALL LOSE UNAWARES, WE MAY WELL BETAKE ourselves to very solemn reflection as to whether we are, at the present moment, in our wits and senses, or not. THE PECULIAR PROFICIENCIES OF GREAT EPOCHS ARE AS ASTONISHING AS THE EXPLOITS OF INDIVIDUAL FRENZY. THE ERA OF THE GREEK RHAPSODISTS, WHEN A BODY OF MATCHLESS EPICAL LITERATURE WAS HANDED DOWN BY MEMORY FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION, AND A RECITATION OF THE WHOLE "ODYSSEY" WAS NOT TOO MUCH FOR A DINNER-PARTY,—THE ERA OF PERICLEAN CULTURE, WHEN THE ATHENIAN POPULACE WAS WONT TO PASS WHOLE DAYS IN THE THEATRE, ATTENDING WITH UNFALTERING INTELLECTUAL KEENNESS AND ÆSTHETIC DELIGHT TO THREE OR FOUR LONG DRAMAS, EITHER OF WHICH WOULD EXHAUST A MODERN AUDIENCE,—THE WILD AND VAST SYSTEMS OF IMAGINARY ABSTRACTIONS, WHICH THE NEO-PLATONISTS, AS ALSO THE GERMAN TRANSCENDENTALISTS, SO STRANGELY DEVISED AND BECAME ENAMORED OF,—THE GROTESQUE VIEWS OF MEN AND THINGS, THE FUNNY UNIVERSE ALTOGETHER, WHICH MADE UP BOTH THE POPULAR AND THE LEARNED THOUGHT OF THE MIDDLE AGES,—THE BUDDHISTIC ORIENT, WITH ITS SUBTILE METAPHYSICAL ILLUSIONS, ITS UNREAL ASTRONOMICAL HEAVENS, ITS HABITS OF REPOSE AND ITS TORNADOES OF PASSION,—SUCH ARE INSTANCES OF GREAT DIVERSITIES OF CHARACTER, WHICH WOULD BE HARDLY ACCOUNTABLE TO EACH OTHER ON THE SUPPOSITION OF MUTUAL SANITY. THEY SUGGEST A DIFFERENCE OF IDEAS, MOODS, HABITS, AND CAPACITIES, WHICH IN CONTEMPORARIES AND ASSOCIATES WOULD AMPLY JUSTIFY EITHER PARTY THAT HAPPENED TO BE THE MAJORITY IN TURNING ALL THE REST INTO INSANE ASYLUMS. IT IS THE DEMONIAC ELEMENT, THE RAVING OF SOME PARTICULAR DEMON, THAT CREATES GREATNESS EITHER IN MEN OR NATIONS. POWER IS MANIACAL. A MYSTERIOUS FURY, A HEAVENLY INSPIRATION, AN INCOMPREHENSIBLE AND IRRESISTIBLE IMPULSE, GOADS HUMANITY ON TO ACHIEVEMENTS. EVERY AGE, EVERY PERSON, AND EVERY ART OBEYS THE WAND OF THE ENCHANTER. HISTORY MOVES BY INDIRECTIONS. THE FIRST HISTORIC TENDENCY IS LIKELY TO BE SLIGHTLY ASKEW; THERE FOLLOWS THEN AN HISTORIC TRIUMPH, THEN AN HISTORIC ECCENTRICITY, THEN AN HISTORIC FOLLY, THEN AN EXPLOSION; AND THEN THE SERIES BEGINS AGAIN. IN THE GRADE OF FOLLY, HARD UPON AN EXPLOSION, LIES modern literature. THE CHARACTERISTIC MANIA OF THE LAST TWO CENTURIES IS READING AND WRITING. SOLOMON DISCOVERED THAT MUCH STUDY IS A WEARINESS OF THE FLESH; ARISTOPHANES COMPLAINED OF THE MULTITUDE AND INDIGNITY OF AUTHORS IN HIS TIME; AND THE FAMED PREACHER, GEYLER VON KAISERSBERG, IN THE AGE OF PREVALENT MONKERY AND BENEDICTINE PLODDING, MENTIONED ERUDITION AND MADNESS, ON EQUAL FOOTING, AS THE TWIN RESULTS OF BOOKS: " Libri quosdam ad scientiam, quosdam ad insaniam deduxere." THESE WERE SUCCESSIVE SYMPTOMS OF THE GROWING MALADY. BUT WHERE THERE WAS ONE WRITER IN THE TIME OF GEYLER, THERE ARE A MILLION NOW. HE SAW BOTH HEALTH AND DISEASE, AND COULD DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THEM. WE SEE ONLY THE LATTER. SKILL IN LETTERS, HALF A DECADE OF CENTURIES AGO, WAS A MIRACULOUS ATTAINMENT, AND PLACED ITS POSSESSOR IN THE RANK OF DIVINES AND DIVINERS; NOW, INABILITY TO READ AND WRITE IS ACCOUNTED, WITH PAUPERISM AND CRIME, A GROUND FOR CIVIL DISFRANCHISEMENT. THE OLD FEUDAL MERRY AND HEARTY IGNORANCE HAS BEEN EVERYWHERE CORRUPTED BY BOOKS AND NEWSPAPERS, LEARNING AND INTELLIGENCE, THE CABALISTIC WORDS OF MODERN LIFE. POPULAR POETRY AND MUSIC, BALLADS AND LEGENDS, WIT AND ORIGINALITY HAVE DISAPPEARED BEFORE THE BARBARIC INTELLECTUALITY OF OUR CADMEAN IDOLATRY. EVEN THE ARTS OF CONVERSATION AND ORATORY ARE WANING, AND MAY SOON BE LOST; WE LIVE ONLY IN SECOND AND SILENT THOUGHTS: FOR WHO WILL WASTE FAME AND FORTUNE BY GIVING TO HIS FRIENDS THE GEMS WHICH WILL DELIGHT MANKIND? AND HOW CAN A STATESMAN GRAPPLE ELOQUENTLY WITH FATE, WHEN THE CONTEST IS NOT TO BE DETERMINED ON THE SPOT, BUT BY QUIET AND REMOTE PEOPLE COOLLY READING HIS SPEECH SEVERAL HOURS OR DAYS LATER? EVEN IF WE WERE VAGARYING INTO IMBECILITY, LIKE THE WILDEST NEO-PLATONIC HIEROPHANTS, LIKE THE MONKISH CHRONICLERS OF THE MIDDLE AGES, LIKE OTHER ROMANTIC AND FANTASTIC THEORISTS WHO HAVE leaped out of human nature into a purely artificial realm, we should not know it, because we are all doing it uniformly. THE UNIVERSE IS A VEILED ISIS. THE HUMAN MIND FROM IMMEMORIAL ANTIQUITY HAS CEASED TO REGARD IT. A SMALL COHORT OF alphabets has enrobed it with a wavy texture of letters, beyond which we cannot penetrate. The glamour is upon us, and WHEN WE WOULD SEE THE FACTS OF NATURE, WE BEHOLD ONLY TRACTS OF PRINT. THE GOD OF THE HEAVENS AND EARTH HAS HIDDEN HIMSELF FROM US SINCE WE GAVE OURSELVES UP TO THE WORSHIP OF THE FALSE DIVINITIES OF PHOENICIA. NO LONGER CAN WE ADMIRE THE cosmos; FOR THE cosmos LIES BEYOND A LONG PERSPECTIVE OF THEOREMS AND PROPOSITIONS THAT CROSS OUR EYES, LIKE COUNTLESS BEES, FROM THE ALCOVES OF PHILOSOPHIES AND SCIENCES. NO LONGER DO WE BASK IN THE BEAUTY OF THINGS, AS IN THE SUNLIGHT; FOR WHEN WE WOULD MELT IN FEELING, WE HEAR NOTHING BUT THE RATTLING OF GEMS OF VERSE. NO LONGER DOES THE MIND, AS SYMPATHETIC PRIEST AND INTERPRETER, HOVER AMID THE PHENOMENA OF TIME AND SPACE; FOR THE FORMS OF NATURE HAVE GIVEN PLACE TO VOLUMES, THERE ARE NO OBJECTS BUT PAGES, AND PASSIONS HAVE BEEN SUPPLANTED BY PARAGRAPHS. WE NO LONGER SEE THE WHIRLING UNIVERSE, OR FEEL THE PULSING OF LIFE. THOUGHT ITSELF HAS CEASED TO BE A SPRITE, AND FLOWS THROUGH THE MIND ONLY [Pg 266] [Pg 267] IN THE LEADEN SHAPE OF PRINTED SENTENCES. THE SYMBOLISM OF LETTERS IS OVER US ALL. AN ALL-PERVADING NOMINALISM HAS COMPLETELY MASKED WHATSOEVER THERE IS THAT IS REAL. MORE AND MORE IT IS NOT THE SOUL AND NATURE, BUT THE EYE AND PRINT, WHOSE RESULTANT IS THOUGHT. NATURE DISAPPEARS AND THE MIND WITHERS. NO OTHER FACULTY HAS BEEN DEVELOPED IN MAN BUT THAT OF THE READER, NO OTHER POSSIBILITY BUT THAT OF THE WRITER. THE OLD-FASHIONED ARTS WHICH USED TO IMPLY HUMAN NATURE, WHICH USED TO BLOSSOM INSTINCTIVELY, WHICH HAVE GIVEN JOY AND BEAUTY TO SOCIETY, ARE FADING FROM THE FACE OF THE EARTH. WHERE ARE