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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:16:26 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:16:26 -0700 |
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diff --git a/1051-h/1051-h.htm b/1051-h/1051-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d5a8951 --- /dev/null +++ b/1051-h/1051-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8668 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> + <head> + <meta charset="utf-8"> + <title> + Sartor Resartus | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <style> + + body { margin:5%; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1051 ***</div> + <p> + <br ><br > + </p> + <h1> + SARTOR RESARTUS: + </h1> + <h2> + The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdrockh + </h2> + <p> + <br > + </p> + <h2> + By Thomas Carlyle. + </h2> + <p> + <br > <br > + </p> + <h3> + 1831 + </h3> + <p> + <br > <br > + </p> + <hr > + <p> + <br > <br > + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <span style="font-size: larger"><b>CONTENTS</b></span> + </p> + <p> + <br > + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <b>BOOK I.</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0001"> CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARY. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0002"> CHAPTER II. EDITORIAL DIFFICULTIES. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0003"> CHAPTER III. REMINISCENCES. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0004"> CHAPTER IV. CHARACTERISTICS. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0005"> CHAPTER V. THE WORLD IN CLOTHES. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0006"> CHAPTER VI. APRONS. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0007"> CHAPTER VII. MISCELLANEOUS-HISTORICAL. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0008"> CHAPTER VIII. THE WORLD OUT OF CLOTHES. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0009"> CHAPTER IX. ADAMITISM. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0010"> CHAPTER X. PURE REASON. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0011"> CHAPTER XI. PROSPECTIVE. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br > + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> <b>BOOK II.</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0012"> CHAPTER I. GENESIS. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0013"> CHAPTER II. IDYLLIC. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0014"> CHAPTER III. PEDAGOGY. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0015"> CHAPTER IV. GETTING UNDER WAY. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0016"> CHAPTER V. ROMANCE. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0017"> CHAPTER VI. SORROWS OF TEUFELSDROCKH. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0018"> CHAPTER VII. THE EVERLASTING NO. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0019"> CHAPTER VIII. CENTRE OF INDIFFERENCE. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0020"> CHAPTER IX. THE EVERLASTING YEA. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0021"> CHAPTER X. PAUSE. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br > + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0024"> <b>BOOK III.</b> </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0022"> CHAPTER I. INCIDENT IN MODERN HISTORY. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0023"> CHAPTER II. CHURCH-CLOTHES. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0024"> CHAPTER III. SYMBOLS. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0025"> CHAPTER IV. HELOTAGE. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0026"> CHAPTER V. THE PHOENIX. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0027"> CHAPTER VI. OLD CLOTHES. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0028"> CHAPTER VII. ORGANIC FILAMENTS. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0029"> CHAPTER VIII. NATURAL SUPERNATURALISM. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0030"> CHAPTER IX. CIRCUMSPECTIVE. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0031"> CHAPTER X. THE DANDIACAL BODY. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0032"> CHAPTER XI. TAILORS. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2HCH0033"> CHAPTER XII. FAREWELL. </a> + </p> + <p> + <br > + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPE"> APPENDIX. </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br > <br > + </p> + <hr > + <p> + <br > <br > <a id="link2H_4_0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h1> + BOOK I. + </h1> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. PRELIMINARY. + </h2> + <p> + Considering our present advanced state of culture, and how the Torch of + Science has now been brandished and borne about, with more or less effect, + for five thousand years and upwards; how, in these times especially, not + only the Torch still burns, and perhaps more fiercely than ever, but + innumerable Rushlights, and Sulphur-matches, kindled thereat, are also + glancing in every direction, so that not the smallest cranny or dog-hole + in Nature or Art can remain unilluminated,—it might strike the + reflective mind with some surprise that hitherto little or nothing of a + fundamental character, whether in the way of Philosophy or History, has + been written on the subject of Clothes. + </p> + <p> + Our Theory of Gravitation is as good as perfect: Lagrange, it is well + known, has proved that the Planetary System, on this scheme, will endure + forever; Laplace, still more cunningly, even guesses that it could not + have been made on any other scheme. Whereby, at least, our nautical + Logbooks can be better kept; and water-transport of all kinds has grown + more commodious. Of Geology and Geognosy we know enough: what with the + labors of our Werners and Huttons, what with the ardent genius of their + disciples, it has come about that now, to many a Royal Society, the + Creation of a World is little more mysterious than the cooking of a + dumpling; concerning which last, indeed, there have been minds to whom the + question, <i>How the apples were got in</i>, presented difficulties. Why + mention our disquisitions on the Social Contract, on the Standard of + Taste, on the Migrations of the Herring? Then, have we not a Doctrine of + Rent, a Theory of Value; Philosophies of Language, of History, of Pottery, + of Apparitions, of Intoxicating Liquors? Man's whole life and environment + have been laid open and elucidated; scarcely a fragment or fibre of his + Soul, Body, and Possessions, but has been probed, dissected, distilled, + desiccated, and scientifically decomposed: our spiritual Faculties, of + which it appears there are not a few, have their Stewarts, Cousins, Royer + Collards: every cellular, vascular, muscular Tissue glories in its + Lawrences, Majendies, Bichats. + </p> + <p> + How, then, comes it, may the reflective mind repeat, that the grand Tissue + of all Tissues, the only real Tissue, should have been quite overlooked by + Science,—the vestural Tissue, namely, of woollen or other cloth; + which Man's Soul wears as its outmost wrappage and overall; wherein his + whole other Tissues are included and screened, his whole Faculties work, + his whole Self lives, moves, and has its being? For if, now and then, some + straggling broken-winged thinker has cast an owl's glance into this + obscure region, the most have soared over it altogether heedless; + regarding Clothes as a property, not an accident, as quite natural and + spontaneous, like the leaves of trees, like the plumage of birds. In all + speculations they have tacitly figured man as <i>a Clothed Animal</i>; + whereas he is by nature a <i>Naked Animal</i>; and only in certain + circumstances, by purpose and device, masks himself in Clothes. + Shakespeare says, we are creatures that look before and after: the more + surprising that we do not look round a little, and see what is passing + under our very eyes. + </p> + <p> + But here, as in so many other cases, Germany, learned, indefatigable, + deep-thinking Germany comes to our aid. It is, after all, a blessing that, + in these revolutionary times, there should be one country where abstract + Thought can still take shelter; that while the din and frenzy of Catholic + Emancipations, and Rotten Boroughs, and Revolts of Paris, deafen every + French and every English ear, the German can stand peaceful on his + scientific watch-tower; and, to the raging, struggling multitude here and + elsewhere, solemnly, from hour to hour, with preparatory blast of + cow-horn, emit his <i>Horet ihr Herren und lasset's Euch sagen</i>; in + other words, tell the Universe, which so often forgets that fact, what + o'clock it really is. Not unfrequently the Germans have been blamed for an + unprofitable diligence; as if they struck into devious courses, where + nothing was to be had but the toil of a rough journey; as if, forsaking + the gold-mines of finance and that political slaughter of fat oxen whereby + a man himself grows fat, they were apt to run goose-hunting into regions + of bilberries and crowberries, and be swallowed up at last in remote + peat-bogs. Of that unwise science, which, as our Humorist expresses it, + </p> +<pre> + "By geometric scale + Doth take the size of pots of ale;" +</pre> + <p> + still more, of that altogether misdirected industry, which is seen + vigorously thrashing mere straw, there can nothing defensive be said. In + so far as the Germans are chargeable with such, let them take the + consequence. Nevertheless be it remarked, that even a Russian steppe has + tumult and gold ornaments; also many a scene that looks desert and + rock-bound from the distance, will unfold itself, when visited, into rare + valleys. Nay, in any case, would Criticism erect not only finger-posts and + turnpikes, but spiked gates and impassable barriers, for the mind of man? + It is written, "Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be + increased." Surely the plain rule is, Let each considerate person have his + way, and see what it will lead to. For not this man and that man, but all + men make up mankind, and their united tasks the task of mankind. How often + have we seen some such adventurous, and perhaps much-censured wanderer + light on some out-lying, neglected, yet vitally momentous province; the + hidden treasures of which he first discovered, and kept proclaiming till + the general eye and effort were directed thither, and the conquest was + completed;—thereby, in these his seemingly so aimless rambles, + planting new standards, founding new habitable colonies, in the + immeasurable circumambient realm of Nothingness and Night! Wise man was he + who counselled that Speculation should have free course, and look + fearlessly towards all the thirty-two points of the compass, whithersoever + and howsoever it listed. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps it is proof of the stunted condition in which pure Science, + especially pure moral Science, languishes among us English; and how our + mercantile greatness, and invaluable Constitution, impressing a political + or other immediately practical tendency on all English culture and + endeavor, cramps the free flight of Thought,—that this, not + Philosophy of Clothes, but recognition even that we have no such + Philosophy, stands here for the first time published in our language. What + English intellect could have chosen such a topic, or by chance stumbled on + it? But for that same unshackled, and even sequestered condition of the + German Learned, which permits and induces them to fish in all manner of + waters, with all manner of nets, it seems probable enough, this abtruse + Inquiry might, in spite of the results it leads to, have continued dormant + for indefinite periods. The Editor of these sheets, though otherwise + boasting himself a man of confirmed speculative habits, and perhaps + discursive enough, is free to confess, that never, till these last months, + did the above very plain considerations, on our total want of a Philosophy + of Clothes, occur to him; and then, by quite foreign suggestion. By the + arrival, namely, of a new Book from Professor Teufelsdrockh of + Weissnichtwo; treating expressly of this subject, and in a style which, + whether understood or not, could not even by the blindest be overlooked. + In the present Editor's way of thought, this remarkable Treatise, with its + Doctrines, whether as judicially acceded to, or judicially denied, has not + remained without effect. + </p> + <p> + "<i>Die Kleider, ihr Werden und Wirken</i> (Clothes, their Origin and + Influence): <i>von Diog. Teufelsdrockh, J. U. D. etc. Stillschweigen und + Cognie. Weissnichtwo</i>, 1831. + </p> + <p> + "Here," says the <i>Weissnichtwo'sche Anzeiger</i>, "comes a Volume of + that extensive, close-printed, close-meditated sort, which, be it spoken + with pride, is seen only in Germany, perhaps only in Weissnichtwo. Issuing + from the hitherto irreproachable Firm of Stillschweigen and Company, with + every external furtherance, it is of such internal quality as to set + Neglect at defiance.... A work," concludes the well-nigh enthusiastic + Reviewer, "interesting alike to the antiquary, the historian, and the + philosophic thinker; a masterpiece of boldness, lynx-eyed acuteness, and + rugged independent Germanism and Philanthropy (<i>derber Kerndeutschheit + und Menschenliebe</i>); which will not, assuredly, pass current without + opposition in high places; but must and will exalt the almost new name of + Teufelsdrockh to the first ranks of Philosophy, in our German Temple of + Honor." + </p> + <p> + Mindful of old friendship, the distinguished Professor, in this the first + blaze of his fame, which however does not dazzle him, sends hither a + Presentation-copy of his Book; with compliments and encomiums which + modesty forbids the present Editor to rehearse; yet without indicated wish + or hope of any kind, except what may be implied in the concluding phrase: + <i>Mochte es</i> (this remarkable Treatise) <i>auch im Brittischen Boden + gedeihen</i>! + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. EDITORIAL DIFFICULTIES. + </h2> + <p> + If for a speculative man, "whose seedfield," in the sublime words of the + Poet, "is Time," no conquest is important but that of new ideas, then + might the arrival of Professor Teufelsdrockh's Book be marked with chalk + in the Editor's calendar. It is indeed an "extensive Volume," of + boundless, almost formless contents, a very Sea of Thought; neither calm + nor clear, if you will; yet wherein the toughest pearl-diver may dive to + his utmost depth, and return not only with sea-wreck but with true + orients. + </p> + <p> + Directly on the first perusal, almost on the first deliberate inspection, + it became apparent that here a quite new Branch of Philosophy, leading to + as yet undescried ulterior results, was disclosed; farther, what seemed + scarcely less interesting, a quite new human Individuality, an almost + unexampled personal character, that, namely, of Professor Teufelsdrockh + the Discloser. Of both which novelties, as far as might be possible, we + resolved to master the significance. But as man is emphatically a + proselytizing creature, no sooner was such mastery even fairly attempted, + than the new question arose: How might this acquired good be imparted to + others, perhaps in equal need thereof; how could the Philosophy of + Clothes, and the Author of such Philosophy, be brought home, in any + measure, to the business and bosoms of our own English Nation? For if + new-got gold is said to burn the pockets till it be cast forth into + circulation, much more may new truth. + </p> + <p> + Here, however, difficulties occurred. The first thought naturally was to + publish Article after Article on this remarkable Volume, in such widely + circulating Critical Journals as the Editor might stand connected with, or + by money or love procure access to. But, on the other hand, was it not + clear that such matter as must here be revealed, and treated of, might + endanger the circulation of any Journal extant? If, indeed, all + party-divisions in the State could have been abolished, Whig, Tory, and + Radical, embracing in discrepant union; and all the Journals of the Nation + could have been jumbled into one Journal, and the Philosophy of Clothes + poured forth in incessant torrents therefrom, the attempt had seemed + possible. But, alas, what vehicle of that sort have we, except <i>Fraser's + Magazine</i>? A vehicle all strewed (figuratively speaking) with the + maddest Waterloo-Crackers, exploding distractively and destructively, + wheresoever the mystified passenger stands or sits; nay, in any case, + understood to be, of late years, a vehicle full to overflowing, and + inexorably shut! Besides, to state the Philosophy of Clothes without the + Philosopher, the ideas of Teufelsdrockh without something of his + personality, was it not to insure both of entire misapprehension? Now for + Biography, had it been otherwise admissible, there were no adequate + documents, no hope of obtaining such, but rather, owing to circumstances, + a special despair. Thus did the Editor see himself, for the while, shut + out from all public utterance of these extraordinary Doctrines, and + constrained to revolve them, not without disquietude, in the dark depths + of his own mind. + </p> + <p> + So had it lasted for some months; and now the Volume on Clothes, read and + again read, was in several points becoming lucid and lucent; the + personality of its Author more and more surprising, but, in spite of all + that memory and conjecture could do, more and more enigmatic; whereby the + old disquietude seemed fast settling into fixed discontent,—when + altogether unexpectedly arrives a Letter from Herr Hofrath Heuschrecke, + our Professor's chief friend and associate in Weissnichtwo, with whom we + had not previously corresponded. The Hofrath, after much quite extraneous + matter, began dilating largely on the "agitation and attention" which the + Philosophy of Clothes was exciting in its own German Republic of Letters; + on the deep significance and tendency of his Friend's Volume; and then, at + length, with great circumlocution, hinted at the practicability of + conveying "some knowledge of it, and of him, to England, and through + England to the distant West:" a work on Professor Teufelsdrockh "were + undoubtedly welcome to the <i>Family</i>, the <i>National</i>, or any + other of those patriotic <i>Libraries</i>, at present the glory of British + Literature;" might work revolutions in Thought; and so forth;—in + conclusion, intimating not obscurely, that should the present Editor feel + disposed to undertake a Biography of Teufelsdrockh, he, Hofrath + Heuschrecke, had it in his power to furnish the requisite Documents. + </p> + <p> + As in some chemical mixture, that has stood long evaporating, but would + not crystallize, instantly when the wire or other fixed substance is + introduced, crystallization commences, and rapidly proceeds till the whole + is finished, so was it with the Editor's mind and this offer of + Heuschrecke's. Form rose out of void solution and discontinuity; like + united itself with like in definite arrangement: and soon either in actual + vision and possession, or in fixed reasonable hope, the image of the whole + Enterprise had shaped itself, so to speak, into a solid mass. Cautiously + yet courageously, through the twopenny post, application to the famed + redoubtable OLIVER YORKE was now made: an interview, interviews with that + singular man have taken place; with more of assurance on our side, with + less of satire (at least of open satire) on his, than we anticipated; for + the rest, with such issue as is now visible. As to those same "patriotic + <i>Libraries</i>," the Hofrath's counsel could only be viewed with silent + amazement; but with his offer of Documents we joyfully and almost + instantaneously closed. Thus, too, in the sure expectation of these, we + already see our task begun; and this our <i>Sartor Resartus</i>, which is + properly a "Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdrockh," hourly advancing. + </p> + <p> + Of our fitness for the Enterprise, to which we have such title and + vocation, it were perhaps uninteresting to say more. Let the British + reader study and enjoy, in simplicity of heart, what is here presented + him, and with whatever metaphysical acumen and talent for meditation he is + possessed of. Let him strive to keep a free, open sense; cleared from the + mists of prejudice, above all from the paralysis of cant; and directed + rather to the Book itself than to the Editor of the Book. Who or what such + Editor may be, must remain conjectural, and even insignificant: [*] it is + a voice publishing tidings of the Philosophy of Clothes; undoubtedly a + Spirit addressing Spirits: whoso hath ears, let him hear. + </p> +<pre> + * With us even he still communicates in some sort of mask, + or muffler; and, we have reason to think, under a feigned + name!