Chapter XIV: Letter XIII: , in ‘Time and Tide.’

[4] I append a specimen of the conduct of the Saints to whom our English clergymen have delivered the Faith.

[5] The Children’s Prize. No. XII. December, 1873. Price one penny.

[6] Yes, I know that; but am I to be cheerfuller therefore?

[7] I don’t vouch for the particular statements in this letter. It seems to me incredible that any practical absurdity so great as this should exist in tenure of property.

[8] I am not sure, after all, that I should like her to know even so much as this. For on inquiring, myself, into the matter, I find (Ormerod, quoting Dr. H. Landois) that a humble bee has a drum in its stomach, and that one half of this drum can be loosened and then drawn tight again, and that the bee breathes through the slit between the loose half and tight half; and that in this slit there is a little comb, and on this comb the humble bee plays while it breathes, as on a Jew’s harp, and can’t help it. But a honey bee hums with its “thoracic spiracles,” not with its stomach. On the whole—I don’t think I shall tell Agnes anything about all this. She may get through her own life, perhaps, just as well without ever knowing that there’s any such thing as a thorax, or a spiracle.

[9] “The Insect World.” Cassell, Petter, and Galpin.

[10] Alas, that incredulity, the least amiable of the virtues, should often be the most serviceable! Here is a pleasant little passage to fall in with, after Dr. Johnson’s “it is well known”! I find it in Ormerod, discussing the relative tenability of insects between the fingers for the study of their voices. “Wasps are obviously ill fitted for this purpose, and humble bees are no better; they are so strong and so slippery that they need all our attention to prevent their putting their long stings through our gloves while we are examining them.”

[11] Foolish of me; a cobweb may be overthrown, but cannot be stung.

[12] His debate with Barnabas, on the occasion of the latter’s visit to the wounded Joseph, throws some clear light on the questions opened in Mr. Lyttel’s letter.

[13] Some ambiguity is caused in this passage by the chance of both dog and boy having the same name, as well as the same instincts.

[14] I don’t put inverted commas to all Mr. Gould’s words, having necessarily to mix up mine with them in a patchwork manner; but I don’t know anything worth telling, whatever, about—so much as a sparrow,—but what he tells me.

[15] Italics mine throughout.

[16] Nowadays the travelling is of course ‘notoriously safe’! but what shall we say of the banking?

[17] The oldest windmill on record in this country (I speak under correction) stood in this parish, and was given by Bishop Seffrid to the see of Chichester about the year 1199. The largest watermill ever constructed in Sussex was that of Mr. Catt.

[18] Frightened, (I hear it was guessed in a gossiping newspaper,) by the Shipton accident, and disgusted afterwards by unexpected expenses. The ingenious British public cannot conceive of anybody’s estimating danger before accidents as well as after them, or amusing himself by driving from one place to another, instead of round the Park. There was some grain of truth in the important rumour, however. I have posted, in early days, up and down England (and some other countries) not once nor twice; and I grumbled, in Yorkshire, at being charged twenty-pence instead of eighteen-pence a mile. But the pace was good, where any trace of roads remained under casual outcasting of cinders and brickbats.

[19] “Our Lady’s,” doubtless, once.

[20] I include in my general term ‘mob,’ lords, squires, clergy, parish beadles, and all other states and conditions of men concerned in the proceedings described.

[21] They are round at the end, but do not taper.

[22] An Indian one, patiently investigated for me by Mr. Burgess, was fastened with glue which entirely defied cold water, and yielded only to the kettle.

[23] She bites them round the edge roughly enough; but pushes them down with a tucked-up rim, quite tight, like the first covering of a pot of preserve.

[24] Or in old wood.

[25] He does not give the date.

[26] See my first notice of it in the beginning of the Fors of August 1871; and further account of it in appendix to my Lecture on Glaciers, given at the London Institution this year.

[27] Will the reader be kind enough, in the last two lines of page 128, to put, with his pen, a semicolon after “age”, a comma after “unclean,” and a semicolon after “use”? He will find the sentence thus take a different meaning.

[28] Isaiah xxviii. 17 and 18.

[29] The whole woodcut is given in facsimile in the fifth part of ‘Ariadne Florentina.’

[30] See ‘Munera Pulveris,’ pp. 99 to 103; and ‘Ariadne Florentina,’ Lecture VI.

[31] “Narr.
Fünftausend Kronen wären mir zu Handen.

Meph.
Zweibeiniger Schlauch, bist wieder auferstanden?

Narr.
Geschieht mir oft, doch nicht so gut als jetzt.

Meph.
Du freust dich so, dass dich’s in Schweiss versetzt.

Narr.
Da seht nur her, ist das wohl Geldes werth?

Meph.
Du hast dafür was Schlund und Bauch begehrt.

Narr.
Und kaufen kann ich Acker, Haus, und Vieh?

Meph.
Versteht sich! Biete nur, das fehlt dir nie!