THE ANCIENT AND MEDIÆVAL POPULAR GAMES, THOSE CHARMING VITAL SYMPTOMS? THE PEOPLE NOW READ DICKENS AND LONGFELLOW. WHERE ARE THE OLD-FASHIONED INSTINCTS OF WORSHIP AND LOVE, CONSOLATION AND MOURNING? THE PEOPLE HAVE SINCE FOUND AN ANTIDOTE FOR THESE EXPERIENCES IN BLAIR AND TUPPER, AND OTHER AUTHORS OF RENOWN. WHERE ARE THOSE WEIRD VOICES OF THE AIR AND FOREST AND STREAM, THOSE SYMPTOMS OF AN ENCHANTED NATURE, WHICH USED TO THRILL AND BLESS the soul of man? The duller ear of men has failed to hear them in this age of popular science. LITERATURE, USING THE WORD WITH A BENEVOLENT BREADTH OF MEANING WHICH EXCLUDES NO PRETENDERS, IS THE RESULT OF THE INVASION OF LETTERS. IT IS THE FORT WHICH THEY OCCUPY, WHICH WITH TOO HASTY CONSIDERATION HAS USUALLY BEEN REGARDED AS FRIENDLY TO THE HUMAN RACE. RELIGIONS, LAWS, SCIENCES, ARTS, THEORIES, AND HISTORIES, INSTEAD OF PASSING ARIEL-LIKE INTO THE ELEMENTS WHEN THEIR TASK IS DONE, ARE MADE PERPETUAL PRISONERS IN THE ALCOVES OF DREARY LIBRARIES. THEY HAVE A FOSSIL IMMORTALITY, SURVIVING THEMSELVES IN COVERS, AS POEMS HAVE SURVIVED MINSTRELS. THE MEMORY OF MAN IS MADE OMNI- CAPACIOUS; ITS BURDEN INCREASES WITH EVERY GENERATION; NOT EVEN THE IGNORANCE AND STOLIDITY OF THE PAST ARE ALLOWED THE FINAL GRACE OF BEING FORGOTTEN; AND OMNISCIENCE IS BECOMING AT ONCE MORE AND MORE IMPOSSIBLE AND MORE AND MORE FASHIONABLE. WHOEVER READS ONLY THE BOOKS OF HIS OWN TIME IS SUPERFICIAL IN PROPORTION TO THE THICKNESS OF THE AGES. BUT NEITHER THE GENIUS OF MAN, NOR HIS LENGTH OF DAYS, HAS HAD AN INCREASE CORRESPONDING TO THAT OF THE REALM OF KNOWLEDGE, THE REQUIREMENTS OF READING, AND THE CONDITIONS OF INTELLIGENCE. THE MULTIPLIED ATTRACTIONS ONLY CROWD AND OBSTRUCT THE NECESSARILY NARROW LINE OF DUTY, POSSIBILITY, AND DESTINY. LIFE THREATENS TO BE EXTINGUISHED BY ITS OWN SHADOW, BY THE débris KEPT IN THE CURRENT BY COUNTLESS TENACIOUS RECORDS. ITS ESSENCE ESCAPES TO HEAVEN OR INTO NEW FORMS, BUT ITS GHOSTS STILL WALK THE EARTH IN PRINT. LIKE THAT MYTHICAL SERPENT WHICH ADVANCED ONLY AS IT GREW IN LENGTH, SO KNOWLEDGE SPANS THE WHOLE LENGTH OF THE AGES. SOME PHILOSOPHER CONCEIVED OF HISTORY AS THE MIGRATION AND GROWTH OF REASON THROUGHOUT TIME, CULMINATING IN SUCCESSIVE HISTORICAL IDEAS. HE, HOWEVER, SUPPOSED THAT THE IDEA OF EVERY AGE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY PRECEDING AGE; IT HAD PASSED THROUGH WHATSOEVER PREVIOUS STAGES, HAD BEEN SOMEWHAT MODIFIED BY THEM, CONTAINED IN ITSELF ALL THAT WAS BEST IN THEM, WAS IMPROVED AND ELEVATED AT EVERY NEW EPOCH; BUT IT HAD NO MEMORY, NEVER LOOKED BACKWARD, AND WAS AN EVER ROLLING SPHERE, COMPLETE IN ITSELF, LEAVING NO TRAIL BEHIND. HUMAN LIFE, UNDER THE DISCIPLINE OF LETTERS AND COMMON SCHOOLS, IS NOT THUS HEGELIAN, BUT ADVANCES UNDER THE BOUNDLESS RETROSPECTION OF LITERATURE. AND YET THIS IS PROBABLY DIVINE PHILOSOPHY. IT IS PROBABLE THAT THE FACULTY OF MEMORY BELONGS TO MAN ONLY IN AN IMMATURE STATE OF DEVELOPMENT, AND THAT IN SOME FUTURE AND HAPPIER EPOCH THE PAST WILL BE KNOWN TO us only as it lives in the present; and then for the first time will Realism in life take the place of Nominalism. THE LARGEST LIBRARY IN THE WORLD, THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE IMPÉRIALE OF PARIS, (IT HAS BEEN SUCCESSIVELY, LIKE THE ADVENTUROUS AND VERSATILE THRONE OF FRANCE, ROYALE, NATIONALE, AND IMPÉRIALE,) CONTAINS VERY NEARLY ONE MILLION OF BOOKS, THE COLLECTED FRUITS OF ALL TIME. CONSIDER AN AVERAGE BOOK IN THAT COLLECTION: HOW MUCH HUMAN LABOR DOES IT STAND FOR? HOW MUCH CAPITAL WAS INVESTED ORIGINALLY IN ITS PRODUCTION, AND HOW MUCH TRIBUTE OF TIME AND TOIL DOES IT RECEIVE PER ANNUM? REGARDING BOOKS AS INTELLECTUAL ESTATE, HOW MUCH DOES IT COST MANKIND TO PROCURE AND KEEP UP AN AVERAGE SPECIMEN? WHAT QUANTITY OF HUMAN RESOURCES HAS BEEN ORIGINALLY AND CONSECUTIVELY SUNK IN THE PARISIAN LIBRARY? HOW MUCH OF HUMAN TIME, WHICH IS BUT A SPAN, AND OF HUMAN EMOTION AND THOUGHT, WHICH ARE SACRED AND NOT TO BE CARELESSLY THROWN away, lie latent therein? THE ESTIMATE MUST BE HIGHLY SPECULATIVE. SOME BOOKS HAVE COST A LIFETIME AND A HEARTBREAK; OTHERS HAVE BEEN WRITTEN AT LEISURE IN A WEEK, AND WITHOUT AN EMOTION. SOME ARE BORN FROM THE MARTYRDOM OF A THINKER TO FIRE THE GENIUS OF A POPULACE; OTHERS ARE THE CORUSCATIONS OF JOY, AND HAVE A SMILE FOR THEIR IMMORTAL HEIR. SOME HAVE MADE BUT THE SLIGHTEST MOMENTARY RIPPLE IN HUMAN AFFAIRS; OTHERS, FIRST GATHERING EDDIES ABOUT THEMSELVES, HAVE SWEPT FORWARD IN GRAND CURRENTS, ENGROSSING FOR CENTURIES WHOLE DEPARTMENTS OF HUMAN ENERGY. THOUSANDS PUBLISH AND ARE FORGOTTEN BEFORE THEY die. Spinoza published after his death and is not yet understood. WE WILL BEGIN WITH THE DESTINED BIBLIOMACHER AT THE TIME OF HIS ASSUMPTION OF SHORT CLOTHES. THE ALPHABET IS HIS FIRST PROFESSIONAL TORTURE, AND THAT ONLY USHERS HIM UPON THE GIGANTIC TASK OF LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE HIS OWN LANGUAGE. EXPERIENCE SHOWS THAT THIS MIRACLE OF MEMORY AND ASSOCIATIVE REASON MAY BE IN THE MAIN ACCOMPLISHED BY THE TIME HE IS EIGHT YEARS OLD. THUS FAR IN HIS PROGRESS TOWARDS BOOK-MAKING HE HAS SIMPLY GOT HIS FINGERS HOLD OF THE PEN. HE HAS NEXT TO RUN THE GAUNTLET OF THE LANGUAGES, SCIENCES, AND ARTS, TO PASS THROUGH THE EPOCH OF THE SCHOLAR, WITH SATCHEL UNDER HIS ARM, WITH PALE CHEEK, AN EREMITE AND ASCETIC IN THE RELIGION OF CADMUS. AT LENGTH, AT ABOUT TWENTY YEARS OF AGE, HE LEAVES THE UNIVERSITY, NOT A MASTER, BUT A BACHELOR OF LIBERAL STUDIES. BUT THUS FAR HE HAS LAID ONLY THE FOUNDATION, HAS ACQUIRED ONLY RUDIMENTS AND GENERALITIES, HAS ONLY SERVED HIS APPRENTICESHIP TO LETTERS. GOD GAVE MIND AND NATURE, BUT ART HAS FURNISHED HIM A NEW CAPACITY AND A NEW WORLD,—THE CAPACITY TO READ, AND THE WORLD OF BOOKS. HE HAS SIMPLY ACQUIRED A NEW NATURE, A PSYCHOLOGICAL TEXTURE OF LETTERS, BUT THE ARTIFICIAL tabula rasa HAS YET TO BE FILLED. TWENTY OBSTETRICAL YEARS HAVE AT LAST MADE HIM A LITERARY ANIMAL, HAVE FURNISHED HIM THE ABSTRACT CONDITIONS OF