—O. Y. +</pre> + <p> + On one other point the Editor thinks it needful to give warning: namely, + that he is animated with a true though perhaps a feeble attachment to the + Institutions of our Ancestors; and minded to defend these, according to + ability, at all hazards; nay, it was partly with a view to such defence + that he engaged in this undertaking. To stem, or if that be impossible, + profitably to divert the current of Innovation, such a Volume as + Teufelsdrockh's, if cunningly planted down, were no despicable pile, or + floodgate, in the logical wear. + </p> + <p> + For the rest, be it nowise apprehended, that any personal connection of + ours with Teufelsdrockh, Heuschrecke or this Philosophy of Clothes, can + pervert our judgment, or sway us to extenuate or exaggerate. Powerless, we + venture to promise, are those private Compliments themselves. Grateful + they may well be; as generous illusions of friendship; as fair mementos of + bygone unions, of those nights and suppers of the gods, when, lapped in + the symphonies and harmonies of Philosophic Eloquence, though with baser + accompaniments, the present Editor revelled in that feast of reason, never + since vouchsafed him in so full measure! But what then? <i>Amicus Plato, + magis amica veritas</i>; Teufelsdrockh is our friend, Truth is our + divinity. In our historical and critical capacity, we hope we are + strangers to all the world; have feud or favor with no one,—save + indeed the Devil, with whom, as with the Prince of Lies and Darkness, we + do at all times wage internecine war. This assurance, at an epoch when + puffery and quackery have reached a height unexampled in the annals of + mankind, and even English Editors, like Chinese Shopkeepers, must write on + their door-lintels <i>No cheating here</i>,—we thought it good to + premise. + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. REMINISCENCES. + </h2> + <p> + To the Author's private circle the appearance of this singular Work on + Clothes must have occasioned little less surprise than it has to the rest + of the world. For ourselves, at least, few things have been more + unexpected. Professor Teufelsdrockh, at the period of our acquaintance + with him, seemed to lead a quite still and self-contained life: a man + devoted to the higher Philosophies, indeed; yet more likely, if he + published at all, to publish a refutation of Hegel and Bardili, both of + whom, strangely enough, he included under a common ban; than to descend, + as he has here done, into the angry noisy Forum, with an Argument that + cannot but exasperate and divide. Not, that we can remember, was the + Philosophy of Clothes once touched upon between us. If through the high, + silent, meditative Transcendentalism of our Friend we detected any + practical tendency whatever, it was at most Political, and towards a + certain prospective, and for the present quite speculative, Radicalism; as + indeed some correspondence, on his part, with Herr Oken of Jena was now + and then suspected; though his special contributions to the <i>Isis</i> + could never be more than surmised at. But, at all events, nothing Moral, + still less anything Didactico-Religious, was looked for from him. + </p> + <p> + Well do we recollect the last words he spoke in our hearing; which indeed, + with the Night they were uttered in, are to be forever remembered. Lifting + his huge tumbler of <i>Gukguk</i>, [*] and for a moment lowering his + tobacco-pipe, he stood up in full Coffee-house (it was <i>Zur Grunen Gans</i>, + the largest in Weissnichtwo, where all the Virtuosity, and nearly all the + Intellect of the place assembled of an evening); and there, with low, + soul-stirring tone, and the look truly of an angel, though whether of a + white or of a black one might be dubious, proposed this toast: <i>Die + Sache der Armen in Gottes und Teufels Namen</i> (The Cause of the Poor, in + Heaven's name and—'s)! One full shout, breaking the leaden silence; + then a gurgle of innumerable emptying bumpers, again followed by universal + cheering, returned him loud acclaim. It was the finale of the night: + resuming their pipes; in the highest enthusiasm, amid volumes of + tobacco-smoke; triumphant, cloud-capt without and within, the assembly + broke up, each to his thoughtful pillow. <i>Bleibt doch ein echter Spass</i>- + <i>und Galgen-vogel</i>, said several; meaning thereby that, one day, he + would probably be hanged for his democratic sentiments. <i>Wo steckt doch + der Schalk</i>? added they, looking round: but Teufelsdrockh had retired + by private alleys, and the Compiler of these pages beheld him no more. + </p> +<pre> + * Gukguk is unhappily only an academical-beer. +</pre> + <p> + In such scenes has it been our lot to live with this Philosopher, such + estimate to form of his purposes and powers. And yet, thou brave + Teufelsdrockh, who could tell what lurked in thee? Under those thick locks + of thine, so long and lank, overlapping roof-wise the gravest face we ever + in this world saw, there dwelt a most busy brain. In thy eyes too, deep + under their shaggy brows, and looking out so still and dreamy, have we not + noticed gleams of an ethereal or else a diabolic fire, and half fancied + that their stillness was but the rest of infinite motion, the <i>sleep</i> + of a spinning-top? Thy little figure, there as, in loose ill-brushed + threadbare habiliments, thou sattest, amid litter and lumber, whole days, + to "think and smoke tobacco," held in it a mighty heart. The secrets of + man's Life were laid open to thee; thou sawest into the mystery of the + Universe, farther than another; thou hadst <i>in petto</i> thy remarkable + Volume on Clothes. Nay, was there not in that clear logically founded + Transcendentalism of thine; still more, in thy meek, silent, deep-seated + Sansculottism, combined with a true princely Courtesy of inward nature, + the visible rudiments of such speculation? But great men are too often + unknown, or what is worse, misknown. Already, when we dreamed not of it, + the warp of thy remarkable Volume lay on the loom; and silently, + mysterious shuttles were putting in the woof. + </p> + <p> + How the Hofrath Heuschrecke is to furnish biographical data, in this case, + may be a curious question; the answer of which, however, is happily not + our concern, but his. To us it appeared, after repeated trial, that in + Weissnichtwo, from the archives or memories of the best-informed classes, + no Biography of Teufelsdrockh was to be gathered; not so much as a false + one. He was a stranger there, wafted thither by what is called the course + of circumstances; concerning whose parentage, birthplace, prospects, or + pursuits, curiosity had indeed made inquiries, but satisfied herself with + the most indistinct replies. For himself, he was a man so still and + altogether unparticipating, that to question him even afar off on such + particulars was a thing of more than usual delicacy: besides, in his sly + way, he had ever some quaint turn, not without its satirical edge, + wherewith to divert such intrusions, and deter you from the like. Wits + spoke of him secretly as if he were a kind of Melchizedek, without father + or mother of any kind; sometimes, with reference to his great historic and + statistic knowledge, and the vivid way he had of expressing himself like + an eye-witness of distant transactions and scenes, they called him the <i>Ewige + Jude</i>, Everlasting, or as we say, Wandering Jew. + </p> + <p> + To the most, indeed, he had become not so much a Man as a Thing; which + Thing doubtless they were accustomed to see, and with satisfaction; but no + more thought of accounting for than for the fabrication of their daily <i>Allgemeine + Zeitung</i>, or the domestic habits of the Sun. Both were there and + welcome; the world enjoyed what good was in them, and thought no more of + the matter. The man Teufelsdrockh passed and repassed, in his little + circle, as one of those originals and nondescripts, more frequent in + German Universities than elsewhere; of whom, though you see them alive, + and feel certain enough that they must have a History, no History seems to + be discoverable; or only such as men give of mountain rocks and + antediluvian ruins: That they have been created by unknown agencies, are + in a state of gradual decay, and for the present reflect light and resist + pressure; that is, are visible and tangible objects in this phantasm + world, where so much other mystery is. + </p> + <p> + It was to be remarked that though, by title and diploma, <i>Professor der + Allerley-Wissenschaft</i>, or as we should say in English, "Professor of + Things in General," he had never delivered any Course; perhaps never been + incited thereto by any public furtherance or requisition. To all + appearance, the enlightened Government of Weissnichtwo, in founding their + New University, imagined they had done enough, if "in times like ours," as + the half-official Program expressed it, "when all things are, rapidly or + slowly, resolving themselves into Chaos, a Professorship of this kind had + been established; whereby, as occasion called, the task of bodying + somewhat forth again from such Chaos might be, even slightly, + facilitated." That actual Lectures should be held, and Public Classes for + the "Science of Things in General," they doubtless considered premature; + on which ground too they had only established the Professorship, nowise + endowed it; so that Teufelsdrockh, "recommended by the highest Names," had + been promoted thereby to a Name merely. + </p> + <p> + Great, among the more enlightened classes, was the admiration of this new + Professorship: how an enlightened Government had seen into the Want of the + Age (<i>Zeitbedurfniss</i>); how at length, instead of Denial and + Destruction, we were to have a science of Affirmation and Reconstruction; + and Germany and Weissnichtwo were where they should be, in the vanguard of + the world. Considerable also was the wonder at the new Professor, dropt + opportunely enough into the nascent University; so able to lecture, should + occasion call; so ready to hold his peace for indefinite periods, should + an enlightened Government consider that occasion did not call. But such + admiration and such wonder, being followed by no act to keep them living, + could last only nine days; and, long before our visit to that scene, had + quite died away. The more cunning heads thought it was all an expiring + clutch at popularity, on the part of a Minister, whom domestic + embarrassments, court intrigues, old age, and dropsy soon afterwards + finally drove from the helm. + </p> + <p> + As for Teufelsdrockh, except by his nightly appearances at the <i>Grune + Gans</i>, Weissnichtwo saw little of him, felt little of him. Here, over + his tumbler of Gukguk, he sat reading Journals; sometimes contemplatively + looking into the clouds of his tobacco-pipe, without other visible + employment: always, from his mild ways, an agreeable phenomenon there; + more especially when he opened his lips for speech; on which occasions the + whole Coffee-house would hush itself into silence, as if sure to hear + something noteworthy. Nay, perhaps to hear a whole series and river of the + most memorable utterances; such as, when once thawed, he would for hours + indulge in, with fit audience: and the more memorable, as issuing from a + head apparently not more interested in them, not more conscious of them, + than is the sculptured stone head of some public fountain, which through + its brass mouth-tube emits water to the worthy and the unworthy; careless + whether it be for cooking victuals or quenching conflagrations; indeed, + maintains the same earnest assiduous look, whether any water be flowing or + not. + </p> + <p> + To the Editor of these sheets, as to a young enthusiastic Englishman, + however unworthy, Teufelsdrockh opened himself perhaps more than to the + most. Pity only that we could not then half guess his importance, and + scrutinize him with due power of vision! We enjoyed, what not three men + Weissnichtwo could boast of, a certain degree of access to the Professor's + private domicile. It was the attic floor of the highest house in the + Wahngasse; and might truly be called the pinnacle of Weissnichtwo, for it + rose sheer up above the contiguous roofs, themselves rising from elevated + ground. Moreover, with its windows it looked towards all the four <i>Orte</i> + or as the Scotch say, and we ought to say, <i>Airts</i>: the sitting room + itself commanded three; another came to view in the <i>Schlafgemach</i> + (bedroom) at the opposite end; to say nothing of the kitchen, which + offered two, as it were, <i>duplicates</i>, showing nothing new. So that + it was in fact the speculum or watch-tower of Teufelsdrockh; wherefrom, + sitting at ease he might see the whole life-circulation of that + considerable City; the streets and lanes of which, with all their doing + and driving (<i>Thun und Treiben</i>), were for the most part visible + there. + </p> + <p> + "I look down into all that wasp-nest or bee-hive," we have heard him say, + "and witness their wax-laying and honey-making, and poison-brewing, and + choking by sulphur. From the Palace esplanade, where music plays while + Serene Highness is pleased to eat his victuals, down to the low lane, + where in her door-sill the aged widow, knitting for a thin livelihood sits + to feel the afternoon sun, I see it all; for, except Schlosskirche + weather-cock, no biped stands so high. Couriers arrive bestrapped and + bebooted, bearing Joy and Sorrow bagged up in pouches of leather: there, + top-laden, and with four swift horses, rolls in the country Baron and his + household; here, on timber-leg, the lamed Soldier hops painfully along, + begging alms: a thousand carriages, and wains, cars, come tumbling in with + Food, with young Rusticity, and other Raw Produce, inanimate or animate, + and go tumbling out again with produce manufactured. That living flood, + pouring through these streets, of all qualities and ages, knowest thou + whence it is coming, whither it is going? <i>Aus der Ewigkeit, zu der + Ewigkeit hin</i>: From Eternity, onwards to Eternity! These are + Apparitions: what else? Are they not Souls rendered visible: in Bodies, + that took shape and will lose it, melting into air? Their solid Pavement + is a Picture of the Sense; they walk on the bosom of Nothing, blank Time + is behind them and before them. Or fanciest thou, the red and yellow + Clothes-screen yonder, with spurs on its heels and feather in its crown, + is but of To-day, without a Yesterday or a To-morrow; and had not rather + its Ancestor alive when Hengst and Horsa overran thy Island? Friend, thou + seest here a living link in that Tissue of History, which inweaves all + Being: watch well, or it will be past thee, and seen no more." + </p> + <p> + "<i>Ach, mein Lieber</i>!" said he once, at midnight, when we had returned + from the Coffee-house in rather earnest talk, "it is a true sublimity to + dwell here. These fringes of lamplight, struggling up through smoke and + thousand-fold exhalation, some fathoms into the ancient reign of Night, + what thinks Bootes of them, as he leads his Hunting-Dogs over the Zenith + in their leash of sidereal fire? That stifled hum of Midnight, when + Traffic has lain down to rest; and the chariot-wheels of Vanity, still + rolling here and there through distant streets, are bearing her to Halls + roofed in, and lighted to the due pitch for her; and only Vice and Misery, + to prowl or to moan like nightbirds, are abroad: that hum, I say, like the + stertorous, unquiet slumber of sick Life, is heard in Heaven! Oh, under + that hideous coverlet of vapors, and putrefactions, and unimaginable + gases, what a Fermenting-vat lies simmering and hid! The joyful and the + sorrowful are there; men are dying there, men are being born; men are + praying,—on the other side of a brick partition, men are cursing; + and around them all is the vast, void Night. The proud Grandee still + lingers in his perfumed saloons, or reposes within damask curtains; + Wretchedness cowers into buckle-beds, or shivers hunger-stricken into its + lair of straw: in obscure cellars, <i>Rouge-et-Noir</i> languidly emits + its voice-of-destiny to haggard hungry Villains; while Councillors of + State sit plotting, and playing their high chess-game, whereof the pawns + are Men. The Lover whispers his mistress that the coach is ready; and she, + full of hope and fear, glides down, to fly with him over the borders: the + Thief, still more silently, sets to his picklocks and crowbars, or lurks + in wait till the watchmen first snore in their boxes. Gay mansions, with + supper-rooms and dancing-rooms, are full of light and music and + high-swelling hearts; but, in the Condemned Cells, the pulse of life beats + tremulous and faint, and bloodshot eyes look out through the darkness, + which is around and within, for the light of a stern last morning. Six men + are to be hanged on the morrow: comes no hammering from the <i>Rabenstein</i>?—their + gallows must even now be o' building. Upwards of five hundred thousand + two-legged animals without feathers lie round us, in horizontal position; + their heads all in nightcaps, and full of the foolishest dreams. Riot + cries aloud, and staggers and swaggers in his rank dens of shame; and the + Mother, with streaming hair, kneels over her pallid dying infant, whose + cracked lips only her tears now moisten.—All these heaped and + huddled together, with nothing but a little carpentry and masonry between + them;—crammed in, like salted fish in their barrel;—or + weltering, shall I say, like an Egyptian pitcher of tamed vipers, each + struggling to get its <i>head above</i> the others: <i>such</i> work goes + on under that smoke-counterpane!