Narr.
Und Schloss mit Wald und Jagd, und Fischbach?

Meph.
Traun!
Ich möchte dich gestrengen Herrn wohl schaun.

Narr.
Heute Abend wieg’ ich mich im Grundbesitz. (ab.)

Meph. (solus.)
Wer zweifelt noch an unsres Narren Witz!”

[32] I have written it out from a perfect English psalter of early thirteenth century work, with St. Edward, St. Edmund, and St. Cuthbert in its calendar; it probably having belonged to the cathedral of York. The writing is very full, but quick; meant for service more than beauty; illuminated sparingly, but with extreme care. Its contractions are curiously varied and capricious: thus, here in the fifth verse, c in constituisti stands for ‘con’ merely by being turned the wrong way. I prefer its text, nevertheless, to that of more elaborate MSS., for when very great attention is paid to the writing, there are apt to be mistakes in the words. In the best thirteenth-century service-book I have, ‘tuos’ in the third verse is written ‘meos.’

[33] Compare the ‘Crown of Wild Olive,’ p. 57; and put in the fifth line of that page, a comma after ‘heaven,’ and in the eighth line a semicolon after ‘blessing.’

[34] I am sensitive for other writers in this point, my own readers being in the almost universal practice of choosing any bit they may happen to fancy in what I say, without ever considering what it was said for.

[35] Collated out of Sapientia xv. and xvi.

[36] Compare Jeremiah ix. 6; in the Septuagint, τόκος ἐπὶ τόκῳ, καὶ δόλος ἐπὶ δόλῳ: “usury on usury, and trick upon trick.”

[37] The instinct for the study of parasites, modes of disease, the lower forms of undeveloped creatures, and the instinctive processes of digestion and generation, rather than the varied and noble habit of life,—which shows itself so grotesquely in modern science, is the precise counterpart of the forms of idolatry (as of beetle and serpent, rather than of clean or innocent creatures,) which were in great part the cause of final corruption in ancient mythology and morals.

[38] If my good correspondent will try practically the difference in the effect on the minds of the next two beggars he meets, between imputing a penny to the one, and imparting it to the other, he will receive a profitable lesson both in religion and English.

Of Felix Neff’s influence, past and present, I will take other occasion to speak.

[39] See the note at p. 151.

[40] Action, observe, I say here; in thought I was too independent, as I said above.

[41] At least, I think the terms of my letter might have been easily construed into such recommendation; I fear they were not as clear as they might have been.

[42] I permit the waste of type, and, it may well be, of my reader’s patience, involved in reprinting (instead of merely referring to) the quoted passages and letter, lest it should be thought that I wished to evade the points, or, by interruption, deaden the eloquence, of the Birmingham article.

[43] Birmingham accepts, with the child-like confidence due by one able Editor to another, the report of Brighton. But all Mr. Hansard’s friends are furious with me for “spreading it;” and I beg at once, on their authority, to contradict it in all essential particulars; and to apologize to Mr. Hansard for ever having suspected him of such things.

[44] Moutard—not -arde; but I can’t give better than this English for it.

[45] Fate, and the good novelist, thus dismiss poor grandmamma in a passing sentence,—just when we wanted her so much to live a little longer, too! But that is Fors’s way, and Gotthelf knows it. A bad novelist would have made her live to exactly the proper moment, and then die in a most instructive manner, and with pathetic incidents and speeches which would have filled a chapter.

[46] This paragraph implies, of course, the existence of all modern abuses,—the story dealing only with the world as it is.

[47] A minute Evangelical fragment—dubitable enough.

[48] Primarily, because it is untrue. The respect of a child for its parent depends on the parent’s own personal character; and not at all, irrespective of that, on his religious behaviour. Which the practical good sense of the reverend novelist presently admits.

[49] We keep the metaphor in the phrase, to ‘give a dressing,’ but the short verb is better.

[50] Untranslateable.

[51] It was unworthy of Gotthelf to spoil his story by this vulgar theatrical catastrophe; and his object (namely, to exhibit the character of Hansli in riches as well as poverty,) does not justify him; for, to be an example to those in his own position, Hansli should have remained in it. We will, however, take what good we can get: several of the points for the sake of which I have translated the whole story, are in this part of it.

[52] “Fidèle à toute épreuve.”

[53] “Patraque,”—machine out of repair, and useless.

[54] I am reprinting this pamphlet word for word as it was first issued from the press. Mr. Allen will have it ready for distribution by the first of September.

[55] Compare my Birmingham correspondent’s opinion of David’s “twangling on the harp,” page 10, Letter VI.

[56] ‘Sesame and Lilies,’ page 53.

[57] Compare Letter XXIV., page 20; and Dante, Paradiso, xxiv. 16:

“Cosi, quelle carole differente—
Mente danzando, della sua ricchezza
Mi si facean stimar, veloci e lente.”