AUTHORSHIP; BUT HE HAS YET HIS LIFE TO SAVE, AND HIS FORTUNE TO MAKE IN LITERATURE. HE IS BORN INTO THE MYSTIC FRATERNITY OF READERS AND WRITERS, BUT THE SPECIAL STUDIES AND EXPERIENCES WHICH FIT HIM FOR ANYTHING, WHICH MAKE A BOOK POSSIBLE, ARE STILL IN THE FUTURE. HE WILL BE FORTUNATE, IF HE GETS THROUGH WITH THEM, AND GETS HIS FIRST VOLUME OFF HIS HANDS BY THE AGE OF THIRTY. AUTHORS ARE THE SHORTEST-LIVED OF MEN. THEIR AVERAGE YEARS ARE LESS THAN FIFTY. OUR BIBLIOMACHER HAS THEREFORE TWENTY YEARS LEFT TO HIM. TAKING ALL TIME TOGETHER, SINCE FORMERLY AUTHORS WROTE LESS ABUNDANTLY THAN NOW, HE WILL NOT PRODUCE MORE THAN ONE WORK IN FIVE YEARS, THAT IS, FIVE WORKS IN HIS LIFETIME OF FIFTY YEARS. THE CONCLUSION TO WHICH THIS RATHER PRECARIOUS [Pg 268] INVESTIGATION THUS BRINGS US IS, THAT THE ORIGINAL COST OF AN AVERAGE BOOK IS TEN YEARS OF A HUMAN LIFE. AND YET THESE TEN YEARS MAKE BUT THE MERE SUGGESTION OF THE BOOK. THE SUGGESTION MUST BE DEVELOPED BY AN ARMY OF PRINTERS, SELLERS, AND LIBRARIANS. WHAT OTHER INSTITUTION IN THE WORLD IS THERE BUT THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE IMPÉRIALE, TO THE MERE SUGGESTION OF WHICH TEN millions of laborious years have been devoted? STARTLING CONSIDERATIONS PRESENT THEMSELVES. IF THERE WERE NO OTHER argumentum ad absurdum TO DEMONSTRATE SOME FUNDAMENTAL PERVERSITY AND ABSURDITY IN LITERATURE, IT MIGHT BE SUSPECTED FROM THE FACT THAT NATURE HERSELF GIVES SO LITTLE ENCOURAGEMENT TO IT. NOBODY IS BORN AN AUTHOR. THE ART OF WRITING, COMMON AS IT IS, IS NOT INDIGENOUS IN MAN, BUT IS ACQUIRED BY A NEARLY UNIVERSAL MARTYRDOM OF YOUTH. IF IT HAD BEEN PROVIDENTIALLY DESIGNED THAT THE FUNCTION OF ANY CONSIDERABLE PORTION OF MANKIND SHOULD HAVE BEEN TO WRITE BOOKS, WE CANNOT SUPPOSE THAT AN ECONOMICAL DEITY WOULD HAVE FAILED TO CREATE THEM WITH INNATE SKILL IN LANGUAGE, GENERAL KNOWLEDGE, AND PENMANSHIP. THESE ACCOMPLISHMENTS HAVE TO BE LEARNED BY EVERY WRITER, YET WRITERS ARE NUMBERLESS. THEY ARE MYSTERIES WHICH MUST BE PAINFULLY ENCOUNTERED BY EVERY ONE AT THE VESTIBULE OF THE TEMPLE OF LITERATURE, WHICH NEVERTHELESS IS THRONGED. SURELY, HAD THIS IMPORTANCE AND PREVALENCE BEEN ATTACHED TO THEM IN THE DIVINE SCHEME, THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN BORN IN US LIKE THE SENSES, OR WOULD BLOSSOM SPONTANEOUSLY IN US, LIKE THE COROLLAL GROWTHS OF FAITH AND CONSCIENCE. WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN CREATED IN A CONDITION OF LITERARY CAPACITY, AND THUS HAVE BEEN SPARED THE ALPHABETICAL TORTURE OF CHILDHOOD, AND THE ACADEMIC DEPTHS OF PHILOLOGICAL DESPAIR. TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF PRELIMINARIES MIGHT HAVE BEEN AVOIDED BY CHANGING THE PEG IN THE SCALE OF CREATION, AND THE STUDIES OF THE BOY MIGHT HAVE BEGUN WHERE NOW THEY END. TWENTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE SPAN OF LIFE WOULD THUS HAVE BEEN SAVED, HAD WHAT MUST BE A UNIVERSAL ACQUIREMENT BEEN INCORPORATED INTO THE ORIGINAL PROGRAMME OF human nature. OR HAD THE DEITY APPRECIATED LITERATURE AS WE DO, HE WOULD PROBABLY HAVE WRITTEN OUT THE UNIVERSE IN SOME SNUG LITTLE VOLUME, SOME MINIATURE SERIES, OR SOME BOUNDLESS BODLEIAN, INSTEAD OF UNFOLDING IT THROUGH INFINITE SPACE AND TIME, AS AN actual, concrete, unwritten reality. Be creation a single act or an eternal process, it would have been all a thing of books. THE DIVINE MIND WOULD HAVE REVEALED ITSELF IN A LIBRARY, INSTEAD OF IN THE UNIVERSE. AS FOR MEN, THEY WOULD HAVE EXISTED ONLY IN TREATISES ON THE MAMMALIA. THERE ARE SOME SPECIMENS WHICH WE HARDLY THINK ARE ACCORDING TO ANY ANTICIPATION OF HEAVENLY REASON, AND THEREFORE THEY WOULD NOT HAVE EXISTED AT ALL. NOTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN BUT GOD AND LITERATURE. POSSIBLY A RESPONSIBLE CREATION LIKE OURS MIGHT HAVE BEEN FORMED, NEVERTHELESS, BY MAKING EACH LETTER A LIVING, THINKING, MORAL AGENT; AND THE ALPHABET MIGHT THUS HAVE WRITTEN OUT THE DIVINE IDEAS, AS MEN NOW WORK THEM OUT. IF THE CONCEPTION SEEM TO ANY ONE CHILLY, IF IT HAVE A DREARY LOOK, IF IT APPEAR TO LEAVE ONLY A FROSTY METALLIC BASE, INSTEAD OF THE GRAND OCEANIC EFFERVESCENCE OF LIFE, LET HIM REMEMBER HOW OFTEN EARTHLY AUTHORS HAVE RENOUNCED LIVING REALITIES, ALL PERSONAL SYMPATHIES AND PLEASURES, COMMUNING ONLY WITH BOOKS, THEIR MINDS DWELLING APART FROM MEN. REMEMBER TASSO AND SOUTHEY; AY, IF YOU HAVE YOURSELF WRITTEN A BOOK THAT COMMANDS ADMIRATION, REMEMBER WHAT IT COST YOU. WHY HESITATE TO TRANSFER TO THE SKIES A TYPE OF LIFE WHICH WE ADMIRE HERE BELOW? BUT GOD HAVING WROUGHT OUT INSTEAD OF written out His thoughts, does it not appear that He designed for men to do likewise? AND THUS A NEW CONSIDERATION IS PRESENTED. THE EXHIBIT OF THE ORIGINAL COST OF THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE IMPÉRIALE WAS THE SMALLEST ITEM IN OUR BUDGET. MARK THE HISTORY OF A BOOK. HOW VARIOUSLY IT ENGROSSES THE EFFORTS OF THE WORLD, FROM THE TIME WHEN IT FIRST RUSHES INTO THE ARENA OF LIFE! THE INDUSTRY OF PRINTING EMBODIES IT, THE ENERGY OF COMMERCE DISPERSES IT, THE ARMY OF CRITICS ANNOUNCE IT, THE WORLD OF READERS GIVE THEIR DAYS AND NIGHTS TO IT GENERATION AFTER GENERATION, AND ITS ECHOES UNINTERRUPTEDLY REPEAT THEMSELVES ALONG THE INFINITE PROCESSION OF WRITERS. THE PROCESS REVERTS WITH EVERY NEW edition, and eddies mingle with eddies in the motley march of history. Its story may be traced in martyrdoms of the flesh, IN WEARY HOURS, STRANGE EXPERIENCES, UNHAPPY TEMPERS, RESTLESS STRUGGLES, UNREQUITED TRIUMPHS,—IN THE GLARE OF MIDNIGHT LAMPS, AND OF WILD, HAGGARD EYES,—IN SORROW, WANT, DESOLATION, DESPAIR, AND MADNESS. BORN IN SORROW, THE BOOK TRAILS A PATHWAY OF SORROW THROUGH THE AGES. AND EACH BOOK IN THE PARISIAN LIBRARY STANDS FOR ALL THIS,—SOME THAT WERE PRODUCED WITH TEARS HAVING BEEN ALWAYS READ FOR JEST,—SOME THAT WERE LIGHTLY WRITTEN BEING NOW SEVERE TASKS FOR historians, antiquaries, and source-mongers. SUPPOSE AN OLD EGYPTIAN, WHO IN PRIMÆVAL HIERAPOLIS INCASED HIS THOUGHT