—But I, <i>mein Werther</i>, sit + above it all; I am alone with the stars." + </p> + <p> + We looked in his face to see whether, in the utterance of such + extraordinary Night-thoughts, no feeling might be traced there; but with + the light we had, which indeed was only a single tallow-light, and far + enough from the window, nothing save that old calmness and fixedness was + visible. + </p> + <p> + These were the Professor's talking seasons: most commonly he spoke in mere + monosyllables, or sat altogether silent and smoked; while the visitor had + liberty either to say what he listed, receiving for answer an occasional + grunt; or to look round for a space, and then take himself away. It was a + strange apartment; full of books and tattered papers, and miscellaneous + shreds of all conceivable substances, "united in a common element of + dust." Books lay on tables, and below tables; here fluttered a sheet of + manuscript, there a torn handkerchief, or nightcap hastily thrown aside; + ink-bottles alternated with bread-crusts, coffee-pots, tobacco-boxes, + Periodical Literature, and Blucher Boots. Old Lieschen (Lisekin, 'Liza), + who was his bed-maker and stove-lighter, his washer and wringer, cook, + errand-maid, and general lion's-provider, and for the rest a very orderly + creature, had no sovereign authority in this last citadel of + Teufelsdrockh; only some once in the month she half-forcibly made her way + thither, with broom and duster, and (Teufelsdrockh hastily saving his + manuscripts) effected a partial clearance, a jail-delivery of such lumber + as was not Literary. These were her <i>Erdbeben</i> (earthquakes), which + Teufelsdrockh dreaded worse than the pestilence; nevertheless, to such + length he had been forced to comply. Glad would he have been to sit here + philosophizing forever, or till the litter, by accumulation, drove him out + of doors: but Lieschen was his right-arm, and spoon, and necessary of + life, and would not be flatly gainsayed. We can still remember the ancient + woman; so silent that some thought her dumb; deaf also you would often + have supposed her; for Teufelsdrockh, and Teufelsdrockh only, would she + serve or give heed to; and with him she seemed to communicate chiefly by + signs; if it were not rather by some secret divination that she guessed + all his wants, and supplied them. Assiduous old dame! she scoured, and + sorted, and swept, in her kitchen, with the least possible violence to the + ear; yet all was tight and right there: hot and black came the coffee ever + at the due moment; and the speechless Lieschen herself looked out on you, + from under her clean white coif with its lappets, through her clean + withered face and wrinkles, with a look of helpful intelligence, almost of + benevolence. + </p> + <p> + Few strangers, as above hinted, had admittance hither: the only one we + ever saw there, ourselves excepted, was the Hofrath Heuschrecke, already + known, by name and expectation, to the readers of these pages. To us, at + that period, Herr Heuschrecke seemed one of those purse-mouthed, + crane-necked, clean-brushed, pacific individuals, perhaps sufficiently + distinguished in society by this fact, that, in dry weather or in wet, + "they never appear without their umbrella." Had we not known with what + "little wisdom" the world is governed; and how, in Germany as elsewhere, + the ninety-and-nine Public Men can for most part be but mute train-bearers + to the hundredth, perhaps but stalking-horses and willing or unwilling + dupes,—it might have seemed wonderful how Herr Heuschrecke should be + named a <i>Rath</i>, or Councillor, and Counsellor, even in Weissnichtwo. + What counsel to any man, or to any woman, could this particular Hofrath + give; in whose loose, zigzag figure; in whose thin visage, as it went + jerking to and fro, in minute incessant fluctuation,—you traced + rather confusion worse confounded; at most, Timidity and physical Cold? + Some indeed said withal, he was "the very Spirit of Love embodied:" blue + earnest eyes, full of sadness and kindness; purse ever open, and so forth; + the whole of which, we shall now hope, for many reasons, was not quite + groundless. Nevertheless friend Teufelsdrockh's outline, who indeed + handled the burin like few in these cases, was probably the best: <i>Er + hat Gemuth und Geist, hat wenigstens gehabt, doch ohne Organ, ohne + Schicksals-Gunst; ist gegenwartig aber halb-zerruttet, halb-erstarrt</i>, + "He has heart and talent, at least has had such, yet without fit mode of + utterance, or favor of Fortune; and so is now half-cracked, + half-congealed."—What the Hofrath shall think of this when he sees + it, readers may wonder; we, safe in the stronghold of Historical Fidelity, + are careless. + </p> + <p> + The main point, doubtless, for us all, is his love of Teufelsdrockh, which + indeed was also by far the most decisive feature of Heuschrecke himself. + We are enabled to assert that he hung on the Professor with the fondness + of a Boswell for his Johnson. And perhaps with the like return; for + Teufelsdrockh treated his gaunt admirer with little outward regard, as + some half-rational or altogether irrational friend, and at best loved him + out of gratitude and by habit. On the other hand, it was curious to + observe with what reverent kindness, and a sort of fatherly protection, + our Hofrath, being the elder, richer, and as he fondly imagined far more + practically influential of the two, looked and tended on his little Sage, + whom he seemed to consider as a living oracle. Let but Teufelsdrockh open + his mouth, Heuschrecke's also unpuckered itself into a free doorway, + besides his being all eye and all ear, so that nothing might be lost: and + then, at every pause in the harangue, he gurgled out his pursy chuckle of + a cough-laugh (for the machinery of laughter took some time to get in + motion, and seemed crank and slack), or else his twanging nasal, <i>Bravo! + Das glaub' ich</i>; in either case, by way of heartiest approval. In + short, if Teufelsdrockh was Dalai-Lama, of which, except perhaps in his + self-seclusion, and godlike indifference, there was no symptom, then might + Heuschrecke pass for his chief Talapoin, to whom no dough-pill he could + knead and publish was other than medicinal and sacred. + </p> + <p> + In such environment, social, domestic, physical, did Teufelsdrockh, at the + time of our acquaintance, and most likely does he still, live and + meditate. Here, perched up in his high Wahngasse watch-tower, and often, + in solitude, outwatching the Bear, it was that the indomitable Inquirer + fought all his battles with Dulness and Darkness; here, in all + probability, that he wrote this surprising Volume on <i>Clothes</i>. + Additional particulars: of his age, which was of that standing middle sort + you could only guess at; of his wide surtout; the color of his trousers, + fashion of his broad-brimmed steeple-hat, and so forth, we might report, + but do not. The Wisest truly is, in these times, the Greatest; so that an + enlightened curiosity leaving Kings and such like to rest very much on + their own basis, turns more and more to the Philosophic Class: + nevertheless, what reader expects that, with all our writing and + reporting, Teufelsdrockh could be brought home to him, till once the + Documents arrive? His Life, Fortunes, and Bodily Presence, are as yet + hidden from us, or matter only of faint conjecture. But, on the other + hand, does not his Soul lie enclosed in this remarkable Volume, much more + truly than Pedro Garcia's did in the buried Bag of Doubloons? To the soul + of Diogenes Teufelsdrockh, to his opinions, namely, on the "Origin and + Influence of Clothes," we for the present gladly return. + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. CHARACTERISTICS. + </h2> + <p> + It were a piece of vain flattery to pretend that this Work on Clothes + entirely contents us; that it is not, like all works of genius, like the + very Sun, which, though the highest published creation, or work of genius, + has nevertheless black spots and troubled nebulosities amid its + effulgence,—a mixture of insight, inspiration, with dulness, + double-vision, and even utter blindness. + </p> + <p> + Without committing ourselves to those enthusiastic praises and + prophesyings of the <i>Weissnichtwo'sche Anzeiger</i>, we admitted that + the Book had in a high degree excited us to self-activity, which is the + best effect of any book; that it had even operated changes in our way of + thought; nay, that it promised to prove, as it were, the opening of a new + mine-shaft, wherein the whole world of Speculation might henceforth dig to + unknown depths. More specially may it now be declared that Professor + Teufelsdrockh's acquirements, patience of research, philosophic and even + poetic vigor, are here made indisputably manifest; and unhappily no less + his prolixity and tortuosity and manifold ineptitude; that, on the whole, + as in opening new mine-shafts is not unreasonable, there is much rubbish + in his Book, though likewise specimens of almost invaluable ore. A + paramount popularity in England we cannot promise him. Apart from the + choice of such a topic as Clothes, too often the manner of treating it + betokens in the Author a rusticity and academic seclusion, unblamable, + indeed inevitable in a German, but fatal to his success with our public. + </p> + <p> + Of good society Teufelsdrockh appears to have seen little, or has mostly + forgotten what he saw. He speaks out with a strange plainness; calls many + things by their mere dictionary names. To him the Upholsterer is no + Pontiff, neither is any Drawing-room a Temple, were it never so begilt and + overhung: "a whole immensity of Brussels carpets, and pier-glasses, and + ormolu," as he himself expresses it, "cannot hide from me that such + Drawing-room is simply a section of Infinite Space, where so many + God-created Souls do for the time meet together." To Teufelsdrockh the + highest Duchess is respectable, is venerable; but nowise for her pearl + bracelets and Malines laces: in his eyes, the star of a Lord is little + less and little more than the broad button of Birmingham spelter in a + Clown's smock; "each is an implement," he says, "in its kind; a tag for <i>hooking-together</i>; + and, for the rest, was dug from the earth, and hammered on a stithy before + smith's fingers." Thus does the Professor look in men's faces with a + strange impartiality, a strange scientific freedom; like a man unversed in + the higher circles, like a man dropped thither from the Moon. Rightly + considered, it is in this peculiarity, running through his whole system of + thought, that all these shortcomings, over-shootings, and multiform + perversities, take rise: if indeed they have not a second source, also + natural enough, in his Transcendental Philosophies, and humor of looking + at all Matter and Material things as Spirit; whereby truly his case were + but the more hopeless, the more lamentable. + </p> + <p> + To the Thinkers of this nation, however, of which class it is firmly + believed there are individuals yet extant, we can safely recommend the + Work: nay, who knows but among the fashionable ranks too, if it be true, + as Teufelsdrockh maintains, that "within the most starched cravat there + passes a windpipe and weasand, and under the thickliest embroidered + waistcoat beats a heart,"—the force of that rapt earnestness may be + felt, and here and there an arrow of the soul pierce through? In our wild + Seer, shaggy, unkempt, like a Baptist living on locusts and wild honey, + there is an untutored energy, a silent, as it were unconscious, strength, + which, except in the higher walks of Literature, must be rare. Many a deep + glance, and often with unspeakable precision, has he cast into mysterious + Nature, and the still more mysterious Life of Man. Wonderful it is with + what cutting words, now and then, he severs asunder the confusion; sheers + down, were it furlongs deep; into the true centre of the matter; and there + not only hits the nail on the head, but with crushing force smites it + home, and buries it.—On the other hand, let us be free to admit, he + is the most unequal writer breathing. Often after some such feat, he will + play truant for long pages, and go dawdling and dreaming, and mumbling and + maundering the merest commonplaces, as if he were asleep with eyes open, + which indeed he is. + </p> + <p> + Of his boundless Learning, and how all reading and literature in most + known tongues, from <i>Sanchoniathon</i> to <i>Dr. Lingard</i>, from your + Oriental <i>Shasters</i>, and <i>Talmuds</i>, and <i>Korans</i>, with + Cassini's <i>Siamese fables</i>, and Laplace's <i>Mecanique Celeste</i>, + down to <i>Robinson Crusoe</i> and the <i>Belfast Town and Country + Almanack</i>, are familiar to him,—we shall say nothing: for + unexampled as it is with us, to the Germans such universality of study + passes without wonder, as a thing commendable, indeed, but natural, + indispensable, and there of course. A man that devotes his life to + learning, shall he not be learned? + </p> + <p> + In respect of style our Author manifests the same genial capability, + marred too often by the same rudeness, inequality, and apparent want of + intercourse with the higher classes. Occasionally, as above hinted, we + find consummate vigor, a true inspiration; his burning thoughts step forth + in fit burning words, like so many full-formed Minervas, issuing amid + flame and splendor from Jove's head; a rich, idiomatic diction, + picturesque allusions, fiery poetic emphasis, or quaint tricksy turns; all + the graces and terrors of a wild Imagination, wedded to the clearest + Intellect, alternate in beautiful vicissitude. Were it not that sheer + sleeping and soporific passages; circumlocutions, repetitions, touches + even of pure doting jargon, so often intervene! On the whole, Professor + Teufelsdrockh, is not a cultivated writer. Of his sentences perhaps not + more than nine-tenths stand straight on their legs; the remainder are in + quite angular attitudes, buttressed up by props (of parentheses and + dashes), and ever with this or the other tagrag hanging from them; a few + even sprawl out helplessly on all sides, quite broken-backed and + dismembered. Nevertheless, in almost his very worst moods, there lies in + him a singular attraction. A wild tone pervades the whole utterance of the + man, like its keynote and regulator; now screwing itself aloft as into the + Song of Spirits, or else the shrill mockery of Fiends; now sinking in + cadences, not without melodious heartiness, though sometimes abrupt + enough, into the common pitch, when we hear it only as a monotonous hum; + of which hum the true character is extremely difficult to fix. Up to this + hour we have never fully satisfied ourselves whether it is a tone and hum + of real Humor, which we reckon among the very highest qualities of genius, + or some echo of mere Insanity and Inanity, which doubtless ranks below the + very lowest. + </p> + <p> + Under a like difficulty, in spite even of our personal intercourse, do we + still lie with regard to the Professor's moral feeling. Gleams of an + ethereal love burst forth from him, soft wailings of infinite pity; he + could clasp the whole Universe into his bosom, and keep it warm; it seems + as if under that rude exterior there dwelt a very seraph. Then again he is + so sly and still, so imperturbably saturnine; shows such indifference, + malign coolness towards all that men strive after; and ever with some + half-visible wrinkle of a bitter sardonic humor, if indeed it be not mere + stolid callousness,—that you look on him almost with a shudder, as + on some incarnate Mephistopheles, to whom this great terrestrial and + celestial Round, after all, were but some huge foolish Whirligig, where + kings and beggars, and angels and demons, and stars and street-sweepings, + were chaotically whirled, in which only children could take interest. His + look, as we mentioned, is probably the gravest ever seen: yet it is not of + that cast-iron gravity frequent enough among our own Chancery suitors; but + rather the gravity as of some silent, high-encircled mountain-pool, + perhaps the crater of an extinct volcano; into whose black deeps you fear + to gaze: those eyes, those lights that sparkle in it, may indeed be + reflexes of the heavenly Stars, but perhaps also glances from the region + of Nether Fire. + </p> + <p> + Certainly a most involved, self-secluded, altogether enigmatic nature, + this of Teufelsdrockh! Here, however, we gladly recall to mind that once + we saw him <i>laugh</i>; once only, perhaps it was the first and last time + in his life; but then such a peal of laughter, enough to have awakened the + Seven Sleepers! It was of Jean Paul's doing: some single billow in that + vast World-Mahlstrom of Humor, with its heaven-kissing coruscations, which + is now, alas, all congealed in the frost of death! The large-bodied Poet + and the small, both large enough in soul, sat talking miscellaneously + together, the present Editor being privileged to listen; and now Paul, in + his serious way, was giving one of those inimitable "Extra-Harangues;" + and, as it chanced, On the Proposal for a <i>Cast-metal King</i>: + gradually a light kindled in our Professor's eyes and face, a beaming, + mantling, loveliest light; through those murky features, a radiant + ever-young Apollo looked; and he burst forth like the neighing of all + Tattersall's,—tears streaming down his cheeks, pipe held aloft, foot + clutched into the air,—loud, long-continuing, uncontrollable; a + laugh not of the face and diaphragm only, but of the whole man from head + to heel. The present Editor, who laughed indeed, yet with measure, began + to fear all was not right: however, Teufelsdrockh, composed himself, and + sank into his old stillness; on his inscrutable countenance there was, if + anything, a slight look of shame; and Richter himself could not rouse him + again. Readers who have any tincture of Psychology know how much is to be + inferred from this; and that no man who has once heartily and wholly + laughed can be altogether irreclaimably bad. How much lies in Laughter: + the cipher-key, wherewith we decipher the whole man! Some men wear an + everlasting barren simper; in the smile of others lies a cold glitter as + of ice: the fewest are able to laugh, what can be called laughing, but + only sniff and titter and snigger from the throat outwards; or at best, + produce some whiffling husky cachinnation, as if they were laughing + through wool: of none such comes good. The man who cannot laugh is not + only fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils; but his whole life is + already a treason and a stratagem. + </p> + <p> + Considered as an Author, Herr Teufelsdrockh has one scarcely pardonable + fault, doubtless his worst: an almost total want of arrangement. In this + remarkable Volume, it is true, his adherence to the mere course of Time + produces, through the Narrative portions, a certain show of outward + method; but of true logical method and sequence there is too little. Apart + from its multifarious sections and subdivisions, the Work naturally falls + into two Parts; a Historical-Descriptive, and a Philosophical-Speculative: + but falls, unhappily, by no firm line of demarcation; in that labyrinthic + combination, each Part overlaps, and indents, and indeed runs quite + through the other. Many sections are of a debatable rubric, or even quite + nondescript and unnamable; whereby the Book not only loses in + accessibility, but too often distresses us like some mad banquet, wherein + all courses had been confounded, and fish and flesh, soup and solid, + oyster-sauce, lettuces, Rhine-wine and French mustard, were hurled into + one huge tureen or trough, and the hungry Public invited to help itself. + To bring what order we can out of this Chaos shall be part of our + endeavor. + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. THE WORLD IN CLOTHES. + </h2> + <p> + "As Montesquieu wrote a <i>Spirit of Laws</i>," observes our Professor, + "so could I write a <i>Spirit of Clothes</i>; thus, with an <i>Esprit des + Lois</i>, properly an <i>Esprit de Coutumes</i>, we should have an <i>Esprit + de Costumes</i>. For neither in tailoring nor in legislating does man + proceed by mere Accident, but the hand is ever guided on by mysterious + operations of the mind. In all his Modes, and habilatory endeavors, an + Architectural Idea will be found lurking; his Body and the Cloth are the + site and materials whereon and whereby his beautified edifice, of a + Person, is to be built. Whether he flow gracefully out in folded mantles, + based on light sandals; tower up in high headgear, from amid peaks, + spangles and bell-girdles; swell out in starched ruffs, buckram stuffings, + and monstrous tuberosities; or girth himself into separate sections, and + front the world an Agglomeration of four limbs,—will depend on the + nature of such Architectural Idea: whether Grecian, Gothic, Later Gothic, + or altogether Modern, and Parisian or Anglo-Dandiacal. Again, what meaning + lies in Color! From the soberest drab to the high-flaming scarlet, + spiritual idiosyncrasies unfold themselves in choice of Color: if the Cut + betoken Intellect and Talent, so does the Color betoken Temper and Heart. + In all which, among nations as among individuals, there is an incessant, + indubitable, though infinitely complex working of Cause and Effect: every + snip of the Scissors has been regulated and prescribed by ever-active + Influences, which doubtless to Intelligences of a superior order are + neither invisible nor illegible. + </p> + <p> + "For such superior Intelligences a Cause-and-Effect Philosophy of Clothes, + as of Laws, were probably a comfortable winter-evening entertainment: + nevertheless, for inferior Intelligences, like men, such Philosophies have + always seemed to me uninstructive enough. Nay, what is your Montesquieu + himself but a clever infant spelling Letters from a hieroglyphical + prophetic Book, the lexicon of which lies in Eternity, in Heaven?—Let + any Cause-and-Effect Philosopher explain, not why I wear such and such a + Garment, obey such and such a Law; but even why I am <i>here</i>, to wear + and obey anything!