[58] Compare Letter VIII., p. 16; and Letter IX., p. 17.

[59] This will be added to by future Masters of the Company, with the farther means of specification indicated in pages 4 and 5 of Letter XXI.

[60] Missing, in the phrase ‘that our hearts may be set to obey,’ the entire sense of the balanced clause in the original,—namely, that the Law of God is given to be the shield and comfort of the soul against spiritual enemies, as the merciful angels encamp round us against earthly ones.

[61] Most of these will be merely old English laws revived; and the rest, Florentine or Roman. None will be instituted but such as have already been in force among great nations.

[62] See first note in the Correspondence.

[63] Thus excluding all inferior kinds: wine which will keep ten years will keep fifty.

[64] I shall use this delicate coinage as a means of education in fineness of touch, and care of small things, and for practical lessons in arithmetic, to the younger children, in whose hands it will principally be. It will never be wanted for alms; and for small purchases, as no wares will be offered at elevenpence three-farthings for a shilling, or ninepence four-fifths for a florin, there will be no unreasonable trouble. The children shall buy their own toys, and have none till they are able to do so.

[65] The beginning of the last verse of the prayer of Moses, Psalm xc.

[66] I never saw a rough diamond worth setting, until the Bishop of Natal gave me a sharply crystallized one from the African fields. Perhaps a star or two of cut ones may be permitted to the house-mistresses on great occasions.

[67] Yes, certainly. It points to teeth which shall have no meat to eat, but only the lead of coffins, and to tongues which shall have no water to drink, but only the burnt sulphur of hell. See, for example, succeeding article.

[68] I quote from memory, and may be out in a word or two; not in the sense: but I don’t know if the young lady is really approved by the author, and held up as an example to others; or meant, as I have taken her, for a warning. The method of error, at all events, is accurately and clearly shown.

[69] To make the definition by itself complete, the words ‘in his work’ should be added after ‘submitted’ and ‘by his work’ after ‘bestow’; but it is easier to learn without these phrases, which are of course to be understood.

[70] The ‘few there be that find it’ is added, as an actual fact; a fact consequent not on the way’s being narrow, but on its being disagreeable.

[71] Namely, Modern Painters, Stones of Venice, Seven Lamps, and Elements of Drawing. I cut these books to pieces, because in the three first, all the religious notions are narrow, and many false; and in the fourth, there is a vital mistake about outline, doing great damage to all the rest.

[72] Fors, Ariadne, Love’s Meinie, Proserpina, Deucalion, Mornings in Florence,—and this: and four of these require the careful preparation of drawings for them by my own hand, and one of these drawings alone, for Proserpina, this last June, took me a good ten days’ work, and that hard.

[73] Inaugural Lectures, Aratra Pentelici, Val d’Arno, and Eagle’s Nest; besides a course on Florentine Sculpture, given last year, and not yet printed, the substance of it being in re-modification for Mornings in Florence.

[74] Mr. W. Ward, 2, Church Terrace, Richmond, Surrey, will give any necessary information about this or other photographs referred to in Fors; and generally have them on sale; but see terminal Note.

[75] The transparent part of the veil which descends from the point of the cap is entirely lost, for instance, in this Madonna.

[76] Last but one article in the Notes.

[77] The writer is now an accepted Companion.

[78] I am only too happy to be justified in withdrawing it. But my errors will, I trust, always be found rather in the relaxation than the unnecessary enforcement, even of favourite principles; and I did not see what line I could draw between the spinning-wheel, which I knew to be necessary, and the sewing machine, which I suspected to be mischievous, and gave therefore permission only to use; while I shall earnestly urge the use of the spinning-wheel. I will give the reason for distinction, (so far as my correspondent’s most interesting letter leaves me anything more to say,) in a future letter.

[79] The printseller obligingly giving an eleventh, “Pembury Mill,”—Fors thus directing that the first art gift bestowed on the Company shall be Turner’s etching of a flour mill.

[80] Remember, however, that the publication of prime cost, and the absolute knowledge of all circumstances or causes of extra cost, are inviolable laws of established trade under the St. George’s Company.

[81] It is at this moment, nine o’clock, 27th October, tearing the Virginian creeper round my window into rags rather than leaves.

[82] See Fourth Morning in Florence. ‘The Vaulted Book.’

[83] I use the current English of Mrs. Lennox’s translation, but Henry’s real saying was (see the first—green leaf—edition of Sully), “It is written above what is to happen to me on every occasion.” “Toute occasion” becomes “Cette occasion” in the subsequent editions, and finally “what is to happen to me” (ce que doit être fait de moi) becomes “what I ought to do” in the English.

[84] See the ‘Times’ of November 23rd of that year.

[85] I can’t answer for Madagascar nomenclature.

[86] By no means; but practical obedience, yes,—not to me, but to the Master of the Company, whoever he may be; and this not for his pride’s sake, but for your comfort’s.