IN PAPYRUS, TO BE ABLE NOW TO TAKE A STROLL INTO THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE, AND TO SEE WHAT HAS BECOME OF HIS THOUGHT SO FAR AS THERE REPRESENTED. HE WOULD FIND THAT IT HAD HAUNTED MANKIND EVER SINCE. AN ALCOVE WOULD BE FILLED WITH COMMENTARIES ON IT, AND DISCUSSIONS AS TO WHERE IT CAME FROM AND WHAT IT MEANT. HE WOULD FIND IT MODIFYING AND MODIFIED BY THE GREEKS, AND REPRODUCED BY THEM WITH DIVERS VARIATIONS,—EXTINGUISHED BY CHRISTIANITY,—REVIVED, WITH A NEW FACE, AMONG THE THEURGIES AND CABALA OF ALEXANDRIA; HE WOULD CATCH THE MEREST GLIMPSE OF IT AMID THE CHRISTIAN LEGENDS AND CREDULITIES OF THE MIDDLE AGES,—BUT THE ARABS WOULD HAVE KEPT A STRONGER HOLD ON IT; HE WOULD SEE IT IN THE BACKGROUND AFTER THE REVIVAL OF LEARNING, TILL, GRADUALLY, AS MODERN COMMERCE OPENED THE EAST, SCHOLARS, ALSO, DISCOVERED THAT THERE WERE WONDERS BEHIND THE CLASSIC NATIONS; AND FINALLY HE WOULD SEE HOW MODERN RESEARCH, RUSHING BACK THROUGH COMPARISON OF LANGUAGE-ROOTS, THROUGH GEOLOGICAL DATA, THROUGH ETHNOLOGICAL INDICATIONS, THROUGH ANTIQUARIAN DISCOVERIES, HAS ROOTED OUT OF THE LAYERS OF AGES ALL THE HISTORY ATTENDANT UPON ITS ORIGINAL PRODUCTION. HE WOULD FIND THE RECORDS OF THIS LONG HISTORY IN THE LIBRARY AROUND HIM. IN EVERY AGE, THE THOUGHT, BORN OF PAIN, HAS BEEN REPRODUCED WITH TRAVAIL. IT DID NOT DO ITS MISSION AT ONCE, PENETRATE LIKE A RAY OF LIGHT INTO THE HEART OF THE RACE, AND LEAVE A CHEMICAL EFFECT WHICH SHOULD LAST FOREVER. NO, THE BLOOD OF MAN'S SPIRIT WAS NOT PURIFIED,—ONLY AN EXTERNAL APPLICATION WAS MADE, AND THAT APPLICATION MUST BE REPEATED WITH TORTURE UPON EVERY generation. Was this designed to be the function of thought, the mission of heavenly ideas? THIS IS THE HISTORY OF HIS THOUGHT IN BOOKS. BUT LET US CONCEIVE WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN ITS HISTORY BUT FOR THE BOOKS;—HOW IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN WRITTEN IN THE FIBRES OF THE SOUL, AND LIVED IN ETERNAL REASON, INSTEAD OF HAVING BEEN WRITTEN ON PAPYRUS AND INVOLVED IN THE REALM OF DEAD MATTER. HIS IDEA, THRILLING HIS OWN SOUL, WOULD HAVE REVEALED ITSELF IN EVERY PARTICLE AND [Pg 269] [Pg 270] MOVEMENT OF HIS BODY; FOR "SOUL IS FORM, AND DOTH THE BODY MAKE." ITS FIRST PRODUCT WOULD HAVE BEEN HIS OWN QUIVERING, ANIMATED, AND ANIMATING PERSONALITY. HE WOULD HAVE IMPRESSED EVERY ONE OF HIS ASSOCIATES, EVERY ONE OF WHOM WOULD IN TURN HAVE IMPRESSED A NEW CROWD, AND THUS THE IMMORTAL ARRAY OF INFLUENCES WOULD HAVE GONE ON. NOT IMPRESSIONS ON PARCHMENT, BUT IMPRESSIONS ON THE SOUL, NOT LETTERS, BUT THRILLS, WOULD HAVE BEEN ITS RESULT. THUS THE MAGIC OF PERSONAL INFLUENCE OF ALL KINDS WOULD HAVE RADIATED FROM IT IN OMNIPRESENT AND COLLIDING CIRCLETS FOREVER, AS THE MIGHTY IMPONDERABLE AGENTS ARE BELIEVED TO RADIATE FROM SOME HIDDEN FOCAL FORCE. HE WOULD TRACE HIS IDEA IN THE MASSIVE ARCHITECTURE AND GROPING SCIENCE OF EGYPT,—IN THE ELEGANT FORMS OF WORSHIP, THOUGHT, INSTITUTES, AND LIFE AMONG THE GREEKS,—IN THE MARTIAL AND SYSTEMATIZING GENIUS OF ROME,—AND SO ON THROUGH THE ECCLESIASTICAL LIFE OF THE MIDDLE AGES, AND THE POLITICAL AND SCIENTIFIC AMBITIONS OF MODERN TIMES. ITS OPERATIONS HAVE EVERYWHERE BEEN CHEMICAL, NOT MECHANICAL. IT HAS LIVED, NOT IN THE LETTER, BUT IN THE SPIRIT. NEVER DROPPING TO THE EARTH, IT HAS BEEN MAINTAINED AS A shuttlecock in spiritual regions by the dynamics of the soul. It has wrought itself into the soul, the only living and immortal THING, AND SO THE PROPER PLACE FOR IDEAS. ITS MODE OF TRANSMISSION HAS BEEN BY THE SUFFUSION OF THE EYE, THE CHEEK, THE LIP, THE MANNER, NOT BY DEAD AND UNSYMBOLICAL LETTERS. IT HAS HAD LIFE, AND NOT MERELY DURATION. IT HAS BEEN PERPETUATED IN CORDATE, NOT IN DACTYLATE CHARACTERS. ITS HISTORY MUST NOT BE SOUGHT AWAY FROM THE CIRCLE OF LIFE, BUT MAY BE SEEN IN THE CURRENT GENERATION OF MEN. THE MAN WHOM YOU SHOULD MEET ON THE STREET WOULD BE THE PRODUCT OF ALL THE IDEAS AND INFLUENCES FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, AND HIS SLIGHTEST ACT WOULD REVEAL THEM ALL VITAL WITHIN HIM. THE LIBRARIES, WHICH FORM DEAD RECESSES IN THE RIVER OF LIFE, WOULD THUS BE SWEPT INTO AND DISSOLVED IN THE CURRENT, AND THE WATERS WOULD HAVE BEEN DEEPENED AND COLORED BY THEIR DISSOLUTION. LIBRARIES ARE A SORT OF débris OF THE WORLD, BUT THE SPIRITUAL SUBSTANCE OF THEM WOULD THUS ENTER INTO THE ORGANISM OF HISTORY. ALL THE LAST RESULTS OF TIME WOULD COME TO US, NOT THROUGH BOOKS, BUT THROUGH THE IMPRESSIONS OF DAILY LIFE. WHATSOEVER WAS UNWORTHY TO BE WOVEN INTO THE FIBRES OF THE SOUL WOULD BE OVERWHELMED BY THAT OBLIVION WHICH CHASES HUMANITY; ALL THE TIME WASTED IN THE WRONG-HEADEDNESS OF ARCHÆOLOGY WOULD BE SAVED; FOR THERE WOULD BE NOTHING OF THE PAST EXCEPT ITS INFLUENCE ON THE IMMEDIATE PRESENT, AND NOTHING BUT THE PURE HUMAN INGOT WOULD FINALLY BE LEFT OF THE LONG WHIRLINGS IN THE CRUCIBLE OF HISTORY. SOME ONE HAS SAID THAT ALL RECENT LITERATURE IS ONE GIGANTIC PLAGIARISM FROM THE PAST. WHY PLAGIARIZE WITH TOIL THE TOILS OF THE PAST, WHEN ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THEM LIVES, NECESSARILY AND OF ITS OWN TENDENCY, IN THE WINGED AND GROWING SPIRIT OF MAN? THE STREAM FLOWS IN A CHANNEL, AND IS COLORED BY ALL THE ORES OF ITS BANKS, BUT IT WOULD BE ABSURD FOR IT TO ATTEMPT TO TAKE THE CHANNEL UP AND CARRY IT ALONG WITH ITSELF OUT INTO THE SEA. WHY SHOULD THE TINTED WATER OF LIFE ATTEMPT TO CARRY ALONG WITH IT NOT only the tint, but also the bank, ages back, from which the tint proceeds? AS THE WORLD GOES ON, THE MULTITUDE OF BOOKS INCREASES. THEY GROW AS GROWS THE HUMAN RACE,—BUT, UNLIKE THE HUMAN RACE, THEY HAVE A MATERIAL IMMORTALITY HERE BELOW. FOSSIL BOOKS, UNLIKE FOSSIL ROCKS, HAVE A POWER OF REPRODUCTION. EVERY NEW YEAR LEAVES NOT ONLY A NEW INHERITANCE, BUT GENERALLY A LARGER ONE THAN EVER BEFORE. WHAT IS TO BE THE RESULT? THE ULTIMATE PROSPECT IS PORTENTOUS. IF ENGLAND HAS PRODUCED TEN THOUSAND VOLUMES OF FICTION (ABOUT THREE THOUSAND new