—Much, therefore, if not the whole, of that same + <i>Spirit of Clothes</i> I shall suppress, as hypothetical, ineffectual, + and even impertinent: naked Facts, and Deductions drawn therefrom in quite + another than that omniscient style, are my humbler and proper province." + </p> + <p> + Acting on which prudent restriction, Teufelsdrockh, has nevertheless + contrived to take in a well-nigh boundless extent of field; at least, the + boundaries too often lie quite beyond our horizon. Selection being + indispensable, we shall here glance over his First Part only in the most + cursory manner. This First Part is, no doubt, distinguished by omnivorous + learning, and utmost patience and fairness: at the same time, in its + results and delineations, it is much more likely to interest the Compilers + of some <i>Library</i> of General, Entertaining, Useful, or even Useless + Knowledge than the miscellaneous readers of these pages. Was it this Part + of the Book which Heuschrecke had in view, when he recommended us to that + joint-stock vehicle of publication, "at present the glory of British + Literature"? If so, the Library Editors are welcome to dig in it for their + own behoof. + </p> + <p> + To the First Chapter, which turns on Paradise and Fig-leaves, and leads us + into interminable disquisitions of a mythological, metaphorical, + cabalistico-sartorial and quite antediluvian cast, we shall content + ourselves with giving an unconcerned approval. Still less have we to do + with "Lilis, Adam's first wife, whom, according to the Talmudists, he had + before Eve, and who bore him, in that wedlock, the whole progeny of + aerial, aquatic, and terrestrial Devils,"—very needlessly, we think. + On this portion of the Work, with its profound glances into the <i>Adam-Kadmon</i>, + or Primeval Element, here strangely brought into relation with the <i>Nifl</i> + and <i>Muspel</i> (Darkness and Light) of the antique North, it may be + enough to say, that its correctness of deduction, and depth of Talmudic + and Rabbinical lore have filled perhaps not the worst Hebraist in Britain + with something like astonishment. + </p> + <p> + But, quitting this twilight region, Teufelsdrockh hastens from the Tower + of Babel, to follow the dispersion of Mankind over the whole habitable and + habilable globe. Walking by the light of Oriental, Pelasgic, Scandinavian, + Egyptian, Otaheitean, Ancient and Modern researches of every conceivable + kind, he strives to give us in compressed shape (as the Nurnbergers give + an <i>Orbis Pictus</i>) an <i>Orbis Vestitus</i>; or view of the costumes + of all mankind, in all countries, in all times. It is here that to the + Antiquarian, to the Historian, we can triumphantly say: Fall to! Here is + learning: an irregular Treasury, if you will; but inexhaustible as the + Hoard of King Nibelung, which twelve wagons in twelve days, at the rate of + three journeys a day, could not carry off. Sheepskin cloaks and wampum + belts; phylacteries, stoles, albs; chlamydes, togas, Chinese silks, + Afghaun shawls, trunk-hose, leather breeches, Celtic hilibegs (though + breeches, as the name <i>Gallia Braccata</i> indicates, are the more + ancient), Hussar cloaks, Vandyke tippets, ruffs, fardingales, are brought + vividly before us,—even the Kilmarnock nightcap is not forgotten. + For most part, too, we must admit that the Learning, heterogeneous as it + is, and tumbled down quite pell-mell, is true concentrated and purified + Learning, the drossy parts smelted out and thrown aside. + </p> + <p> + Philosophical reflections intervene, and sometimes touching pictures of + human life. Of this sort the following has surprised us. The first purpose + of Clothes, as our Professor imagines, was not warmth or decency, but + ornament. "Miserable indeed," says he, "was the condition of the + Aboriginal Savage, glaring fiercely from under his fleece of hair, which + with the beard reached down to his loins, and hung round him like a matted + cloak; the rest of his body sheeted in its thick natural fell. He loitered + in the sunny glades of the forest, living on wild-fruits; or, as the + ancient Caledonian, squatted himself in morasses, lurking for his bestial + or human prey; without implements, without arms, save the ball of heavy + Flint, to which, that his sole possession and defence might not be lost, + he had attached a long cord of plaited thongs; thereby recovering as well + as hurling it with deadly unerring skill. Nevertheless, the pains of + Hunger and Revenge once satisfied, his next care was not Comfort but + Decoration (<i>Putz</i>). Warmth he found in the toils of the chase; or + amid dried leaves, in his hollow tree, in his bark shed, or natural + grotto: but for Decoration he must have Clothes. Nay, among wild people, + we find tattooing and painting even prior to Clothes. The first spiritual + want of a barbarous man is Decoration, as indeed we still see among the + barbarous classes in civilized countries. + </p> + <p> + "Reader, the heaven-inspired melodious Singer; loftiest Serene Highness; + nay thy own amber-locked, snow-and-rosebloom Maiden, worthy to glide + sylph-like almost on air, whom thou lovest, worshippest as a divine + Presence, which, indeed, symbolically taken, she is,—has descended, + like thyself, from that same hair-mantled, flint-hurling Aboriginal + Anthropophagus! Out of the eater cometh forth meat; out of the strong + cometh forth sweetness. What changes are wrought, not by Time, yet in + Time! For not Mankind only, but all that Mankind does or beholds, is in + continual growth, re-genesis and self-perfecting vitality. Cast forth thy + Act, thy Word, into the ever-living, ever-working Universe: it is a + seed-grain that cannot die; unnoticed to-day (says one), it will be found + flourishing as a Banyan-grove (perhaps, alas, as a Hemlock-forest!) after + a thousand years. + </p> + <p> + "He who first shortened the labor of Copyists by device of <i>Movable + Types</i> was disbanding hired Armies, and cashiering most Kings and + Senates, and creating a whole new Democratic world: he had invented the + Art of Printing. The first ground handful of Nitre, Sulphur, and Charcoal + drove Monk Schwartz's pestle through the ceiling: what will the last do? + Achieve the final undisputed prostration of Force under Thought, of Animal + courage under Spiritual. A simple invention it was in the old-world + Grazier,—sick of lugging his slow Ox about the country till he got + it bartered for corn or oil,—to take a piece of Leather, and thereon + scratch or stamp the mere Figure of an Ox (or <i>Pecus</i>); put it in his + pocket, and call it <i>Pecunia</i>, Money. Yet hereby did Barter grow + Sale, the Leather Money is now Golden and Paper, and all miracles have + been out-miracled: for there are Rothschilds and English National Debts; + and whoso has sixpence is sovereign (to the length of sixpence) over all + men; commands cooks to feed him, philosophers to teach him, kings to mount + guard over him,—to the length of sixpence.—Clothes too, which + began in foolishest love of Ornament, what have they not become! Increased + Security and pleasurable Heat soon followed: but what of these? Shame, + divine Shame (<i>Schaam</i>, Modesty), as yet a stranger to the + Anthropophagous bosom, arose there mysteriously under Clothes; a mystic + grove-encircled shrine for the Holy in man. Clothes gave us individuality, + distinctions, social polity; Clothes have made Men of us; they are + threatening to make Clothes-screens of us. + </p> + <p> + "But, on the whole," continues our eloquent Professor, "Man is a + Tool-using Animal (<i>Handthierendes Thier</i>). Weak in himself, and of + small stature, he stands on a basis, at most for the flattest-soled, of + some half-square foot, insecurely enough; has to straddle out his legs, + lest the very wind supplant him. Feeblest of bipeds! Three quintals are a + crushing load for him; the steer of the meadow tosses him aloft, like a + waste rag. Nevertheless he can use Tools; can devise Tools: with these the + granite mountain melts into light dust before him; he kneads glowing iron, + as if it were soft paste; seas are his smooth highway, winds and fire his + unwearying steeds. Nowhere do you find him without Tools; without Tools he + is nothing, with Tools he is all." + </p> + <p> + Here may we not, for a moment, interrupt the stream of Oratory with a + remark, that this Definition of the Tool-using Animal appears to us, of + all that Animal-sort, considerably the precisest and best? Man is called a + Laughing Animal: but do not the apes also laugh, or attempt to do it; and + is the manliest man the greatest and oftenest laugher? Teufelsdrockh + himself, as we said, laughed only once. Still less do we make of that + other French Definition of the Cooking Animal; which, indeed, for rigorous + scientific purposes, is as good as useless. Can a Tartar be said to cook, + when he only readies his steak by riding on it? Again, what Cookery does + the Greenlander use, beyond stowing up his whale-blubber, as a marmot, in + the like case, might do? Or how would Monsieur Ude prosper among those + Orinoco Indians who, according to Humboldt, lodge in crow-nests, on the + branches of trees; and, for half the year, have no victuals but pipe-clay, + the whole country being under water? But, on the other hand, show us the + human being, of any period or climate, without his Tools: those very + Caledonians, as we saw, had their Flint-ball, and Thong to it, such as no + brute has or can have. + </p> + <p> + "Man is a Tool-using Animal," concludes Teufelsdrockh, in his abrupt way; + "of which truth Clothes are but one example: and surely if we consider the + interval between the first wooden Dibble fashioned by man, and those + Liverpool Steam-carriages, or the British House of Commons, we shall note + what progress he has made. He digs up certain black stones from the bosom + of the earth, and says to them, <i>Transport me and this luggage at the + rate of file-and-thirty miles an hour</i>; and they do it: he collects, + apparently by lot, six hundred and fifty-eight miscellaneous individuals, + and says to them, <i>Make this nation toil for us, bleed for us, hunger + and, sorrow and sin for us</i>; and they do it." + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. APRONS. + </h2> + <p> + One of the most unsatisfactory Sections in the whole Volume is that on <i>Aprons</i>. + What though stout old Gao, the Persian Blacksmith, "whose Apron, now + indeed hidden under jewels, because raised in revolt which proved + successful, is still the royal standard of that country;" what though John + Knox's Daughter, "who threatened Sovereign Majesty that she would catch + her husband's head in her Apron, rather than he should lie and be a + bishop;" what though the Landgravine Elizabeth, with many other Apron + worthies,—figure here? An idle wire-drawing spirit, sometimes even a + tone of levity, approaching to conventional satire, is too clearly + discernible. What, for example, are we to make of such sentences as the + following? + </p> + <p> + "Aprons are Defences; against injury to cleanliness, to safety, to + modesty, sometimes to roguery. From the thin slip of notched silk (as it + were, the emblem and beatified ghost of an Apron), which some highest-bred + housewife, sitting at Nurnberg Work-boxes and Toy-boxes, has gracefully + fastened on; to the thick-tanned hide, girt round him with thongs, wherein + the Builder builds, and at evening sticks his trowel; or to those jingling + sheet-iron Aprons, wherein your otherwise half-naked Vulcans hammer and + smelt in their smelt-furnace,—is there not range enough in the + fashion and uses of this Vestment? How much has been concealed, how much + has been defended in Aprons! Nay, rightly considered, what is your whole + Military and Police Establishment, charged at uncalculated millions, but a + huge scarlet-colored, iron-fastened Apron, wherein Society works (uneasily + enough); guarding itself from some soil and stithy-sparks, in this + Devil's-smithy (<i>Teufels-schmiede</i>) of a world? But of all Aprons the + most puzzling to me hitherto has been the Episcopal or Cassock. Wherein + consists the usefulness of this Apron? The Overseer (<i>Episcopus</i>) of + Souls, I notice, has tucked in the corner of it, as if his day's work were + done: what does he shadow forth thereby?" &c. &c. + </p> + <p> + Or again, has it often been the lot of our readers to read such stuff as + we shall now quote? + </p> + <p> + "I consider those printed Paper Aprons, worn by the Parisian Cooks, as a + new vent, though a slight one, for Typography; therefore as an + encouragement to modern Literature, and deserving of approval: nor is it + without satisfaction that I hear of a celebrated London Firm having in + view to introduce the same fashion, with important extensions, in + England."—We who are on the spot hear of no such thing; and indeed + have reason to be thankful that hitherto there are other vents for our + Literature, exuberant as it is.—Teufelsdrockh continues: "If such + supply of printed Paper should rise so far as to choke up the highways and + public thoroughfares, new means must of necessity be had recourse to. In a + world existing by Industry, we grudge to employ fire as a destroying + element, and not as a creating one. However, Heaven is omnipotent, and + will find us an outlet. In the mean while, is it not beautiful to see five + million quintals of Rags picked annually from the Laystall; and annually, + after being macerated, hot-pressed, printed on, and sold,—returned + thither; filling so many hungry mouths by the way? Thus is the Laystall, + especially with its Rags or Clothes-rubbish, the grand Electric Battery, + and Fountain-of-motion, from which and to which the Social Activities + (like vitreous and resinous Electricities) circulate, in larger or smaller + circles, through the mighty, billowy, storm-tost chaos of Life, which they + keep alive!"—Such passages fill us, who love the man, and partly + esteem him, with a very mixed feeling. + </p> + <p> + Farther down we meet with this: "The Journalists are now the true Kings + and Clergy: henceforth Historians, unless they are fools, must write not + of Bourbon Dynasties, and Tudors and Hapsburgs; but of Stamped Broad-sheet + Dynasties, and quite new successive Names, according as this or the other + Able Editor, or Combination of Able Editors, gains the world's ear. Of the + British Newspaper Press, perhaps the most important of all, and wonderful + enough in its secret constitution and procedure, a valuable descriptive + History already exists, in that language, under the title of <i>Satan's + Invisible World Displayed</i>; which, however, by search in all the + Weissnichtwo Libraries, I have not yet succeeded in procuring (<i>vermochte + night aufzutreiben</i>)." + </p> + <p> + Thus does the good Homer not only nod, but snore. Thus does Teufelsdrockh, + wandering in regions where he had little business, confound the old + authentic Presbyterian Witchfinder with a new, spurious, imaginary + Historian of the <i>Brittische Journalistik</i>; and so stumble on perhaps + the most egregious blunder in Modern Literature! + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. MISCELLANEOUS-HISTORICAL. + </h2> + <p> + Happier is our Professor, and more purely scientific and historic, when he + reaches the Middle Ages in Europe, and down to the end of the Seventeenth + Century; the true era of extravagance in Costume. It is here that the + Antiquary and Student of Modes comes upon his richest harvest. Fantastic + garbs, beggaring all fancy of a Teniers or a Callot, succeed each other, + like monster devouring monster in a Dream. The whole too in brief + authentic strokes, and touched not seldom with that breath of genius which + makes even old raiment live. Indeed, so learned, precise, graphical, and + every way interesting have we found these Chapters, that it may be thrown + out as a pertinent question for parties concerned, Whether or not a good + English Translation thereof might henceforth be profitably incorporated + with Mr. Merrick's valuable Work <i>On Ancient Armor</i>? Take, by way of + example, the following sketch; as authority for which Paulinus's <i>Zeitkurzende + Lust</i> (ii. 678) is, with seeming confidence, referred to: + </p> + <p> + "Did we behold the German fashionable dress of the Fifteenth Century, we + might smile; as perhaps those bygone Germans, were they to rise again, and + see our haberdashery, would cross themselves, and invoke the Virgin. But + happily no bygone German, or man, rises again; thus the Present is not + needlessly trammelled with the Past; and only grows out of it, like a + Tree, whose roots are not intertangled with its branches, but lie + peaceably underground. Nay it is very mournful, yet not useless, to see + and know, how the Greatest and Dearest, in a short while, would find his + place quite filled up here, and no room for him; the very Napoleon, the + very Byron, in some seven years, has become obsolete, and were now a + foreigner to his Europe. Thus is the Law of Progress secured; and in + Clothes, as in all other external things whatsoever, no fashion will + continue. + </p> + <p> + "Of the military classes in those old times, whose buff-belts, complicated + chains and gorgets, huge churn-boots, and other riding and fighting gear + have been bepainted in modern Romance, till the whole has acquired + somewhat of a sign-post character,—I shall here say nothing: the + civil and pacific classes, less touched upon, are wonderful enough for us. + </p> + <p> + "Rich men, I find, have <i>Teusinke</i> [a perhaps untranslatable + article]; also a silver girdle, whereat hang little bells; so that when a + man walks, it is with continual jingling. Some few, of musical turn, have + a whole chime of bells (<i>Glockenspiel</i>) fastened there; which, + especially in sudden whirls, and the other accidents of walking, has a + grateful effect. Observe too how fond they are of peaks, and Gothic-arch + intersections. The male world wears peaked caps, an ell long, which hang + bobbing over the side (<i>schief</i>): their shoes are peaked in front, + also to the length of an ell, and laced on the side with tags; even the + wooden shoes have their ell-long noses: some also clap bells on the peak. + Further, according to my authority, the men have breeches without seat (<i>ohne + Gesass</i>): these they fasten peakwise to their shirts; and the long + round doublet must overlap them. + </p> + <p> + "Rich maidens, again, flit abroad in gowns scolloped out behind and + before, so that back and breast are almost bare. Wives of quality, on the + other hand, have train-gowns four or five ells in length; which trains + there are boys to carry. Brave Cleopatras, sailing in their silk-cloth + Galley, with a Cupid for steersman! Consider their welts, a handbreadth + thick, which waver round them by way of hem; the long flood of silver + buttons, or rather silver shells, from throat to shoe, wherewith these + same welt-gowns are buttoned. The maidens have bound silver snoods about + their hair, with gold spangles, and pendent flames (<i>Flammen</i>), that + is, sparkling hair-drops: but of their mother's head-gear who shall speak? + Neither in love of grace is comfort forgotten. In winter weather you + behold the whole fair creation (that can afford it) in long mantles, with + skirts wide below, and, for hem, not one but two sufficient hand-broad + welts; all ending atop in a thick well-starched Ruff, some twenty inches + broad: these are their Ruff-mantles (<i>Kragenmantel</i>). + </p> + <p> + "As yet among the womankind hoop-petticoats are not; but the men have + doublets of fustian, under which lie multiple ruffs of cloth, pasted + together with batter (<i>mit Teig zusammengekleistert</i>), which create + protuberance enough. Thus do the two sexes vie with each other in the art + of Decoration; and as usual the stronger carries it." + </p> + <p> + Our Professor, whether he have humor himself or not, manifests a certain + feeling of the Ludicrous, a sly observance of it which, could emotion of + any kind be confidently predicated of so still a man, we might call a real + love. None of those bell-girdles, bushel-breeches, counted shoes, or other + the like phenomena, of which the History of Dress offers so many, escape + him: more especially the mischances, or striking adventures, incident to + the wearers of such, are noticed with due fidelity. Sir Walter Raleigh's + fine mantle, which he spread in the mud under Queen Elizabeth's feet, + appears to provoke little enthusiasm in him; he merely asks, Whether at + that period the Maiden Queen "was red-painted on the nose, and + white-painted on the cheeks, as her tire-women, when from spleen and + wrinkles she would no longer look in any glass, were wont to serve her"? + We can answer that Sir Walter knew well what he was doing, and had the + Maiden Queen been stuffed parchment dyed in verdigris, would have done the + same. + </p> + <p> + Thus too, treating of those enormous habiliments, that were not only + slashed and gallooned, but artificially swollen out on the broader parts + of the body, by introduction of Bran,—our Professor fails not to + comment on that luckless Courtier, who having seated himself on a chair + with some projecting nail on it, and therefrom rising, to pay his <i>devoir</i> + on the entrance of Majesty, instantaneously emitted several pecks of dry + wheat-dust: and stood there diminished to a spindle, his galloons and + slashes dangling sorrowful and flabby round him. Whereupon the Professor + publishes this reflection:— + </p> + <p> + "By what strange chances do we live in History? Erostratus by a torch; + Milo by a bullock; Henry Darnley, an unfledged booby and bustard, by his + limbs; most Kings and Queens by being born under such and such a + bed-tester; Boileau Despreaux (according to Helvetius) by the peck of a + turkey; and this ill-starred individual by a rent in his breeches,—for + no Memoirist of Kaiser Otto's Court omits him. Vain was the prayer of + Themistocles for a talent of Forgetting: my Friends, yield cheerfully to + Destiny, and read since it is written."