novels) during the last forty years, how many books of all kinds has Christendom to answer for in the same period? IF THE BRITISH MUSEUM MAKES IT A POINT TO PRESERVE A COPY OF EVERYTHING THAT IS PUBLISHED, HOW LONG WILL IT BE BEFORE THE WHOLE WORLD WILL NOT BE SUFFICIENT TO CONTAIN THE MULTITUDE THEREOF? AT PRESENT ALL THE COLLECTIONS OF THE MUSEUM, BOOKS, ETC., OCCUPY ONLY FORTY ACRES ON THE SOIL, AND AN AVERAGE OF TWO HUNDRED FEET TOWARDS THE SKY. BUT EVEN THESE OUTLINES INDICATE A BLOCK OF SPACE WHICH UNDER GEOMETRICAL INCREASE WOULD IN THE SHORTEST OF GEOLOGICAL PERIODS MAKE A MORE COMPLETE CONQUEST OF THE EARTH THAN HAS EVER BEEN MADE BY FIRE OR WATER. TO SAY NOTHING OF THE SORROWS OF THE COMPOSITION OF THESE NEW LITERARY STORES, HOW IS MAN, WHOSE YEARS ARE THREESCORE-AND-TEN, GOING TO READ THEM? SURELY THE GREEN EARTH WILL BE TRANSFORMED INTO A WILDERNESS OF BOOKS, AND MAN, REDUCED FROM THE PRIEST AND INTERPRETER OF Nature to a bookworm, will be like the beasts which perish. THE EYE OF FANCY LATELY WITNESSED IN A DREAM THE VISION OF AN AGE FAR IN THE FUTURE. THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH WAS COVERED WITH LOFTY RECTANGLES, BUILT UP CORAL-LIKE FROM SMALL RECTANGLES. THERE WAS NEITHER TREE NOR HERB NOR LIVING CREATURE. WALLED PATHS, EXCAVATED RUTS, ALONE BROKE THE DESERT-LIKE PROSPECT, AS THE BURROWS OF LIFE. PENETRATING INTO THESE, THE EYE SAW MEN WALKING BENEATH THE STRIATED PILES, WITH HEADS BENT FORWARD AND NERVOUS FINGERING OF BROW. THERE THE WHOLE WORLD, SUCH AS WE HAVE KNOWN IT, WAS BURIED BENEATH VOLUMES, PAST ALL ENUMERATION. THERE WAS NEITHER FAUNA NOR FLORA, NEITHER WILDERNESS, TEMPEST, NOR ANY FAMILIAR LOOK OF NATURE, BUT ONLY ONE BOUNDLESS CONTIGUITY OF BOOKS. THERE WAS ONLY MAN AND SPACE AND ONE UNCEASING LIBRARY, AND THE MEN NEITHER ATE NOR SLEPT NOR SPOKE. NATURE WAS TRANSFORMED INTO THE PROCESSES AND PRODUCTS OF WRITING, AND MAN WAS NOW NO LONGER LOVER, FRIEND, PEASANT, MERCHANT, NATURALIST, TRAVELLER, GOURMET, MECHANIC, WARRIOR, WORSHIPPER, BUT ONLY AN AUTHOR. ALL OTHER FACULTIES HAD BEEN LOST TO HIM, AND ALL RESOURCES FOR ANYTHING ELSE HAD FLED FROM HIS UNIVERSE. ANON SOME WRINKLED, FIDGETY, COGITATIVE BEING IN HUMAN FORM WOULD ADD A NEW VOLUME TO SOME SLOPE OR TOWER OF THE MONSTROUS OMNI-PATULENT MASS, OR SOME SHARP-GLANCING YOUTH, WITH TEETH SET UNEVENLY ON EDGE, WOULD PULL OUT A VOLUME, LOOK GREEDILY AND HALF-BELIEVINGLY FOR A FEW MOMENTS, RETURN IT, AND SLINK AWAY. "WHAT IS THIS WORLD, AND WHAT MEANS THIS LIFE?" CRIED I, ADDRESSING AN OLD MAN, WHO HAD JUST TOSSED A VOLUME ALOFT. "WHERE ARE WE, AND WHAT ABOUT THIS? TELL ME, FOR I HAVE NOT BEFORE SEEN AND DO NOT KNOW." HE GLANCED A MOMENT, THEN SPOKE, LIKE A SHADE IN HELL, AS FOLLOWS:—"THIS IS THE WORLD, AND HERE IS HUMAN LIFE. MAN LONG ENJOYED IT, WITH WONDERFUL FULNESS AND FRESHNESS OF BEING. BUT A MADNESS SEIZED HIM; EVERYBODY WROTE BOOKS; THE EVIL GREW MORE AND MORE; NOUGHT ELSE WAS AN OBJECT OF PURSUIT; TILL AT LAST THE EARTH WAS COVERED WITH TOMES, AND FOR LONG AGES NOW IT HAS BEEN BURIED BEYOND THE REACH OF MORTAL. ALL FORMS OF LIFE WERE EXTERMINATED. MAN HIMSELF SURVIVES ONLY AS A LITERARY SHADOW. EACH ONE WRITES A BOOK, OR A FEW BOOKS, AND DIES, VANISHING INTO THIN AIR. SUCH IS LIFE,—A hecatomb!" BUT EVEN IF IT BE SUPPOSED THAT MIND COULD SURVIVE THE TOIL, AND THE EARTH THE QUANTITY OF OUR ACCUMULATING BOOKS, THERE ARE OTHER DIFFICULTIES. THERE ARE OTHER IMPERATIVE LIMITATIONS, BEYOND WHICH THE ART OF WRITING CANNOT GO. LETTERS [Pg 271] [Pg 272] THEMSELVES LIMIT THE POSSIBILITIES OF LITERATURE. FOR THERE IS ONLY A CERTAIN NUMBER OF LETTERS. THESE LETTERS ARE CAPABLE OF ONLY A CERTAIN NUMBER OF COMBINATIONS INTO WORDS. THIS LIMITED NUMBER OF POSSIBLE WORDS IS CAPABLE ONLY OF A CERTAIN NUMBER OF ARRANGEMENTS. CONCEIVE THE EFFECT WHEN ALL THESE CAPABILITIES SHALL BE EXHAUSTED! IT WILL NO LONGER BE POSSIBLE FOR A NEW THING TO BE SAID OR WRITTEN. WE SHALL HAVE ONLY TO SELECT AND REPEAT FROM THE PAST. WRITING SHALL BE REDUCED TO THE MAKING OF EXTRACTS, AND SPEAKING TO THE MAKING OF QUOTATIONS. YET THE CONDITION OF THINGS WOULD CERTAINLY BE IMPROVED. AS THERE IS NOW A GREAT DEAL OF WRITING WITHOUT THINKING, SO THEN THINKING COULD GO ON WITHOUT WRITING. A MAN WOULD BE OBLIGED TO THINK OUT AND UP TO HIS RESULT, AS WE DO NOW; BUT WHETHER HIS PROCESSES AND CONCLUSIONS WERE WISE OR FOOLISH, HE WOULD FIND THEM WRITTEN OUT FOR HIM IN ADVANCE. THE PROCESS OF SELECTION WOULD BE ALL. THE IMMENSE AMOUNT OF WRITING WOULD CEASE. AUTHORS WOULD BE EXTINCT. THINKERS COULD FIND THEIR IDEAS STATED IN THE BEST POSSIBLE WAY, AND THE MOST EFFECTIVE ARGUMENTS IN THEIR FAVOR. IF THIS EVENT SEEMS AT ALL UNLIKELY TO ANY ONE, LET HIM ONLY REFLECT ON the long geological ages, and on the innumerable writings, short and long, now published daily,—from Mr. Buckle to the NEWSPAPERS. ESTIMATE EVERYTHING IN TYPE DAILY THROUGHOUT CHRISTENDOM. IF SO MUCH IS DONE IN A DAY, HOW MUCH IN A FEW DECADES OF CENTURIES? SURELY, AT OUR PRESENT RATE, IN A VERY CONCEIVABLE LENGTH OF TIME, THE RESOURCES OF TWO ALPHABETS WOULD BE EXHAUSTED. AND THIS MAY BE THE REASON AND PROVIDENCE IN THE AMOUNT OF WRITING NOW GOING ON,—TO GET HUMAN LANGUAGE WRITTEN UP. THE EARTH IS AS YET NOT HALF EXPLORED, AND ITS CULTIVATION AND DEVELOPMENT, IN COMPARISON WITH WHAT SHALL SOME TIME BE, HAVE SCARCELY BEGUN. WILL NOT THE RACE BE BLESSED, WHEN ITS TWO MORTAL FOES, NATURE AND THE alphabet, have been finally and forever subdued? THIS NECESSARY FINITENESS OF LITERATURE MAY BE ILLUSTRATED IN ANOTHER WAY. AN ENGLISH MATHEMATICIAN OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY APPLIED THE RESOURCES OF HIS ART TO AN ENUMERATION OF HUMAN IDEAS. HE BELIEVED THAT HE COULD CALCULATE WITH RIGOROUS EXACTNESS THE NUMBER OF IDEAS OF WHICH THE HUMAN MIND IS SUSCEPTIBLE. THIS NUMBER, ACCORDING TO HIM, (AND HE HAS NEVER BEEN DISPUTED,) WAS 3,155,760,000. EVEN IF WE ALLOWED A MILLION OF WORDS TO ONE IDEA, ACCORDING TO OUR PRESENT PRACTICE,—INSTEAD OF A SINGLE WORD