—Has Teufelsdrockh, to be put + in mind that, nearly related to the impossible talent of Forgetting, + stands that talent of Silence, which even travelling Englishmen manifest? + </p> + <p> + "The simplest costume," observes our Professor, "which I anywhere find + alluded to in History, is that used as regimental, by Bolivar's Cavalry, + in the late Colombian wars. A square Blanket, twelve feet in diagonal, is + provided (some were wont to cut off the corners, and make it circular): in + the centre a slit is effected eighteen inches long; through this the + mother-naked Trooper introduces his head and neck; and so rides shielded + from all weather, and in battle from many strokes (for he rolls it about + his left arm); and not only dressed, but harnessed and draperied." + </p> + <p> + With which picture of a State of Nature, affecting by its singularity, and + Old-Roman contempt of the superfluous, we shall quit this part of our + subject. + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. THE WORLD OUT OF CLOTHES. + </h2> + <p> + If in the Descriptive-Historical portion of this Volume, Teufelsdrockh, + discussing merely the <i>Werden</i> (Origin and successive Improvement) of + Clothes, has astonished many a reader, much more will he in the + Speculative-Philosophical portion, which treats of their <i>Wirken</i>, or + Influences. It is here that the present Editor first feels the pressure of + his task; for here properly the higher and new Philosophy of Clothes + commences: all untried, almost inconceivable region, or chaos; in + venturing upon which, how difficult, yet how unspeakably important is it + to know what course, of survey and conquest, is the true one; where the + footing is firm substance and will bear us, where it is hollow, or mere + cloud, and may engulf us! Teufelsdrockh undertakes no less than to expound + the moral, political, even religious Influences of Clothes; he undertakes + to make manifest, in its thousand-fold bearings, this grand Proposition, + that Man's earthly interests "are all hooked and buttoned together, and + held up, by Clothes." He says in so many words, "Society is founded upon + Cloth;" and again, "Society sails through the Infinitude on Cloth, as on a + Faust's Mantle, or rather like the Sheet of clean and unclean beasts in + the Apostle's Dream; and without such Sheet or Mantle, would sink to + endless depths, or mount to inane limbos, and in either case be no more." + </p> + <p> + By what chains, or indeed infinitely complected tissues, of Meditation + this grand Theorem is here unfolded, and innumerable practical Corollaries + are drawn therefrom, it were perhaps a mad ambition to attempt exhibiting. + Our Professor's method is not, in any case, that of common school Logic, + where the truths all stand in a row, each holding by the skirts of the + other; but at best that of practical Reason' proceeding by large Intuition + over whole systematic groups and kingdoms; whereby, we might say, a noble + complexity, almost like that of Nature, reigns in his Philosophy, or + spiritual Picture of Nature: a mighty maze, yet, as faith whispers, not + without a plan. Nay we complained above, that a certain ignoble + complexity, what we must call mere confusion, was also discernible. Often, + also, we have to exclaim: Would to Heaven those same Biographical + Documents were come! For it seems as if the demonstration lay much in the + Author's individuality; as if it were not Argument that had taught him, + but Experience. At present it is only in local glimpses, and by + significant fragments, picked often at wide-enough intervals from the + original Volume, and carefully collated, that we can hope to impart some + outline or foreshadow of this Doctrine. Readers of any intelligence are + once more invited to favor us with their most concentrated attention: let + these, after intense consideration, and not till then, pronounce, Whether + on the utmost verge of our actual horizon there is not a looming as of + Land; a promise of new Fortunate Islands, perhaps whole undiscovered + Americas, for such as have canvas to sail thither?—As exordium to + the whole, stand here the following long citation:— + </p> + <p> + "With men of a speculative turn," writes Teufelsdrockh, "there come + seasons, meditative, sweet, yet awful hours, when in wonder and fear you + ask yourself that unanswerable question: Who am I; the thing that can say + 'I' (<i>das Wesen das sich ICH nennt</i>)? The world, with its loud + trafficking, retires into the distance; and, through the paper-hangings, + and stonewalls, and thick-plied tissues of Commerce and Polity, and all + the living and lifeless integuments (of Society and a Body), wherewith + your Existence sits surrounded,—the sight reaches forth into the + void Deep, and you are alone with the Universe, and silently commune with + it, as one mysterious Presence with another. + </p> + <p> + "Who am I; what is this ME? A Voice, a Motion, an Appearance;—some + embodied, visualized Idea in the Eternal Mind? <i>Cogito, ergo sum</i>. + Alas, poor Cogitator, this takes us but a little way. Sure enough, I am; + and lately was not: but Whence? How? Whereto? The answer lies around, + written in all colors and motions, uttered in all tones of jubilee and + wail, in thousand-figured, thousand-voiced, harmonious Nature: but where + is the cunning eye and ear to whom that God-written Apocalypse will yield + articulate meaning? We sit as in a boundless Phantasmagoria and + Dream-grotto; boundless, for the faintest star, the remotest century, lies + not even nearer the verge thereof: sounds and many-colored visions flit + round our sense; but Him, the Unslumbering, whose work both Dream and + Dreamer are, we see not; except in rare half-waking moments, suspect not. + Creation, says one, lies before us, like a glorious Rainbow; but the Sun + that made it lies behind us, hidden from us. Then, in that strange Dream, + how we clutch at shadows as if they were substances; and sleep deepest + while fancying ourselves most awake! Which of your Philosophical Systems + is other than a dream-theorem; a net quotient, confidently given out, + where divisor and dividend are both unknown? What are all your national + Wars, with their Moscow Retreats, and sanguinary hate-filled Revolutions, + but the Somnambulism of uneasy Sleepers? This Dreaming, this Somnambulism + is what we on Earth call Life; wherein the most indeed undoubtingly + wander, as if they knew right hand from left; yet they only are wise who + know that they know nothing. + </p> + <p> + "Pity that all Metaphysics had hitherto proved so inexpressibly + unproductive! The secret of Man's Being is still like the Sphinx's secret: + a riddle that he cannot rede; and for ignorance of which he suffers death, + the worst death, a spiritual. What are your Axioms, and Categories, and + Systems, and Aphorisms? Words, words. High Air-castles are cunningly built + of Words, the Words well bedded also in good Logic-mortar; wherein, + however, no Knowledge will come to lodge. <i>The whole is greater than the + part</i>: how exceedingly true! <i>Nature abhors a vacuum</i>: how + exceedingly false and calumnious! Again, <i>Nothing can act but where it + is</i>: with all my heart; only, WHERE is it? Be not the slave of Words: + is not the Distant, the Dead, while I love it, and long for it, and mourn + for it, Here, in the genuine sense, as truly as the floor I stand on? But + that same WHERE, with its brother WHEN, are from the first the + master-colors of our Dream-grotto; say rather, the Canvas (the warp and + woof thereof) whereon all our Dreams and Life-visions are painted. + Nevertheless, has not a deeper meditation taught certain of every climate + and age, that the WHERE and WHEN, so mysteriously inseparable from all our + thoughts, are but superficial terrestrial adhesions to thought; that the + Seer may discern them where they mount up out of the celestial EVERYWHERE + and FOREVER: have not all nations conceived their God as Omnipresent and + Eternal; as existing in a universal HERE, an everlasting Now? Think well, + thou too wilt find that Space is but a mode of our human Sense, so + likewise Time; there <i>is</i> no Space and no Time: WE are—we know + not what;—light-sparkles floating in the ether of Deity! + </p> + <p> + "So that this so solid-seeming World, after all, were but an air-image, + our ME the only reality: and Nature, with its thousand-fold production and + destruction, but the reflex of our own inward Force, the 'phantasy of our + Dream;' or what the Earth-Spirit in <i>Faust</i> names it, <i>the living + visible Garment of God</i>:— + </p> +<pre> + "'In Being's floods, in Action's storm, + I walk and work, above, beneath, + Work and weave in endless motion! + Birth and Death, + An infinite ocean; + A seizing and giving + The fire of Living: + 'Tis thus at the roaring Loom of Time I ply, + And weave for God the Garment thou seest Him by.' +</pre> + <p> + Of twenty millions that have read and spouted this thunder-speech of the + <i>Erdgeist</i>, are there yet twenty units of us that have learned the + meaning thereof? + </p> + <p> + "It was in some such mood, when wearied and fordone with these high + speculations, that I first came upon the question of Clothes. Strange + enough, it strikes me, is this same fact of there being Tailors and + Tailored. The Horse I ride has his own whole fell: strip him of the girths + and flaps and extraneous tags I have fastened round him, and the noble + creature is his own sempster and weaver and spinner; nay his own + boot-maker, jeweller, and man-milliner; he bounds free through the + valleys, with a perennial rain-proof court-suit on his body; wherein + warmth and easiness of fit have reached perfection; nay, the graces also + have been considered, and frills and fringes, with gay variety of color, + featly appended, and ever in the right place, are not wanting. While I—good + Heaven!—have thatched myself over with the dead fleeces of sheep, + the bark of vegetables, the entrails of worms, the hides of oxen or seals, + the felt of furred beasts; and walk abroad a moving Rag-screen, overheaped + with shreds and tatters raked from the Charnel-house of Nature, where they + would have rotted, to rot on me more slowly! Day after day, I must thatch + myself anew; day after day, this despicable thatch must lose some film of + its thickness; some film of it, frayed away by tear and wear, must be + brushed off into the Ashpit, into the Laystall; till by degrees the whole + has been brushed thither, and I, the dust-making, patent Rag-grinder, get + new material to grind down. O subter-brutish! vile! most vile! For have + not I too a compact all-enclosing Skin, whiter or dingier? Am I a botched + mass of tailors' and cobblers' shreds, then; or a tightly articulated, + homogeneous little Figure, automatic, nay alive? + </p> + <p> + "Strange enough how creatures of the human-kind shut their eyes to + plainest facts; and by the mere inertia of Oblivion and Stupidity, live at + ease in the midst of Wonders and Terrors. But indeed man is, and was + always, a blockhead and dullard; much readier to feel and digest, than to + think and consider. Prejudice, which he pretends to hate, is his absolute + lawgiver; mere use-and-wont everywhere leads him by the nose; thus let but + a Rising of the Sun, let but a Creation of the World happen <i>twice</i>, + and it ceases to be marvellous, to be noteworthy, or noticeable. Perhaps + not once in a lifetime does it occur to your ordinary biped, of any + country or generation, be he gold-mantled Prince or russet-jerkined + Peasant, that his Vestments and his Self are not one and indivisible; that + <i>he</i> is naked, without vestments, till he buy or steal such, and by + forethought sew and button them. + </p> + <p> + "For my own part, these considerations, of our Clothes-thatch, and how, + reaching inwards even to our heart of hearts, it tailorizes and + demoralizes us, fill me with a certain horror at myself and mankind; + almost as one feels at those Dutch Cows, which, during the wet season, you + see grazing deliberately with jackets and petticoats (of striped sacking), + in the meadows of Gouda. Nevertheless there is something great in the + moment when a man first strips himself of adventitious wrappages; and sees + indeed that he is naked, and, as Swift has it, 'a forked straddling animal + with bandy legs;' yet also a Spirit, and unutterable Mystery of + Mysteries." + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. ADAMITISM. + </h2> + <p> + Let no courteous reader take offence at the opinions broached in the + conclusion of the last Chapter. The Editor himself, on first glancing over + that singular passage, was inclined to exclaim: What, have we got not only + a Sansculottist, but an enemy to Clothes in the abstract? A new Adamite, + in this century, which flatters itself that it is the Nineteenth, and + destructive both to Superstition and Enthusiasm? + </p> + <p> + Consider, thou foolish Teufelsdrockh, what benefits unspeakable all ages + and sexes derive from Clothes. For example, when thou thyself, a watery, + pulpy, slobbery freshman and new-comer in this Planet, sattest muling and + puking in thy nurse's arms; sucking thy coral, and looking forth into the + world in the blankest manner, what hadst thou been without thy blankets, + and bibs, and other nameless hulls? A terror to thyself and mankind! Or + hast thou forgotten the day when thou first receivedst breeches, and thy + long clothes became short? The village where thou livedst was all apprised + of the fact; and neighbor after neighbor kissed thy pudding-cheek, and + gave thee, as handsel, silver or copper coins, on that the first gala-day + of thy existence. Again, wert not thou, at one period of life, a Buck, or + Blood, or Macaroni, or Incroyable, or Dandy, or by whatever name, + according to year and place, such phenomenon is distinguished? In that one + word lie included mysterious volumes. Nay, now when the reign of folly is + over, or altered, and thy clothes are not for triumph but for defence, + hast thou always worn them perforce, and as a consequence of Man's Fall; + never rejoiced in them as in a warm movable House, a Body round thy Body, + wherein that strange THEE of thine sat snug, defying all variations of + Climate? Girt with thick double-milled kerseys; half buried under shawls + and broadbrims, and overalls and mudboots, thy very fingers cased in + doeskin and mittens, thou hast bestrode that "Horse I ride;" and, though + it were in wild winter, dashed through the world, glorying in it as if + thou wert its lord. In vain did the sleet beat round thy temples; it + lighted only on thy impenetrable, felted or woven, case of wool. In vain + did the winds howl,—forests sounding and creaking, deep calling unto + deep,—and the storms heap themselves together into one huge Arctic + whirlpool: thou flewest through the middle thereof, striking fire from the + highway; wild music hummed in thy ears, thou too wert as a "sailor of the + air;" the wreck of matter and the crash of worlds was thy element and + propitiously wafting tide. Without Clothes, without bit or saddle, what + hadst thou been; what had thy fleet quadruped been?—Nature is good, + but she is not the best: here truly was the victory of Art over Nature. A + thunderbolt indeed might have pierced thee; all short of this thou couldst + defy. + </p> + <p> + Or, cries the courteous reader, has your Teufelsdrockh forgotten what he + said lately about "Aboriginal Savages," and their "condition miserable + indeed"? Would he have all this unsaid; and us betake ourselves again to + the "matted cloak," and go sheeted in a "thick natural fell"? + </p> + <p> + Nowise, courteous reader! The Professor knows full well what he is saying; + and both thou and we, in our haste, do him wrong. If Clothes, in these + times, "so tailorize and demoralize us," have they no redeeming value; can + they not be altered to serve better; must they of necessity be thrown to + the dogs? The truth is, Teufelsdrockh, though a Sansculottist, is no + Adamite; and much perhaps as he might wish to go forth before this + degenerate age "as a Sign," would nowise wish to do it, as those old + Adamites did, in a state of Nakedness. The utility of Clothes is + altogether apparent to him: nay perhaps he has an insight into their more + recondite, and almost mystic qualities, what we might call the omnipotent + virtue of Clothes, such as was never before vouchsafed to any man. For + example:— + </p> + <p> + "You see two individuals," he writes, "one dressed in fine Red, the other + in coarse threadbare Blue: Red says to Blue, 'Be hanged and anatomized;' + Blue hears with a shudder, and (O wonder of wonders!) marches sorrowfully + to the gallows; is there noosed up, vibrates his hour, and the surgeons + dissect him, and fit his bones into a skeleton for medical purposes. How + is this; or what make ye of your <i>Nothing can act but where it is</i>? + Red has no physical hold of Blue, no <i>clutch</i> of him, is nowise in <i>contact</i> + with him: neither are those ministering Sheriffs and Lord-Lieutenants and + Hangmen and Tipstaves so related to commanding Red, that he can tug them + hither and thither; but each stands distinct within his own skin. + Nevertheless, as it is spoken, so is it done: the articulated Word sets + all hands in Action; and Rope and Improved-drop perform their work. + </p> + <p> + "Thinking reader, the reason seems to me twofold: First, that <i>Man is a + Spirit</i>, and bound by invisible bonds to <i>All Men</i>; secondly, that + <i>he wears Clothes</i>, which are the visible emblems of that fact. Has + not your Red hanging-individual a horsehair wig, squirrel-skins, and a + plush-gown; whereby all mortals know that he is a JUDGE?—Society, + which the more I think of it astonishes me the more, is founded upon + Cloth. + </p> + <p> + "Often in my atrabiliar moods, when I read of pompous ceremonials, + Frankfort Coronations, Royal Drawing-rooms, Levees, Couchees; and how the + ushers and macers and pursuivants are all in waiting; how Duke this is + presented by Archduke that, and Colonel A by General B, and innumerable + Bishops, Admirals, and miscellaneous Functionaries, are advancing + gallantly to the Anointed Presence; and I strive, in my remote privacy, to + form a clear picture of that solemnity,—on a sudden, as by some + enchanter's wand, the—shall I speak it?