TO AN IDEA, WHICH WOULD SEEM REASONABLE,—STILL, ALL THE POSSIBLE COMBINATIONS OF WORDS AND IDEAS WOULD FINALLY BE EXHAUSTED. THE IDEAS WOULD GIVE OUT, TO BE SURE, A MILLION OF TIMES BEFORE THE WORDS; BUT THE LATTER WOULD MEET THEIR DOOM AT LAST. ALL POSSIBLE IDEAS WOULD THEN BE SERVED UP IN ALL POSSIBLE WAYS FOR ALL MEN, WHO COULD ORDER THEM ACCORDING TO THEIR APPETITES, AND WE COULD DISPENSE WITH COOKS EVER AFTER. THE written word would be the finished record of all possible worlds, in gross and in detail. BUT THE PROBLEM WHOSE SOLUTION HAS THUS BEEN ATTEMPTED BY DESPERATE SUGGESTIONS HAS, BY CHANGING ITS ELEMENTS, NULLIFIED OUR CALCULATION. WE HAVE BEEN PLOTTING TO CAST OUT THE DEMON OF BOOKS; AND, LO! THREE OTHER KINDRED DEMONS OF QUARTERLIES, MONTHLIES, AND NEWSPAPERS HAVE JOINED FELLOWSHIP WITH IT, AND OUR LATTER ESTATE IS WORSE THAN OUR FIRST. INDEED, WE MAY ANTICIPATE THE SPEEDY FOSSILIZATION AND EXTINCTION OF BOOKS, WHILE THESE YOUNGER BROODS ALONE SHALL OCCUPY THE EARTH. OUR LIBRARIES ARE ALREADY HARDLY MORE THAN MUSEUMS, THEY WILL SOON BE mausoleums, WHILE ALL OUR READING IS OF THE WINGED WORDS OF THE HURRIED CONTRIBUTOR. SOME OF THE MOST INTELLIGENT AND INFLUENTIAL MEN IN LARGE CITIES DO NOT READ A BOOK ONCE A YEAR. THE CADMEAN MAGIC HAS PASSED FROM THE HANDS OF HIEROPHANTS INTO THOSE OF THE PEOPLE. LITERATURE HAS FALLEN FROM THE DOMAIN OF IMMORTAL THOUGHT TO THAT OF EPHEMERAL SPEECH, FROM THE CONDITIONS OF A FINE TO THOSE OF A MECHANICAL ART. THE ORDER OF GENIUS HAS BEEN ABOLISHED BY AN ALL-PREVAILING POPULAR OPINION. THE ELEGANCE AND TASTE OF PATIENT CULTURE HAVE BEEN VULGARIZED BY FORCED CONTACT WITH THE UNPRESENTABLE FACTS THRUST UPON US BY THE READY WRITER. EVERYBODY NOW SIGHS FOR THE NEW PERIODICAL, WHILE NOBODY HAS READ THE LITERATURE OF ANY SINGLE AGE in any single country. HOW LIKE MOUNTAIN-BILLOWS OF BARBARISM DO THE MORNING JOURNALS, REEKING WITH UNKEMPT FACTS, ROLL IN UPON THE PEACEFUL THOUGHT OF THE SOUL! HOW LIKE SAVAGE HORDES FROM SOME REMOTE STAR, SOME NEBULOUS CHAOS, THAT HAS NEVER YET BEEN RECOGNIZED IN THE COSMICAL WORLD, DO THEY TRAMPLE UPON THE ORGANIC AND DIVINE GROWTHS OF CULTURE, LAYING WASTE THE WELL- ORDERED AND FAIRLY ADORNED FIELDS OF THE MIND, DEMOLISHING THE INTELLECTUAL HIGHWAYS WHICH GREAT ENGINEERING THINKERS HAVE CONSTRUCTED WITHIN US, AND REDUCING A DOMAIN IN WHICH POETRY AND PHILOSOPHY, WITH THEIR SACRED BROODS, DWELT GLORIOUSLY TOGETHER, TO AN UNDISTINGUISHABLE LEVEL OF RUIN! HOW HELPLESS ARE WE BEFORE A NEWSPAPER! WE SIT DOWN TO IT A highly developed and highly civilized being; we leave it a barbarian. Step by step, blow by blow, has everything that was NOBLY FORMED WITHIN US BEEN KNOCKED DOWN, AND WE ARE MADE ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE ATOMIC THEORY OF THE SOUL, EVERY ATOM BEING A SEPARATE SAVAGE, AFTER THE SOCIAL THEORY OF HOBBES. WE ARE CRAZED BY A MULTITUDINOUSNESS OF DETAILS, TILL THE EYE SEES NO PICTURE, THE EAR HEARS NO MUSIC, THE TASTE FINDS NO BEAUTY, AND THE REASON GRASPS NO SYSTEM. THE ONLY WONDER IS THAT THE DIABOLICAL INVENTION OF FAUST OR GUTENBERG HAS NOT ALREADY TRANSFORMED THE GROWTHS OF THE MIND INTO A FAUNA AND flora of perdition. IT WAS A SAD BARBARISM WHEN MEN RAN WILD WITH THEIR OWN IMPULSES, UNABLE TO CONTROL THE FIERCENESS OF INSTINCT. IT IS A SADDER BARBARISM WHEN MEN YIELD TO EVERY IMPULSE FROM WITHOUT, WITH NO IMPERIAL DIGNITY IN THE SOUL, WHICH CLOSES THE apartments against the violence of the world and frowns away unseemly intruders. We have no spontaneous enthusiasm, NO SPIRITUAL INDEPENDENCE, NO INNER BEING, OBEDIENT ONLY TO ITS OWN LAW. WE DO NOT PLOUGH THE BILLOWS OF TIME WITH TRUE BEAK AND STEADY WEIGHT, BUT FLOAT, A TOSSED CORK, NOW ONE SIDE UP AND NOW THE OTHER. WE LIVE THE LIFE OF AN INSECT ACCIDENTALLY CAUGHT WITHIN A DRUM. EVERY STEAMER THAT COMES HITS THE DRUM A BEAT; EVERY TELEGRAM TAPS IT; IT ECHOES WITH EVERY REPRESENTATIVE'S SPEECH, REVERBERATES WITH EVERY SENATOR'S MORE PORTLY EFFORT, SCREAMS AT EVERY ACCIDENT. EVERYTHING THAT IS DONE IN THE UNIVERSE SEEMS TO BE DONE ONLY TO MAKE A NOISE UPON IT. EVERY MORNING, WHATSOEVER THING HAS BEEN CHANGED, AND WHATSOEVER THING HAS BEEN UNCHANGED, DURING THE NIGHT, COMES UP TO BATTER ITS REPORT ON THE OMNI-AUDIENT TYMPANUM OF THE UNIVERSE, THE DRUM-HEAD OF THE PRESS. AND THEN WE ARE INSIDE OF IT. IT MAY BE MUSIC TO the gods who dwell beyond the blue ether, but it is terrible confusion to us. Virgil exhausted the resources of his genius in his portraiture of Fame:— [Pg 273] [Pg 274] "Fama, malum, quo non aliud velocius ullum: Mobilitate viget, viresque acquirit eundo: Parva metu primo; mox sese attollit in auras, Ingrediturque solo, et caput inter nubila condit. *** *** *** *** Tot linguæ, totidem ora sonant, tot subrigit aures. Nocte volat cœli medio terræque per umbram Stridens, nec dulci declinat lumina somno." WHAT WOULD HE HAVE DONE, HAD HE KNOWN OUR MODERN MONSTER, THE ALPHABET-TONGUED, STEEL-SINEWED, KETTLE-LUNGED RUMOR? IT IS A SEVENFOLD HORROR. THE VIRGILIAN FAME WAS NOT A MECHANICAL, BUT A LIVING THING; IT GREW AS IT RAN; IT AT LEAST gave a poetical impression. Its story grew as legends grow, full to the brim of the instincts of the popular genius. It left its TRACES AS IT PASSED, AND THE MINDS OF ALL WHO SAW AND HEARD RESTED IN DELIGHTFUL WONDER TILL SOMETHING NEW HAPPENED. BUT THE FACT WHICH PRINTED RUMOR THROWS THROUGH THE ATMOSPHERE IS COUPLED NOT WITH, THE BEAUTY OF POETRY, BUT WITH THE MADNESS OF DISSERTATION. EVERYBODY IS NOT ONLY INFORMED THAT THE JACKATS DEFEATED THE MAGNATS ON THE BANKS OF THE KAIGER ON THE LAST DAY OF LAST WEEK, BUT THIS NEWS IS CONVEYED TO THEM IN CONNECTION WITH A SERIES OF REVELATIONS ABOUT THE RELATIONS OF SAID FACT TO THE UNIVERSE. THE PRIMORDIAL GERM IS NOT POETICAL, BUT DISSERTATIONAL. IT TENDS TO NO ORGANIC CREATION, BUT TO ANY ABNORMAL AND MULTITUDINOUS DISPLAY OF SUGGESTIONS, HYPOTHESES, AND PROPHECIES. THE ITEM IS SHAPED AS IT PASSES, NOT BY THE HOPES AND FEARS OF THE SOUL, BUT