—the Clothes fly off + the whole dramatic corps; and Dukes, Grandees, Bishops, Generals, Anointed + Presence itself, every mother's son of them, stand straddling there, not a + shirt on them; and I know not whether to laugh or weep. This physical or + psychical infirmity, in which perhaps I am not singular, I have, after + hesitation, thought right to publish, for the solace of those afflicted + with the like." + </p> + <p> + Would to Heaven, say we, thou hadst thought right to keep it secret! Who + is there now that can read the five columns of Presentations in his + Morning Newspaper without a shudder? Hypochondriac men, and all men are to + a certain extent hypochondriac, should be more gently treated. With what + readiness our fancy, in this shattered state of the nerves, follows out + the consequences which Teufelsdrockh, with a devilish coolness, goes on to + draw:— + </p> + <p> + "What would Majesty do, could such an accident befall in reality; should + the buttons all simultaneously start, and the solid wool evaporate, in + very Deed, as here in Dream? <i>Ach Gott</i>! How each skulks into the + nearest hiding-place; their high State Tragedy (<i>Haupt- und + Staats-Action</i>) becomes a Pickleherring-Farce to weep at, which is the + worst kind of Farce; <i>the tables</i> (according to Horace), and with + them, the whole fabric of Government, Legislation, Property, Police, and + Civilized Society, <i>are dissolved</i>, in wails and howls." + </p> + <p> + Lives the man that can figure a naked Duke of Windlestraw addressing a + naked House of Lords? Imagination, choked as in mephitic air, recoils on + itself, and will not forward with the picture. The Woolsack, the + Ministerial, the Opposition Benches—<i>infandum! infandum</i>! And + yet why is the thing impossible? Was not every soul, or rather every body, + of these Guardians of our Liberties, naked, or nearly so, last night; "a + forked Radish with a head fantastically carved"? And why might he not, did + our stern fate so order it, walk out to St. Stephen's, as well as into + bed, in that no-fashion; and there, with other similar Radishes, hold a + Bed of Justice? "Solace of those afflicted with the like!" Unhappy + Teufelsdrockh, had man ever such a "physical or psychical infirmity" + before? And now how many, perhaps, may thy unparalleled confession (which + we, even to the sounder British world, and goaded on by Critical and + Biographical duty, grudge to reimpart) incurably infect therewith! Art + thou the malignest of Sansculottists, or only the maddest? + </p> + <p> + "It will remain to be examined," adds the inexorable Teufelsdrockh, "in + how far the SCARECROW, as a Clothed Person, is not also entitled to + benefit of clergy, and English trial by jury: nay perhaps, considering his + high function (for is not he too a Defender of Property, and Sovereign + armed with the <i>terrors</i> of the Law?), to a certain royal Immunity + and Inviolability; which, however, misers and the meaner class of persons + are not always voluntarily disposed to grant him." + </p> + <p> + "O my Friends, we are [in Yorick Sterne's words] but as 'turkeys driven, + with a stick and red clout, to the market:' or if some drivers, as they do + in Norfolk, take a dried bladder and put peas in it, the rattle thereof + terrifies the boldest!" + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X. PURE REASON. + </h2> + <p> + It must now be apparent enough that our Professor, as above hinted, is a + speculative Radical, and of the very darkest tinge; acknowledging, for + most part, in the solemnities and paraphernalia of civilized Life, which + we make so much of, nothing but so many Cloth-rags, turkey-poles, and + "bladders with dried peas." To linger among such speculations, longer than + mere Science requires, a discerning public can have no wish. For our + purposes the simple fact that such a <i>Naked World</i> is possible, nay + actually exists (under the Clothed one), will be sufficient. Much, + therefore, we omit about "Kings wrestling naked on the green with Carmen," + and the Kings being thrown: "dissect them with scalpels," says + Teufelsdrockh; "the same viscera, tissues, livers, lights, and other + life-tackle, are there: examine their spiritual mechanism; the same great + Need, great Greed, and little Faculty; nay ten to one but the Carman, who + understands draught-cattle, the rimming of wheels, something of the laws + of unstable and stable equilibrium, with other branches of wagon-science, + and has actually put forth his hand and operated on Nature, is the more + cunningly gifted of the two. Whence, then, their so unspeakable + difference? From Clothes." Much also we shall omit about confusion of + Ranks, and Joan and My Lady, and how it would be everywhere "Hail fellow + well met," and Chaos were come again: all which to any one that has once + fairly pictured out the grand mother-idea, <i>Society in a state of + Nakedness</i>, will spontaneously suggest itself. Should some sceptical + individual still entertain doubts whether in a world without Clothes, the + smallest Politeness, Polity, or even Police, could exist, let him turn to + the original Volume, and view there the boundless Serbonian Bog of + Sansculottism, stretching sour and pestilential: over which we have + lightly flown; where not only whole armies but whole nations might sink! + If indeed the following argument, in its brief riveting emphasis, be not + of itself incontrovertible and final:— + </p> + <p> + "Are we Opossums; have we natural Pouches, like the Kangaroo? Or how, + without Clothes, could we possess the master-organ, soul's seat, and true + pineal gland of the Body Social: I mean, a PURSE?" + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless it is impossible to hate Professor Teufelsdrockh; at worst, + one knows not whether to hate or to love him. For though, in looking at + the fair tapestry of human Life, with its royal and even sacred figures, + he dwells not on the obverse alone, but here chiefly on the reverse; and + indeed turns out the rough seams, tatters, and manifold thrums of that + unsightly wrong-side, with an almost diabolic patience and indifference, + which must have sunk him in the estimation of most readers,—there is + that within which unspeakably distinguishes him from all other past and + present Sansculottists. The grand unparalleled peculiarity of + Teufelsdrockh is, that with all this Descendentalism, he combines a + Transcendentalism, no less superlative; whereby if on the one hand he + degrade man below most animals, except those jacketed Gouda Cows, he, on + the other, exalts him beyond the visible Heavens, almost to an equality + with the Gods. + </p> + <p> + "To the eye of vulgar Logic," says he, "what is man? An omnivorous Biped + that wears Breeches. To the eye of Pure Reason what is he? A Soul, a + Spirit, and divine Apparition. Round his mysterious ME, there lies, under + all those wool-rags, a Garment of Flesh (or of Senses), contextured in the + Loom of Heaven; whereby he is revealed to his like, and dwells with them + in UNION and DIVISION; and sees and fashions for himself a Universe, with + azure Starry Spaces, and long Thousands of Years. Deep-hidden is he under + that strange Garment; amid Sounds and Colors and Forms, as it were, + swathed in, and inextricably over-shrouded: yet it is sky-woven, and + worthy of a God. Stands he not thereby in the centre of Immensities, in + the conflux of Eternities? He feels; power has been given him to know, to + believe; nay does not the spirit of Love, free in its celestial primeval + brightness, even here, though but for moments, look through? Well said + Saint Chrysostom, with his lips of gold, 'the true SHEKINAH is Man:' where + else is the GOD'S-PRESENCE manifested not to our eyes only, but to our + hearts, as in our fellow-man?" + </p> + <p> + In such passages, unhappily too rare, the high Platonic Mysticism of our + Author, which is perhaps the fundamental element of his nature, bursts + forth, as it were, in full flood: and, through all the vapor and tarnish + of what is often so perverse, so mean in his exterior and environment, we + seem to look into a whole inward Sea of Light and Love;—though, + alas, the grim coppery clouds soon roll together again, and hide it from + view. + </p> + <p> + Such tendency to Mysticism is everywhere traceable in this man; and + indeed, to attentive readers, must have been long ago apparent. Nothing + that he sees but has more than a common meaning, but has two meanings: + thus, if in the highest Imperial Sceptre and Charlemagne-Mantle, as well + as in the poorest Ox-goad and Gypsy-Blanket, he finds Prose, Decay, + Contemptibility; there is in each sort Poetry also, and a reverend Worth. + For Matter, were it never so despicable, is Spirit, the manifestation of + Spirit: were it never so honorable, can it be more? The thing Visible, nay + the thing Imagined, the thing in any way conceived as Visible, what is it + but a Garment, a Clothing of the higher, celestial Invisible, + "unimaginable formless, dark with excess of bright"? Under which point of + view the following passage, so strange in purport, so strange in phrase, + seems characteristic enough:— + </p> + <p> + "The beginning of all Wisdom is to look fixedly on Clothes, or even with + armed eyesight, till they become <i>transparent</i>. 'The Philosopher,' + says the wisest of this age, 'must station himself in the middle:' how + true! The Philosopher is he to whom the Highest has descended, and the + Lowest has mounted up; who is the equal and kindly brother of all. + </p> + <p> + "Shall we tremble before clothwebs and cobwebs, whether woven in Arkwright + looms, or by the silent Arachnes that weave unrestingly in our + Imagination? Or, on the other hand, what is there that we cannot love; + since all was created by God? + </p> + <p> + "Happy he who can look through the Clothes of a Man (the woollen, and + fleshly, and official Bank-paper and State-paper Clothes) into the Man + himself; and discern, it may be, in this or the other Dread Potentate, a + more or less incompetent Digestive-apparatus; yet also an inscrutable + venerable Mystery, in the meanest Tinker that sees with eyes!" + </p> + <p> + For the rest, as is natural to a man of this kind, he deals much in the + feeling of Wonder; insists on the necessity and high worth of universal + Wonder; which he holds to be the only reasonable temper for the denizen of + so singular a Planet as ours. "Wonder," says he, "is the basis of Worship: + the reign of wonder is perennial, indestructible in Man; only at certain + stages (as the present), it is, for some short season, a reign <i>in + partibus infidelium</i>." That progress of Science, which is to destroy + Wonder, and in its stead substitute Mensuration and Numeration, finds + small favor with Teufelsdrockh, much as he otherwise venerates these two + latter processes. + </p> + <p> + "Shall your Science," exclaims he, "proceed in the small chink-lighted, or + even oil-lighted, underground workshop of Logic alone; and man's mind + become an Arithmetical Mill, whereof Memory is the Hopper, and mere Tables + of Sines and Tangents, Codification, and Treatises of what you call + Political Economy, are the Meal? And what is that Science, which the + scientific head alone, were it screwed off, and (like the Doctor's in the + Arabian Tale) set in a basin to keep it alive, could prosecute without + shadow of a heart,—but one other of the mechanical and menial + handicrafts, for which the Scientific Head (having a Soul in it) is too + noble an organ? I mean that Thought without Reverence is barren, perhaps + poisonous; at best, dies like cookery with the day that called it forth; + does not live, like sowing, in successive tilths and wider-spreading + harvests, bringing food and plenteous increase to all Time." + </p> + <p> + In such wise does Teufelsdrockh deal hits, harder or softer, according to + ability; yet ever, as we would fain persuade ourselves, with charitable + intent. Above all, that class of "Logic-choppers, and treble-pipe + Scoffers, and professed Enemies to Wonder; who, in these days, so + numerously patrol as night-constables about the Mechanics' Institute of + Science, and cackle, like true Old-Roman geese and goslings round their + Capitol, on any alarm, or on none; nay who often, as illuminated Sceptics, + walk abroad into peaceable society, in full daylight, with rattle and + lantern, and insist on guiding you and guarding you therewith, though the + Sun is shining, and the street populous with mere justice-loving men:" + that whole class is inexpressibly wearisome to him. Hear with what + uncommon animation he perorates:— + </p> + <p> + "The man who cannot wonder, who does not habitually wonder (and worship), + were he President of innumerable Royal Societies, and carried the whole <i>Mecanique + Celeste</i> and <i>Hegel's Philosophy</i>, and the epitome of all + Laboratories and Observatories with their results, in his single head,—is + but a Pair of Spectacles behind which there is no Eye. Let those who have + Eyes look through him, then he may be useful. + </p> + <p> + "Thou wilt have no Mystery and Mysticism; wilt walk through thy world by + the sunshine of what thou callest Truth, or even by the hand-lamp of what + I call Attorney-Logic; and 'explain' all, 'account' for all, or believe + nothing of it? Nay, thou wilt attempt laughter; whoso recognizes the + unfathomable, all-pervading domain of Mystery, which is everywhere under + our feet and among our hands; to whom the Universe is an Oracle and + Temple, as well as a Kitchen and Cattle-stall,—he shall be a + delirious Mystic; to him thou, with sniffing charity, wilt protrusively + proffer thy hand-lamp, and shriek, as one injured, when he kicks his foot + through it?—<i>Armer Teufel</i>! Doth not thy cow calve, doth not + thy bull gender? Thou thyself, wert thou not born, wilt thou not die? + 'Explain' me all this, or do one of two things: Retire into private places + with thy foolish cackle; or, what were better, give it up, and weep, not + that the reign of wonder is done, and God's world all disembellished and + prosaic, but that thou hitherto art a Dilettante and sand-blind Pedant." + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI. PROSPECTIVE. + </h2> + <p> + The Philosophy of Clothes is now to all readers, as we predicted it would + do, unfolding itself into new boundless expansions, of a cloud-capt, + almost chimerical aspect, yet not without azure loomings in the far + distance, and streaks as of an Elysian brightness; the highly questionable + purport and promise of which it is becoming more and more important for us + to ascertain. Is that a real Elysian brightness, cries many a timid + wayfarer, or the reflex of Pandemonian lava? Is it of a truth leading us + into beatific Asphodel meadows, or the yellow-burning marl of a + Hell-on-Earth? + </p> + <p> + Our Professor, like other Mystics, whether delirious or inspired, gives an + Editor enough to do. Ever higher and dizzier are the heights he leads us + to; more piercing, all-comprehending, all-confounding are his views and + glances. For example, this of Nature being not an Aggregate but a Whole:— + </p> + <p> + "Well sang the Hebrew Psalmist: 'If I take the wings of the morning and + dwell in the uttermost parts of the Universe, God is there.' Thou thyself, + O cultivated reader, who too probably art no Psalmist, but a Prosaist, + knowing GOD only by tradition, knowest thou any corner of the world where + at least FORCE is not? The drop which thou shakest from thy wet hand, + rests not where it falls, but to-morrow thou findest it swept away; + already on the wings of the North-wind, it is nearing the Tropic of + Cancer. How came it to evaporate, and not lie motionless? Thinkest thou + there is aught motionless; without Force, and utterly dead? + </p> + <p> + "As I rode through the Schwarzwald, I said to myself: That little fire + which glows star-like across the dark-growing (<i>nachtende</i>) moor, + where the sooty smith bends over his anvil, and thou hopest to replace thy + lost horse-shoe,—is it a detached, separated speck, cut off from the + whole Universe; or indissolubly joined to the whole? Thou fool, that + smithy-fire was (primarily) kindled at the Sun; is fed by air that + circulates from before Noah's Deluge, from beyond the Dog-star; therein, + with Iron Force, and Coal Force, and the far stranger Force of Man, are + cunning affinities and battles and victories of Force brought about; it is + a little ganglion, or nervous centre, in the great vital system of + Immensity. Call it, if thou wilt, an unconscious Altar, kindled on the + bosom of the All; whose iron sacrifice, whose iron smoke and influence + reach quite through the All; whose dingy Priest, not by word, yet by brain + and sinew, preaches forth the mystery of Force; nay preaches forth + (exoterically enough) one little textlet from the Gospel of Freedom, the + Gospel of Man's Force, commanding, and one day to be all-commanding. + </p> + <p> + "Detached, separated! I say there is no such separation: nothing hitherto + was ever stranded, cast aside; but all, were it only a withered leaf, + works together with all; is borne forward on the bottomless, shoreless + flood of Action, and lives through perpetual metamorphoses. The withered + leaf is not dead and lost, there are Forces in it and around it, though + working in inverse order; else how could it rot? Despise not the rag from + which man makes Paper, or the litter from which the earth makes Corn. + Rightly viewed no meanest object is insignificant; all objects are as + windows, through which the philosophic eye looks into Infinitude itself." + </p> + <p> + Again, leaving that wondrous Schwarzwald Smithy-Altar, what vacant, + high-sailing air-ships are these, and whither will they sail with us? + </p> + <p> + "All visible things are emblems; what thou seest is not there on its own + account; strictly taken, is not there at all: Matter exists only + spiritually, and to represent some Idea, and <i>body</i> it forth. Hence + Clothes, as despicable as we think them, are so unspeakably significant. + Clothes, from the King's mantle downwards, are emblematic, not of want + only, but of a manifold cunning Victory over Want. On the other hand, all + Emblematic things are properly Clothes, thought-woven or hand-woven: must + not the Imagination weave Garments, visible Bodies, wherein the else + invisible creations and inspirations of our Reason are, like Spirits, + revealed, and first become all-powerful; the rather if, as we often see, + the Hand too aid her, and (by wool Clothes or otherwise) reveal such even + to the outward eye? + </p> + <p> + "Men are properly said to be clothed with Authority, clothed with Beauty, + with Curses, and the like. Nay, if you consider it, what is Man himself, + and his whole terrestrial Life, but an Emblem; a Clothing or visible + Garment for that divine ME of his, cast hither, like a light-particle, + down from Heaven? Thus is he said also to be clothed with a Body. + </p> + <p> + "Language is called the Garment of Thought: however, it should rather be, + Language is the Flesh-Garment, the Body, of Thought. I said that + Imagination wove this Flesh-Garment; and does not she? Metaphors are her + stuff: examine Language; what, if you except some few primitive elements + (of natural sound), what is it all but Metaphors, recognized as such, or + no longer recognized; still fluid and florid, or now solid-grown and + colorless? If those same primitive elements are the osseous fixtures in + the Flesh-Garment, Language,—then are Metaphors its muscles and + tissues and living integuments. An unmetaphorical style you shall in vain + seek for: is not your very <i>Attention</i> a <i>Stretching-to</i>? The + difference lies here: some styles are lean, adust, wiry, the muscle itself + seems osseous; some are even quite pallid, hunger-bitten and dead-looking; + while others again glow in the flush of health and vigorous self-growth, + sometimes (as in my own case) not without an apoplectic tendency. + Moreover, there are sham Metaphors, which overhanging that same + Thought's-Body (best naked), and deceptively bedizening, or bolstering it + out, may be called its false stuffings, superfluous show-cloaks (<i>Putz-Mantel</i>), + and tawdry woollen rags: whereof he that runs and reads may gather whole + hampers,—and burn them." + </p> + <p> + Than which paragraph on Metaphors did the reader ever chance to see a more + surprisingly metaphorical? However, that is not our chief grievance; the + Professor continues:— + </p> + <p> + "Why multiply instances? It is written, the Heavens and the Earth shall + fade away like a Vesture; which indeed they are: the Time-vesture of the + Eternal. Whatsoever sensibly exists, whatsoever represents Spirit to + Spirit, is properly a Clothing, a suit of Raiment, put on for a season, + and to be laid off. Thus in this one pregnant subject of CLOTHES, rightly + understood, is included all that men have thought, dreamed, done, and + been: the whole External Universe and what it holds is but Clothing; and + the essence of all Science lies in the PHILOSOPHY OF CLOTHES." + </p> + <p> + Towards these dim infinitely expanded regions, close-bordering on the + impalpable Inane, it is not without apprehension, and perpetual + difficulties, that the Editor sees himself journeying and struggling. Till + lately a cheerful daystar of hope hung before him, in the expected Aid of + Hofrath Heuschrecke; which daystar, however, melts now, not into the red + of morning, but into a vague, gray half-light, uncertain whether dawn of + day or dusk of utter darkness. For the last week, these so-called + Biographical Documents are in his hand. By the kindness of a Scottish + Hamburg Merchant, whose name, known to the whole mercantile world, he must + not mention; but whose honorable courtesy, now and often before + spontaneously manifested to him, a mere literary stranger, he cannot soon + forget,—the bulky Weissnichtwo Packet, with all its Custom-house + seals, foreign hieroglyphs, and miscellaneous tokens of Travel, arrived + here in perfect safety, and free of cost. The reader shall now fancy with + what hot haste it was broken up, with what breathless expectation glanced + over; and, alas, with what unquiet disappointment it has, since then, been + often thrown down, and again taken up. + </p> + <p> + Hofrath Heuschrecke, in a too long-winded Letter, full of compliments, + Weissnichtwo politics, dinners, dining repartees, and other ephemeral + trivialities, proceeds to remind us of what we knew well already: that + however it may be with Metaphysics, and other abstract Science originating + in the Head (<i>Verstand</i>) alone, no Life-Philosophy (<i>Lebensphilosophie</i>), + such as this of Clothes pretends to be, which originates equally in the + Character (<i>Gemuth</i>), and equally speaks thereto, can attain its + significance till the Character itself is known and seen; "till the + Author's View of the World (<i>Weltansicht</i>), and how he actively and + passively came by such view, are clear: in short till a Biography of him + has been philosophico-poetically written, and philosophico-poetically + read.... Nay," adds he, "were the speculative scientific Truth even known, + you still, in this inquiring age, ask yourself, Whence came it, and Why, + and How?