GROWS BY ACCUMULATION OF THE DULL DETAILS OF PROSE. WE HAVE NEITHER THE SPLENDID BEWILDERMENTS OF THE TWELFTH, NOR THE COLD ILLUMINATION OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY, BUT BEWILDERMENTS WITHOUT SPLENDOR, AND COLDNESS WITHOUT ILLUMINATION. THE WORLD IS TOO WIDE-AWAKE FOR THOUGHT,—THE ATMOSPHERE IS TOO BRIGHT FOR INTELLECTUAL ACHIEVEMENTS. WE HAVE THE WONDERS AND SENSATIONS OF A DAY; BUT WHERE ARE THE FATHOMLESS PROFUNDITIES, THE LONG CONTEMPLATIONS, AND THE SILENT SOLEMNITIES OF LIFE? THE NEWSPAPERS ARE MARVELS OF MENTAL INDUSTRY. THEY SHOW HOW MUCH WORK CAN BE DONE IN A DAY, BUT THEY NEVER LAST MORE THAN A DAY. SAD WILL IT BE WHEN THE GENIUS OF EPHEMERALITY HAS INVADED ALL DEPARTMENTS OF HUMAN ACTIONS AND HUMAN MOTIVES! FAREWELL THEN TO DEEP THOUGHTS, TO SUBLIME SELF-SACRIFICE, TO HEROIC LABORS FOR LASTING RESULTS! TIME IS TURNED INTO A DAY, THE MIND KNOWS ONLY MOMENTARY IMPRESSIONS, THE WEARY WAY OF ART IS MADE AS SHORT AS A TURNPIKE, AND THE PRODUCTS OF GENIUS LAST ONLY ABOUT AS LONG AS any mood of the weather. Bleak and changeable March will rule the year in the intellectual heavens. WHAT SYMBOL COULD REPRESENT THIS MATCHLESS EMBODIMENT OF ALL THE ACTIVITIES, THIS TREMENDOUS SUCCESS, THIS FRENZIED PUBLIC INTEREST? A MONSTER SO LARGE, AND YET SO QUICK,—SO MUCH BULK COMBINED WITH SO MUCH READINESS,—REACHING SO FAR, AND YET STRIKING SO OFTEN! WHO CAN CONCEIVE THAT PRODUCTIVE STATE OF MIND IN WHICH SOME CURRENT FACT IS ALL THE TIME WHIRLING THE UNIVERSE ABOUT IT? WHO CAN UNDERSTAND THE MANIA OF THE LEADER-WRITER, WHO NEVER THINKS OF A SUBJECT WITHOUT DISCOVERING THE POSSIBILITY OF A COLUMN CONCERNING IT,—WHO NEVER LOOKS UPON HIS PLATE OF SOUP WITHOUT MENTALLY reviewing in elaborate periods the whole vegetable, animal, and mineral kingdoms? BUT WHAT IS THE ADVANTAGE OF NEWSPAPERS? FORSOOTH, POPULAR INTELLIGENCE. THE NEWSPAPER IS, IN THE FIRST PLACE, THE LEGITIMATE AND IMPROVED SUCCESSOR OF THE FIERY CROSS, BEACON-LIGHT, SIGNAL-SMOKING SUMMIT, HIEROGLYPHIC MARK, AND BULLETIN-BOARD. IT IS, IN ADDITION TO THIS, A POPULAR DAILY EDITION AND APPLICATION OF THE WORKS OF ARISTOTLE, ST. THOMAS AQUINAS, LORD BACON, VATTEL, AND THOMAS JEFFERSON. ON ONE PAGE IT RECORDS ITEMS, ON THE OTHER IT SHOWS THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THOSE ITEMS AND THE HIGHEST THOUGHT. YET THE WHOLE CIRCLE IS ACCOMPLISHED DAILY. THE JOURNAL IS THUS THE SYNOPTICIZED, PERSONIFIED, INCARNATE MADNESS OF THE DAY,—FOR TO-DAY IS ALWAYS MAD, AND BECOMES A THING OF REASON ONLY WHEN IT BECOMES YESTERDAY. A PROPER HISTORICAL FACT IS ONE OF THE RAREST SHOTS IN THE JOURNALIST'S BAG, AS TIME IS SURE TO PROVE. IF WE HAD NEWSPAPER-ACCOUNTS OF THE AGE OF AUGUSTUS, THE CHANCES ARE THAT NO OTHER EPOCH IN HISTORY WOULD BE SO ABSOLUTELY PROBLEMATICAL, AND AUGUSTUS HIMSELF WOULD BE LUCKY, IF HE WERE NOT RESOLVED INTO A MYTH, AND THE JOURNAL INTO SIBYLLINE ORACLES. THE DISSERTATIONAL DEPARTMENT IS EQUALLY FAULTY; FOR TO FIRST IMPRESSIONS EVERYTHING ON EARTH IS CHAMELEON-LIKE. THE SCANDINAVIAN DIVINITIES, THE PAST, THE PRESENT, AND THE FUTURE, COULD LOOK UPON EACH OTHER, BUT NEITHER OF THEM UPON HERSELF. BUT IN THE JOURNAL THE PRESENT IS TRYING TO BEHOLD ITSELF; THE SAME PRIESTESS UTTERS AND EXPLAINS THE ORACLE. THUS THE JOURNAL IS THE IMMORTAL REPRODUCTION OF THE jour des dupes. THE EDITORS ARE LIKE THE newsboys, shouting the news which they do not understand. THE PUBLIC MIND HAS GIVEN ITSELF UP TO IT. IT CLAIMS THE RIGHT TO PRONOUNCE ALL THE NEWSPAPERS VERY BAD, BUT HAS RENOUNCED THE PRIVILEGE OF NOT READING THEM. EVERY ONE IS MADE particeps criminis IN THE COURSE OF EVENTS. NOTHING TAKES PLACE IN ANY QUARTER OF THE GLOBE WITHOUT OUR ASSISTANCE. WE HAVE TO CONNIVE AT omne scibile. ABOUT EVERYTHING NATURAL AND HUMAN, INFERNAL AND DIVINE, THERE IS A GENERAL CONSULTATION OF MANKIND, AND WE ARE ALL MADE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RESULT. YET THIS CONSTANT INTERRUPTION OF OUR PRIVATE INTELLECTUAL HABITS AND INTERESTS IS BOTH AN IMPERTINENCE AND A NUISANCE. WHY SEND US ALL THE CRUDITIES? WHY CALL UPON US TILL YOU KNOW WHAT YOU WANT? WHY SPEAK TILL YOU HAVE GOT YOUR BRAIN AND YOUR MOUTH CLEAR? WHY MAY WE NOT TAKE THE UNIVERSE FOR GRANTED WHEN WE GET UP IN THE MORNING, INSTEAD OF PROCEEDING DIRECTLY TO MEASURE IT OVER AGAIN? ONCE A YEAR IS OFTEN ENOUGH FOR ANYBODY BUT THE GOVERNMENT TO HEAR ANYTHING ABOUT INDIA, CHINA, PATAGONIA, AND THE OTHER FLAPS AND COAT-TAILS OF THE WORLD. LET THE NORTH POLE NEVER BE MENTIONED AGAIN TILL WE CAN MELT THE ICEBERGS BY A BURNING MIRROR BEFORE WE START. DON'T REPORT ANOTHER ASTEROID TILL THE NUMBER REACHES A THOUSAND; THAT WILL BE TIME ENOUGH FOR US TO CHANGE OUR PEG. LET US HEAR NOTHING OF THE SMALL SPEECHES, BUT CONGRESS MAY PUBLISH ONCE A WEEK A BULLETIN OF WHAT IT HAS DONE. THE PRESIDENT AND CABINET MAY PUBLISH A BULLETIN, NOT TO EXCEED FIVE LINES, TWICE A WEEK, OR ON RARE OCCASIONS AND IN A PUBLIC EMERGENCY ONCE A DAY. THE RIGHT, HOWEVER, SHALL BE RESERVED TO THE PEOPLE TO PROHIBIT THE CABINET FROM SAYING ANYTHING MORE ALOUD ON A PARTICULAR PUBLIC QUESTION, TILL THEY [Pg 275] HAVE SETTLED IT. LET NO MAIL-STEAMER PASS BETWEEN HERE AND EUROPE OFTENER THAN ONCE A MONTH,—LET ALL OTHER STEAMERS BE FORBIDDEN TO BRING NEWS, AND THE UTTERANCE OF NEWS BY PASSENGERS BE TREATED EITHER AS A PUBLIC LIBEL OR NUISANCE, OR AS HIGH TREASON. LEAVE THE AWFUL ACCIDENTS TO THE PARTIES WHOM THEY CONCERN, AND DON'T TROUBLE US, UNLESS THEY HAVE THE MERIT OF NOVELTY AS WELL AS OF HORROR. TELL US ONLY THE HIGHEST FACTS, THE BOLDEST STROKES, THE CRITICAL MOMENTS OF DAILY chaos, and save us from multitudinous nonsense. THERE ARE SOME THINGS WHICH WE LIKE TO KEEP OUT OF THE NEWSPAPERS,—WHOSE DIGNITY IS RATHER INCREASED BY BEING SAVED FROM THEM. THERE ARE CERTAIN MOMENTARY AND LOCAL INTERESTS WHICH HAVE BECOME SHY OF THE HORN OF THE REPORTER. THE LEADING MOVEMENTS IN POLITICS, THE ADVANCED GUARD OF SCIENTIFIC AND ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT, THE