—and rest not, till, if no better may be, Fancy have shaped + out an answer; and either in the authentic lineaments of Fact, or the + forged ones of Fiction, a complete picture and Genetical History of the + Man and his spiritual Endeavor lies before you. But why," says the + Hofrath, and indeed say we, "do I dilate on the uses of our + Teufelsdrockh's Biography? The great Herr Minister von Goethe has + penetratingly remarked that Man is properly the <i>only</i> object that + interests man:' thus I too have noted, that in Weissnichtwo our whole + conversation is little or nothing else but Biography or Autobiography; + ever humano-anecdotical (<i>menschlich-anekdotisch</i>). Biography is by + nature the most universally profitable, universally pleasant of all + things: especially Biography of distinguished individuals. + </p> + <p> + "By this time, <i>mein Verehrtester</i> (my Most Esteemed)," continues he, + with an eloquence which, unless the words be purloined from Teufelsdrockh, + or some trick of his, as we suspect, is well-nigh unaccountable, "by this + time you are fairly plunged (<i>vertieft</i>) in that mighty forest of + Clothes-Philosophy; and looking round, as all readers do, with + astonishment enough. Such portions and passages as you have already + mastered, and brought to paper, could not but awaken a strange curiosity + touching the mind they issued from; the perhaps unparalleled psychical + mechanism, which manufactured such matter, and emitted it to the light of + day. Had Teufelsdrockh also a father and mother; did he, at one time, wear + drivel-bibs, and live on spoon-meat? Did he ever, in rapture and tears, + clasp a friend's bosom to his; looks he also wistfully into the long + burial-aisle of the Past, where only winds, and their low harsh moan, give + inarticulate answer? Has he fought duels;—good Heaven! how did he + comport himself when in Love? By what singular stair-steps, in short, and + subterranean passages, and sloughs of Despair, and steep Pisgah hills, has + he reached this wonderful prophetic Hebron (a true Old-Clothes Jewry) + where he now dwells? + </p> + <p> + "To all these natural questions the voice of public History is as yet + silent. Certain only that he has been, and is, a Pilgrim, and Traveller + from a far Country; more or less footsore and travel-soiled; has parted + with road-companions; fallen among thieves, been poisoned by bad cookery, + blistered with bug-bites; nevertheless, at every stage (for they have let + him pass), has had the Bill to discharge. But the whole particulars of his + Route, his Weather-observations, the picturesque Sketches he took, though + all regularly jotted down (in indelible sympathetic-ink by an invisible + interior Penman), are these nowhere forthcoming? Perhaps quite lost: one + other leaf of that mighty Volume (of human Memory) left to fly abroad, + unprinted, unpublished, unbound up, as waste paper; and to rot, the sport + of rainy winds? + </p> + <p> + "No, <i>verehrtester Herr Herausgeber</i>, in no wise! I here, by the + unexampled favor you stand in with our Sage, send not a Biography only, + but an Autobiography: at least the materials for such; wherefrom, if I + misreckon not, your perspicacity will draw fullest insight: and so the + whole Philosophy and Philosopher of Clothes will stand clear to the + wondering eyes of England, nay thence, through America, through Hindostan, + and the antipodal New Holland, finally conquer (<i>einnehmen</i>) great + part of this terrestrial Planet!" + </p> + <p> + And now let the sympathizing reader judge of our feeling when, in place of + this same Autobiography with "fullest insight," we find—Six + considerable PAPER-BAGS, carefully sealed, and marked successively, in + gilt China-ink, with the symbols of the Six southern Zodiacal Signs, + beginning at Libra; in the inside of which sealed Bags lie miscellaneous + masses of Sheets, and oftener Shreds and Snips, written in Professor + Teufelsdrockh's scarce legible <i>cursiv-schrift</i>; and treating of all + imaginable things under the Zodiac and above it, but of his own personal + history only at rare intervals, and then in the most enigmatic manner. + </p> + <p> + Whole fascicles there are, wherein the Professor, or, as he here, speaking + in the third person, calls himself, "the Wanderer," is not once named. + Then again, amidst what seems to be a Metaphysico-theological + Disquisition, "Detached Thoughts on the Steam-engine," or, "The continued + Possibility of Prophecy," we shall meet with some quite private, not + unimportant Biographical fact. On certain sheets stand Dreams, authentic + or not, while the circumjacent waking Actions are omitted. Anecdotes, + oftenest without date of place or time, fly loosely on separate slips, + like Sibylline leaves. Interspersed also are long purely Autobiographical + delineations; yet without connection, without recognizable coherence; so + unimportant, so superfluously minute, they almost remind us of "P.P. Clerk + of this Parish." Thus does famine of intelligence alternate with waste. + Selection, order, appears to be unknown to the Professor. In all Bags the + same imbroglio; only perhaps in the Bag <i>Capricorn</i>, and those near + it, the confusion a little worse confounded. Close by a rather eloquent + Oration, "On receiving the Doctor's-Hat," lie wash-bills, marked <i>bezahlt</i> + (settled). His Travels are indicated by the Street-Advertisements of the + various cities he has visited; of which Street-Advertisements, in most + living tongues, here is perhaps the completest collection extant. + </p> + <p> + So that if the Clothes-Volume itself was too like a Chaos, we have now + instead of the solar Luminary that should still it, the airy Limbo which + by intermixture will farther volatilize and discompose it! As we shall + perhaps see it our duty ultimately to deposit these Six Paper-Bags in the + British Museum, farther description, and all vituperation of them, may be + spared. Biography or Autobiography of Teufelsdrockh there is, clearly + enough, none to be gleaned here: at most some sketchy, shadowy fugitive + likeness of him may, by unheard-of efforts, partly of intellect, partly of + imagination, on the side of Editor and of Reader, rise up between them. + Only as a gaseous-chaotic Appendix to that aqueous-chaotic Volume can the + contents of the Six Bags hover round us, and portions thereof be + incorporated with our delineation of it. + </p> + <p> + Daily and nightly does the Editor sit (with green spectacles) deciphering + these unimaginable Documents from their perplexed <i>cursiv-schrift</i>; + collating them with the almost equally unimaginable Volume, which stands + in legible print. Over such a universal medley of high and low, of hot, + cold, moist and dry, is he here struggling (by union of like with like, + which is Method) to build a firm Bridge for British travellers. Never + perhaps since our first Bridge-builders, Sin and Death, built that + stupendous Arch from Hell-gate to the Earth, did any Pontifex, or Pontiff, + undertake such a task as the present Editor. For in this Arch too, + leading, as we humbly presume, far otherwards than that grand primeval + one, the materials are to be fished up from the weltering deep, and down + from the simmering air, here one mass, there another, and cunningly + cemented, while the elements boil beneath: nor is there any supernatural + force to do it with; but simply the Diligence and feeble thinking Faculty + of an English Editor, endeavoring to evolve printed Creation out of a + German printed and written Chaos, wherein, as he shoots to and fro in it, + gathering, clutching, piecing the Why to the far-distant Wherefore, his + whole Faculty and Self are like to be swallowed up. + </p> + <p> + Patiently, under these incessant toils and agitations, does the Editor, + dismissing all anger, see his otherwise robust health declining; some + fraction of his allotted natural sleep nightly leaving him, and little but + an inflamed nervous-system to be looked for. What is the use of health, or + of life, if not to do some work therewith? And what work nobler than + transplanting foreign Thought into the barren domestic soil; except indeed + planting Thought of your own, which the fewest are privileged to do? Wild + as it looks, this Philosophy of Clothes, can we ever reach its real + meaning, promises to reveal new-coming Eras, the first dim rudiments and + already-budding germs of a nobler Era, in Universal History. Is not such a + prize worth some striving? Forward with us, courageous reader; be it + towards failure, or towards success! The latter thou sharest with us; the + former also is not all our own. + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2H_4_0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + BOOK II. + </h2> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. GENESIS. + </h2> + <p> + In a psychological point of view, it is perhaps questionable whether from + birth and genealogy, how closely scrutinized soever, much insight is to be + gained. Nevertheless, as in every phenomenon the Beginning remains always + the most notable moment; so, with regard to any great man, we rest not + till, for our scientific profit or not, the whole circumstances of his + first appearance in this Planet, and what manner of Public Entry he made, + are with utmost completeness rendered manifest. To the Genesis of our + Clothes-Philosopher, then, be this First Chapter consecrated. Unhappily, + indeed, he seems to be of quite obscure extraction; uncertain, we might + almost say, whether of any: so that this Genesis of his can properly be + nothing but an Exodus (or transit out of Invisibility into Visibility); + whereof the preliminary portion is nowhere forthcoming. + </p> + <p> + "In the village of Entepfuhl," thus writes he, in the Bag <i>Libra</i>, on + various Papers, which we arrange with difficulty, "dwelt Andreas Futteral + and his wife; childless, in still seclusion, and cheerful though now + verging towards old age. Andreas had been grenadier Sergeant, and even + regimental Schoolmaster under Frederick the Great; but now, quitting the + halbert and ferule for the spade and pruning-hook, cultivated a little + Orchard, on the produce of which he, Cincinnatus-like, lived not without + dignity. Fruits, the peach, the apple, the grape, with other varieties + came in their season; all which Andreas knew how to sell: on evenings he + smoked largely, or read (as beseemed a regimental Schoolmaster), and + talked to neighbors that would listen about the Victory of Rossbach; and + how Fritz the Only (<i>der Einzige</i>) had once with his own royal lips + spoken to him, had been pleased to say, when Andreas as camp-sentinel + demanded the pass-word, '<i>Schweig Hund</i> (Peace, hound)!' before any + of his staff-adjutants could answer. '<i>Das nenn' ich mir einen Konig</i>, + There is what I call a King,' would Andreas exclaim: 'but the smoke of + Kunersdorf was still smarting his eyes.' + </p> + <p> + "Gretchen, the housewife, won like Desdemona by the deeds rather than the + looks of her now veteran Othello, lived not in altogether military + subordination; for, as Andreas said, 'the womankind will not drill (<i>wer + kann die Weiberchen dressiren</i>):' nevertheless she at heart loved him + both for valor and wisdom; to her a Prussian grenadier Sergeant and + Regiment's Schoolmaster was little other than a Cicero and Cid: what you + see, yet cannot see over, is as good as infinite. Nay, was not Andreas in + very deed a man of order, courage, downrightness (<i>Geradheit</i>); that + understood Busching's <i>Geography</i>, had been in the victory of + Rossbach, and left for dead in the camisade of Hochkirch? The good + Gretchen, for all her fretting, watched over him and hovered round him as + only a true house-mother can: assiduously she cooked and sewed and scoured + for him; so that not only his old regimental sword and grenadier-cap, but + the whole habitation and environment, where on pegs of honor they hung, + looked ever trim and gay: a roomy painted Cottage, embowered in + fruit-trees and forest-trees, evergreens and honeysuckles; rising + many-colored from amid shaven grass-plots, flowers struggling in through + the very windows; under its long projecting eaves nothing but garden-tools + in methodic piles (to screen them from rain), and seats where, especially + on summer nights, a King might have wished to sit and smoke, and call it + his. Such a Bauergut (Copyhold) had Gretchen given her veteran; whose + sinewy arms, and long-disused gardening talent, had made it what you saw. + </p> + <p> + "Into this umbrageous Man's-nest, one meek yellow evening or dusk, when + the Sun, hidden indeed from terrestrial Entepfuhl, did nevertheless + journey visible and radiant along the celestial Balance (<i>Libra</i>), it + was that a Stranger of reverend aspect entered; and, with grave + salutation, stood before the two rather astonished housemates. He was + close-muffled in a wide mantle; which without farther parley unfolding, he + deposited therefrom what seemed some Basket, overhung with green Persian + silk; saying only: <i>Ihr lieben Leute, hier bringe ein unschatzbares + Verleihen; nehmt es in aller Acht, sorgfaltigst benutzt es: mit hohem + Lohn, oder wohl mit schweren Zinsen, wird's einst zuruckgefordert</i>. + 'Good Christian people, here lies for you an invaluable Loan; take all + heed thereof, in all carefulness employ it: with high recompense, or else + with heavy penalty, will it one day be required back.' Uttering which + singular words, in a clear, bell-like, forever memorable tone, the + Stranger gracefully withdrew; and before Andreas or his wife, gazing in + expectant wonder, had time to fashion either question or answer, was clean + gone. Neither out of doors could aught of him be seen or heard; he had + vanished in the thickets, in the dusk; the Orchard-gate stood quietly + closed: the Stranger was gone once and always. So sudden had the whole + transaction been, in the autumn stillness and twilight, so gentle, + noiseless, that the Futterals could have fancied it all a trick of + Imagination, or some visit from an authentic Spirit. Only that the + green-silk Basket, such as neither Imagination nor authentic Spirits are + wont to carry, still stood visible and tangible on their little + parlor-table. Towards this the astonished couple, now with lit candle, + hastily turned their attention. Lifting the green veil, to see what + invaluable it hid, they descried there, amid down and rich white + wrappages, no Pitt Diamond or Hapsburg Regalia, but, in the softest sleep, + a little red-colored Infant! Beside it, lay a roll of gold Friedrichs, the + exact amount of which was never publicly known; also a <i>Taufschein</i> + (baptismal certificate), wherein unfortunately nothing but the Name was + decipherable, other document or indication none whatever. + </p> + <p> + "To wonder and conjecture was unavailing, then and always thenceforth. + Nowhere in Entepfuhl, on the morrow or next day, did tidings transpire of + any such figure as the Stranger; nor could the Traveller, who had passed + through the neighboring Town in coach-and-four, be connected with this + Apparition, except in the way of gratuitous surmise. Meanwhile, for + Andreas and his wife, the grand practical problem was: What to do with + this little sleeping red-colored Infant? Amid amazements and curiosities, + which had to die away without external satisfying, they resolved, as in + such circumstances charitable prudent people needs must, on nursing it, + though with spoon-meat, into whiteness, and if possible into manhood. The + Heavens smiled on their endeavor: thus has that same mysterious Individual + ever since had a status for himself in this visible Universe, some modicum + of victual and lodging and parade-ground; and now expanded in bulk, + faculty and knowledge of good and evil, he, as HERR DIOGENES + TEUFELSDROCKH, professes or is ready to profess, perhaps not altogether + without effect, in the new University of Weissnichtwo, the new Science of + Things in General." + </p> + <p> + Our Philosopher declares here, as indeed we should think he well might, + that these facts, first communicated, by the good Gretchen Futteral, In + his twelfth year, "produced on the boyish heart and fancy a quite + indelible impression. Who this reverend Personage," he says, "that glided + into the Orchard Cottage when the Sun was in Libra, and then, as on + spirit's wings, glided out again, might be? An inexpressible desire, full + of love and of sadness, has often since struggled within me to shape an + answer. Ever, in my distresses and my loneliness, has Fantasy turned, full + of longing (<i>sehnsuchtsvoll</i>), to that unknown Father, who perhaps + far from me, perhaps near, either way invisible, might have taken me to + his paternal bosom, there to lie screened from many a woe. Thou beloved + Father, dost thou still, shut out from me only by thin penetrable curtains + of earthly Space, wend to and fro among the crowd of the living? Or art + thou hidden by those far thicker curtains of the Everlasting Night, or + rather of the Everlasting Day, through which my mortal eye and + outstretched arms need not strive to reach? Alas, I know not, and in vain + vex myself to know. More than once, heart-deluded, have I taken for thee + this and the other noble-looking Stranger; and approached him wistfully, + with infinite regard; but he too had to repel me, he too was not thou. + </p> + <p> + "And yet, O Man born of Woman," cries the Autobiographer, with