MOST INTERESTING SOCIAL PHENOMENA RATHER INCREASE THAN DIMINISH THEIR IMPORTANCE BY CURRENCY IN CERTAIN CIRCLES INSTEAD OF IN THE PRESS. THE PRESTIGE OF SOME EVENTS IN METROPOLITAN CITIES, A MARRIAGE OR A PARTY, DEPENDS ON THEIR SOCIAL REPUTE, AND THEY ARE ambitiously KEPT OUT OF THE JOURNALIST'S RANGE. MOREOVER, IN POLITICS, A FEW LEADING MEN MEET TOGETHER FOR CONSULTATION, AND——BUT THE MYSTERIES OF POLITICAL STRATEGY ARE UNKNOWN HERE. CERTAINLY THE JOURNALIST HAS GREAT INFLUENCE IN THEM, BUT THE CLUBS ARE CENTRES OF INFORMATION AND DISCUSSIONS OF A CHARACTER AND INTEREST TO WHICH ALL THAT NEWSPAPERS DO IS SECOND-RATE. SCIENCE HAS NEVER BEEN POPULARIZED DIRECTLY BY THE NEWSPAPERS, BUT THE ERUDITION OF A savant REACHES TO THE PEOPLE BY CREATING AN ATMOSPHERIC CHANGE, IN WHICH TASK THE JOURNALS MAY HAVE THEIR INFLUENCE. RIGHTLY OR WRONGLY, THE ADMINISTRATION IN CIVIL AFFAIRS AT WASHINGTON HAS NOT LISTENED TO THE PRESS MUCH, BUT IT MAY BE DIFFERENT WHEN A NEW ELECTION APPROACHES. THE SOCIAL, POLITICAL, SCIENTIFIC, AND MILITARY DII MAJORES ALL DEPEND ON THE JOURNAL FOR A PART OF THEIR daily breakfast, but all soar above it. A WELL-KNOWN AND RATHER STARTLING STORY DESCRIBES A BEING, WHICH SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN NEITHER FISH, FLESH, NOR FOWL, WHICH A MAN MADE OUT OF THE ELEMENTS, BY THE USE OF HIS HANDS, AND BY THE PROCESSES OF CHEMISTRY, AND WHICH AT THE LAST GALVANIC TOUCH RUSHED FORTH FROM THE LABORATORY, AND FROM THE HORRIFIED EYES OF ITS CREATOR, AN INDEPENDENT, SCOFFING, remorseless, and inevitable enemy of him to whose rash ingenuity it owed its origin. SUCH A CREATURE SYMBOLIZES SOME OF OUR HUMAN ARTS AND INITIATIONS. ONCE ORGANIZED BY GENIUS AND CONSECRATED BY PRECEDENT, THEY BECOME MIGHTY ELEMENTS IN HISTORY, REVELLING AMID THE WEALTHY ENERGY OF LIFE, EXHAUSTING THE FORCES OF THE INTELLECT, CLIPPING THE TENDRILS OF AFFECTION, BECOMING COLOSSAL IN THE ARCHITECTURE OF SOCIETY AND DORSAL IN ITS TRADITIONS, AND TYRANNIZING WITH THE HEEDLESS POWER OF AN ELEMENT, TO THE HORROR OF THE PIOUS SOUL WHICH CALLED IT INTO EXISTENCE, OVER ALL DEPARTMENTS OF HUMAN ACTIVITY. SUCH AN ART, HAVING PASSED A PERIOD OF TAMELESS AND EXTRAVAGANT DOMINANCE, AT LENGTH becomes a fossil, and is regarded only as an evidence of social upheaving in a remote and unaccountable age. TO CHARGE SUCH A CREATURE WITH MONSTROSITY DURING THE PERIOD OF ITS POWER IS SIMPLY TO EXPOSE ONE'S SELF TO POPULAR JEERS. HAVING IMMENSE RESPECT FOR MAJORITIES IN THIS COUNTRY, WE ONLY VENTURE OBSCURELY TO HINT, THAT, OF ALL ARTS, NONE BEFORE HAS EVER BEEN SO THREATENING, CURIOUS, AND FASCINATING A MONSTER AS THAT OF PRINTING. WE MERELY SUGGEST THE HYPOTHESIS, NOVEL SINCE SOME CENTURIES, THAT OLD FAUSTUS AND GUTENBERG WERE AS MUCH INSPIRED BY THE EVIL ONE AS THEY HAVE BEEN FABLED TO BE, WHEN THEY CARVED OUT OF A MOUNTAIN OF ORE THE INSTRUMENT YCLEPT TYPE, TO COMPLETELY EXHAUST THE POSSIBILITIES OF WHICH IS OF LATE ANNOUNCED AS THE SUM OF HUMAN DESTINY. THEY LIVED UNDER THE HALLUCINATION OF DAWNING LITERATURE, WHEN PRINTED BOOKS IMPLIED SACRED AND CLASSICAL PERFECTION; AND THEY COULD BY NO MEANS HAVE FORESEEN THE ROYAL FOLIOS OF THE "NEW YORK HERALD" AND "TRIBUNE," OR THE MARVELLOUS INANITIES ABOUT THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE, which figure in an indescribable list of duodecimo fiction, theology, and popular science. BUT THERE IS NOTHING SO USELESS AS TO PROTEST AGAINST A UNIVERSAL FASHION. EVERY EPOCH MUST WORK OUT ITS OWN PROBLEM IN ITS OWN WAY; AND IT MAY BE THAT IT IS APPOINTED UNTO MANKIND TO WORK THROUGH ALL POSSIBLE MISTAKES AS THE CONDITION OF FINALLY ATTAINING THE TRUTH. THE ONLY WAY IS, TO ENCOURAGE THE SPIRIT OF EVERY AGE, TO HURRY ON THE CLIMAX. THE PRACTICAL reductio ad absurdum and consequent explosion will soon accomplish themselves. BUT A MORE PALPABLE REASON AGAINST PROTESTING IS, THAT LITERATURE IN ITS DIFFERENT BRANCHES, NOW AS EVER, COMMANDS THE SERVICES OF THE FINEST MINDS. IT IS THE LITERARY CHARACTER, OF WHICH THE ELDER DISRAELI HAS WRITTEN THE NATURAL HISTORY, WHICH NOW AS EVER CREATES THE BOOKS, THE MAGAZINES, THE NEWSPAPERS. THAT SANCTIFIED BOOKWORM WAS THE FIRST TO CODIFY THE LAWS, CUSTOMS, HABITS, AND IDIOSYNCRASIES OF LITERARY MEN. HE WAS THE JUSTINIAN OF THE LIFE OF GENIUS. HE WANDERED IN ABSTRACTION THROUGH THE DESERTED ALCOVES OF LIBRARIES, STUDYING AND CREATING THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THOUGHT. WHAT LONG DIVERSITIES OF CHARACTER, WHAT MYSTERIOUS REALMS OF EXPERIENCE, WHAT WILD WAYWARDNESS OF HEAVENLY ENDOWMENTS, WHAT HEROISM OF INWARD STRUGGLE, WHAT SHYNESS TOWARDS SOCIETY, WHAT DEVOTION TO THE BECKONING IDEAL OF ART, WHAT DEFEATS AND WHAT TRIUMPHS, WHAT SUFFERINGS AND JOYS, BOTH IN EXCESS, WERE REVEALED BY HIM, THE GREAT POLITICAL ECONOMIST OF GENIUS! IN HIS APOSTOLIC VIEW, GENIUS ALONE CONSECRATED LITERATURE, AND MADE A LITERARY LIFE SACRED. GENIUS WAS TO HIM THAT PECULIAR AND SPONTANEOUS DEVOTION TO LETTERS WHICH MADE ITS POSSESSOR INDIFFERENT TO EVERYTHING ELSE. FOR A MAN WITHOUT THIS HEAVENLY STAMP TO ENGAGE IN LITERATURE WAS SIMPLY FOR HIM TO RUSH UPON HIS FATE, AND BECOME A PUBLIC NUISANCE. Literature in its very nature is precarious, and must be plucked from the brink of fate, from the mouth of the dragon. The LITERARY MAN RUNS THE RISK OF BEING DESTROYED IN A THOUSAND WAYS. HE HAS NO TRACK LAID, NO INSTITUTED AIDS, NO SPECIFIED COURSE OF ACTION. THE MACHINERIES OF LIFE ARE NOT FOR HIM. HE ENTERS INTO NO ONE OF THE DEPARTMENTS OF HUMAN ROUTINE. HE HAS NO RELATIONS WITH THE COURSE OF THE DULL WORLD; HE IS NOT QUITE A MAN, AS THE WORLD GOES, AND NOT AT ALL AN ANGEL, AS THE CELESTIALS SEE. HE MUST BE HIS OWN MOTIVE, PATH, AND GUIDE, HIS OWN PRIEST, KING, AND LAW. THE WORLD MAY BE HIS FOOTSTOOL, AND MAY BE HIS SLOUGH OF DESPOND, BUT IS NEVER HIS FINAL END. HIS AIMS ARE TRANSCENDENTAL, HIS REALM IS ART, HIS INTERESTS IDEAL, HIS LIFE DIVINE, HIS DESTINY IMMORTAL. ALL THE OLD THEORIES OF SAINTSHIP A...