one of his + sudden whirls, "wherein is my case peculiar? Hadst thou, any more than I, + a Father whom thou knowest? The Andreas and Gretchen, or the Adam and Eve, + who led thee into Life, and for a time suckled and pap-fed thee there, + whom thou namest Father and Mother; these were, like mine, but thy + nursing-father and nursing-mother: thy true Beginning and Father is in + Heaven, whom with the bodily eye thou shalt never behold, but only with + the spiritual.... + </p> + <p> + "The little green veil," adds he, among much similar moralizing, and + embroiled discoursing, "I yet keep; still more inseparably the Name, + Diogenes Teufelsdrockh. From the veil can nothing be inferred: a piece of + now quite faded Persian silk, like thousands of others. On the Name I have + many times meditated and conjectured; but neither in this lay there any + clew. That it was my unknown Father's name I must hesitate to believe. To + no purpose have I searched through all the Herald's Books, in and without + the German Empire, and through all manner of Subscriber-Lists (<i>Pranumeranten</i>), + Militia-Rolls, and other Name-catalogues; extraordinary names as we have + in Germany, the name Teufelsdrockh, except as appended to my own person, + nowhere occurs. Again, what may the unchristian rather than Christian + 'Diogenes' mean? Did that reverend Basket-bearer intend, by such + designation, to shadow forth my future destiny, or his own present malign + humor? Perhaps the latter, perhaps both. Thou ill-starred Parent, who like + an Ostrich hadst to leave thy ill-starred offspring to be hatched into + self-support by the mere sky-influences of Chance, can thy pilgrimage have + been a smooth one? Beset by Misfortune thou doubtless hast been; or indeed + by the worst figure of Misfortune, by Misconduct. Often have I fancied + how, in thy hard life-battle, thou wert shot at, and slung at, wounded, + hand-fettered, hamstrung, browbeaten and bedevilled by the Time-Spirit (<i>Zeitgeist</i>) + in thyself and others, till the good soul first given thee was seered into + grim rage, and thou hadst nothing for it but to leave in me an indignant + appeal to the Future, and living speaking Protest against the Devil, as + that same Spirit not of the Time only, but of Time itself, is well named! + Which Appeal and Protest, may I now modestly add, was not perhaps quite + lost in air. + </p> + <p> + "For indeed, as Walter Shandy often insisted, there is much, nay almost + all, in Names. The Name is the earliest Garment you wrap round the + earth-visiting ME; to which it thenceforth cleaves, more tenaciously (for + there are Names that have lasted nigh thirty centuries) than the very + skin. And now from without, what mystic influences does it not send + inwards, even to the centre; especially in those plastic first-times, when + the whole soul is yet infantine, soft, and the invisible seedgrain will + grow to be an all overshadowing tree! Names? Could I unfold the influence + of Names, which are the most important of all Clothings, I were a second + greater Trismegistus. Not only all common Speech, but Science, Poetry + itself is no other, if thou consider it, than a right <i>Naming</i>. + Adam's first task was giving names to natural Appearances: what is ours + still but a continuation of the same; be the Appearances exotic-vegetable, + organic, mechanic, stars, or starry movements (as in Science); or (as in + Poetry) passions, virtues, calamities, God-attributes, Gods?—In a + very plain sense the Proverb says, <i>Call one a thief, and he will steal</i>; + in an almost similar sense may we not perhaps say, <i>Call one Diogenes + Teufelsdrockh, and he will open the Philosophy of Clothes</i>?" + </p> + <p> + "Meanwhile the incipient Diogenes, like others, all ignorant of his Why, + his How or Whereabout, was opening his eyes to the kind Light; sprawling + out his ten fingers and toes; listening, tasting, feeling; in a word, by + all his Five Senses, still more by his Sixth Sense of Hunger, and a whole + infinitude of inward, spiritual, half-awakened Senses, endeavoring daily + to acquire for himself some knowledge of this strange Universe where he + had arrived, be his task therein what it might. Infinite was his progress; + thus in some fifteen months, he could perform the miracle of—Speech! + To breed a fresh Soul, is it not like brooding a fresh (celestial) Egg; + wherein as yet all is formless, powerless; yet by degrees organic elements + and fibres shoot through the watery albumen; and out of vague Sensation + grows Thought, grows Fantasy and Force, and we have Philosophies, + Dynasties, nay Poetries and Religions! + </p> + <p> + "Young Diogenes, or rather young Gneschen, for by such diminutive had they + in their fondness named him, travelled forward to those high + consummations, by quick yet easy stages. The Futterals, to avoid vain + talk, and moreover keep the roll of gold Friedrichs safe, gave out that he + was a grandnephew; the orphan of some sister's daughter, suddenly + deceased, in Andreas's distant Prussian birthland; of whom, as of her + indigent sorrowing widower, little enough was known at Entepfuhl. Heedless + of all which, the Nursling took to his spoon-meat, and throve. I have + heard him noted as a still infant, that kept his mind much to himself; + above all, that seldom or never cried. He already felt that time was + precious; that he had other work cut out for him than whimpering." + </p> + <p> + Such, after utmost painful search and collation among these miscellaneous + Paper-masses, is all the notice we can gather of Herr Teufelsdrockh's + genealogy. More imperfect, more enigmatic it can seem to few readers than + to us. The Professor, in whom truly we more and more discern a certain + satirical turn, and deep under-currents of roguish whim, for the present + stands pledged in honor, so we will not doubt him: but seems it not + conceivable that, by the "good Gretchen Futteral," or some other perhaps + interested party, he has himself been deceived? Should these sheets, + translated or not, ever reach the Entepfuhl Circulating Library, some + cultivated native of that district might feel called to afford + explanation. Nay, since Books, like invisible scouts, permeate the whole + habitable globe, and Timbuctoo itself is not safe from British Literature, + may not some Copy find out even the mysterious basket-bearing Stranger, + who in a state of extreme senility perhaps still exists; and gently force + even him to disclose himself; to claim openly a son, in whom any father + may feel pride? + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. IDYLLIC. + </h2> + <p> + "HAPPY season of Childhood!" exclaims Teufelsdrockh: "Kind Nature, that + art to all a bountiful mother; that visitest the poor man's hut with + auroral radiance; and for thy Nursling hast provided a soft swathing of + Love and infinite Hope, wherein he waxes and slumbers, danced round (<i>umgaukelt</i>) + by sweetest Dreams! If the paternal Cottage still shuts us in, its roof + still screens us; with a Father we have as yet a prophet, priest and king, + and an Obedience that makes us free. The young spirit has awakened out of + Eternity, and knows not what we mean by Time; as yet Time is no + fast-hurrying stream, but a sportful sunlit ocean; years to the child are + as ages: ah! the secret of Vicissitude, of that slower or quicker decay + and ceaseless down-rushing of the universal World-fabric, from the granite + mountain to the man or day-moth, is yet unknown; and in a motionless + Universe, we taste, what afterwards in this quick-whirling Universe is + forever denied us, the balm of Rest. Sleep on, thou fair Child, for thy + long rough journey is at hand! A little while, and thou too shalt sleep no + more, but thy very dreams shall be mimic battles; thou too, with old + Arnauld, wilt have to say in stern patience: 'Rest? Rest? Shall I not have + all Eternity to rest in?' Celestial Nepenthe! though a Pyrrhus conquer + empires, and an Alexander sack the world, he finds thee not; and thou hast + once fallen gently, of thy own accord, on the eyelids, on the heart of + every mother's child. For as yet, sleep and waking are one: the fair + Life-garden rustles infinite around, and everywhere is dewy fragrance, and + the budding of Hope; which budding, if in youth, too frost-nipt, it grow + to flowers, will in manhood yield no fruit, but a prickly, bitter-rinded + stone-fruit, of which the fewest can find the kernel." + </p> + <p> + In such rose-colored light does our Professor, as Poets are wont, look + back on his childhood; the historical details of which (to say nothing of + much other vague oratorical matter) he accordingly dwells on with an + almost wearisome minuteness. We hear of Entepfuhl standing "in trustful + derangement" among the woody slopes; the paternal Orchard flanking it as + extreme outpost from below; the little Kuhbach gushing kindly by, among + beech-rows, through river after river, into the Donau, into the Black Sea, + into the Atmosphere and Universe; and how "the brave old Linden," + stretching like a parasol of twenty ells in radius, overtopping all other + rows and clumps, towered up from the central <i>Agora</i> and <i>Campus + Martius</i> of the Village, like its Sacred Tree; and how the old men sat + talking under its shadow (Gneschen often greedily listening), and the + wearied laborers reclined, and the unwearied children sported, and the + young men and maidens often danced to flute-music. "Glorious summer + twilights," cries Teufelsdrockh, "when the Sun, like a proud Conqueror and + Imperial Taskmaster, turned his back, with his gold-purple emblazonry, and + all his fireclad bodyguard (of Prismatic Colors); and the tired + brickmakers of this clay Earth might steal a little frolic, and those few + meek Stars would not tell of them!" + </p> + <p> + Then we have long details of the <i>Weinlesen</i> (Vintage), the + Harvest-Home, Christmas, and so forth; with a whole cycle of the Entepfuhl + Children's-games, differing apparently by mere superficial shades from + those of other countries. Concerning all which, we shall here, for obvious + reasons, say nothing. What cares the world for our as yet miniature + Philosopher's achievements under that "brave old Linden "? Or even where + is the use of such practical reflections as the following? "In all the + sports of Children, were it only in their wanton breakages and + defacements, you shall discern a creative instinct (<i>schaffenden Trieb</i>): + the Mankin feels that he is a born Man, that his vocation is to work. The + choicest present you can make him is a Tool; be it knife or pen-gun, for + construction or for destruction; either way it is for Work, for Change. In + gregarious sports of skill or strength, the Boy trains himself to + Co-operation, for war or peace, as governor or governed: the little Maid + again, provident of her domestic destiny, takes with preference to Dolls." + </p> + <p> + Perhaps, however, we may give this anecdote, considering who it is that + relates it: "My first short-clothes were of yellow serge; or rather, I + should say, my first short-cloth, for the vesture was one and indivisible, + reaching from neck to ankle, a mere body with four limbs: of which fashion + how little could I then divine the architectural, how much less the moral + significance!" + </p> + <p> + More graceful is the following little picture: "On fine evenings I was + wont to carry forth my supper (bread-crumb boiled in milk), and eat it + out-of-doors. On the coping of the Orchard-wall, which I could reach by + climbing, or still more easily if Father Andreas would set up the + pruning-ladder, my porringer was placed: there, many a sunset, have I, + looking at the distant western Mountains, consumed, not without relish, my + evening meal. Those hues of gold and azure, that hush of World's + expectation as Day died, were still a Hebrew Speech for me; nevertheless I + was looking at the fair illuminated Letters, and had an eye for their + gilding." + </p> + <p> + With "the little one's friendship for cattle and poultry" we shall not + much intermeddle. It may be that hereby he acquired a "certain deeper + sympathy with animated Nature:" but when, we would ask, saw any man, in a + collection of Biographical Documents, such a piece as this: "Impressive + enough (<i>bedeutungsvoll</i>) was it to hear, in early morning, the + Swineherd's horn; and know that so many hungry happy quadrupeds were, on + all sides, starting in hot haste to join him, for breakfast on the Heath. + Or to see them at eventide, all marching in again, with short squeak, + almost in military order; and each, topographically correct, trotting off + in succession to the right or left, through its own lane, to its own + dwelling; till old Kunz, at the Village-head, now left alone, blew his + last blast, and retired for the night. We are wont to love the Hog chiefly + in the form of Ham; yet did not these bristly thick-skinned beings here + manifest intelligence, perhaps humor of character; at any rate, a + touching, trustful submissiveness to Man,—who, were he but a + Swineherd, in darned gabardine, and leather breeches more resembling slate + or discolored-tin breeches, is still the Hierarch of this lower world?" + </p> + <p> + It is maintained, by Helvetius and his set, that an infant of genius is + quite the same as any other infant, only that certain surprisingly + favorable influences accompany him through life, especially through + childhood, and expand him, while others lie close-folded and continue + dunces. Herein, say they, consists the whole difference between an + inspired Prophet and a double-barrelled Game-preserver: the inner man of + the one has been fostered into generous development; that of the other, + crushed down perhaps by vigor of animal digestion, and the like, has + exuded and evaporated, or at best sleeps now irresuscitably stagnant at + the bottom of his stomach. "With which opinion," cries Teufelsdrockh, "I + should as soon agree as with this other, that an acorn might, by favorable + or unfavorable influences of soil and climate, be nursed into a cabbage, + or the cabbage-seed into an oak. + </p> + <p> + "Nevertheless," continues he, "I too acknowledge the all-but omnipotence + of early culture and nurture: hereby we have either a doddered dwarf bush, + or a high-towering, wide-shadowing tree; either a sick yellow cabbage, or + an edible luxuriant green one. Of a truth, it is the duty of all men, + especially of all philosophers, to note down with accuracy the + characteristic circumstances of their Education, what furthered, what + hindered, what in any way modified it: to which duty, nowadays so pressing + for many a German Autobiographer, I also zealously address myself."—Thou + rogue! Is it by short clothes of yellow serge, and swineherd horns, that + an infant of genius is educated? And yet, as usual, it ever remains + doubtful whether he is laughing in his sleeve at these Autobiographical + times of ours, or writing from the abundance of his own fond ineptitude. + For he continues: "If among the ever-streaming currents of Sights, + Hearings, Feelings for Pain or Pleasure, whereby, as in a Magic Hall, + young Gneschen went about environed, I might venture to select and + specify, perhaps these following were also of the number: + </p> + <p> + "Doubtless, as childish sports call forth Intellect, Activity, so the + young creature's Imagination was stirred up, and a Historical tendency + given him by the narrative habits of Father Andreas; who, with his + battle-reminiscences, and gray austere yet hearty patriarchal aspect, + could not but appear another Ulysses and 'much-enduring Man.' Eagerly I + hung upon his tales, when listening neighbors enlivened the hearth; from + these perils and these travels, wild and far almost as Hades itself, a dim + world of Adventure expanded itself within me. Incalculable also was the + knowledge I acquired in standing by the Old Men under the Linden-tree: the + whole of Immensity was yet new to me; and had not these reverend seniors, + talkative enough, been employed in partial surveys thereof for nigh + fourscore years? With amazement I began to discover that Entepfuhl stood + in the middle of a Country, of a World; that there was such a thing as + History, as Biography to which I also, one day, by hand and tongue, might + contribute. + </p> + <p> + "In a like sense worked the <i>Postwagen</i> (Stage-coach), which, + slow-rolling under its mountains of men and luggage, wended through our + Village: northwards, truly, in the dead of night; yet southwards visibly + at eventide. Not till my eighth year did I reflect that this Postwagen + could be other than some terrestrial Moon, rising and setting by mere Law + of Nature, like the heavenly one; that it came on made highways, from far + cities towards far cities; weaving them like a monstrous shuttle into + closer and closer union. It was then that, independently of Schiller's <i>Wilhelm + Tell</i>, I made this not quite insignificant reflection (so true also in + spiritual things): <i>Any road, this simple Entepfuhl road, will lead you + to the end of the World</i>! + </p> + <p> + "Why mention our Swallows, which, out of far Africa, as I learned, + threading their way over seas and mountains, corporate cities and + belligerent nations, yearly found themselves with the month of May, + snug-lodged in our Cottage Lobby? The hospitable Father (for cleanliness' + sake) had fixed a little bracket plumb under their nest: there they built, + and caught flies, and twittered, and bred; and all, I chiefly, from the + heart loved them. Bright, nimble creatures, who taught you the + mason-craft; nay, stranger still, gave you a masonic incorporation, almost + social police? For if, by ill chance, and when time pressed, your House + fell, have I not seen five neighborly Helpers appear next day; and + swashing to and fro, with animated, loud, long-drawn chirpings, and + activity almost super-hirundine, complete it again before nightfall? + </p> + <p> + "But undoubtedly the grand summary of Entepfuhl child's culture, where as + in a funnel its manifold influences were concentrated and simultaneously + poured down on us, was the annual Cattle-fair. Here, assembling from all + the four winds, came the elements of an unspeakable hurry-burly. Nut-brown + maids and nut-brown men, all clear-washed, loud-laughing, bedizened and + beribanded; who came for dancing, for treating, and if possible, for + happiness. Topbooted Graziers from the North; Swiss Brokers, Italian + Drovers, also topbooted, from the South; these with their subalterns in + leather jerkins, leather skull-caps, and long ox-goads; shouting in + half-articulate speech, amid the inarticulate barking and bellowing. Apart + stood Potters from far Saxony, with their crockery in fair rows; Nurnberg + Pedlers, in booths that to me seemed richer than Ormuz bazaars; Showmen + from the Lago Maggiore; detachments of the <i>Wiener Schub</i> + (Offscourings of Vienna) vociferously superintending games of chance. + Ballad-singers brayed, Auctioneers grew hoarse; cheap New Wine (<i>heuriger</i>) + flowed like water, still worse confounding the confusion; and high over + all, vaulted, in ground-and-lofty tumbling, a particolored Merry-Andrew, + like the genius of the place and of Life itself. + </p> + <p> + "Thus encircled by the mystery of Existence; under the deep heavenly + Firmament; waited on by the four golden Seasons, with their vicissitudes + of contribution, for even grim Winter brought its skating-matches and + shooting-matches, its snow-storms and Christmas-carols,—did the + Child sit and learn. These things were the Alphabet, whereby in aftertime + he was to syllable and partly read the grand Volume of the World: what + matters it whether such Alphabet be in large gilt letters or in small + ungilt ones, so you have an eye to read it? For Gneschen, eager to learn, + the very act of looking thereon was a blessedness that gilded all: his + existence was a bright, soft element of Joy; out of which, as in + Prospero's Island, wonder after wonder bodied itself forth, to teach by + charming. + </p> + <p> + "Nevertheless, I were but a vain dreamer to say, that even then my + felicity was perfect. I had, once for all, come down from Heaven into the + Earth. Among the rainbow colors that glowed on my horizon, lay even in + childhood a dark ring of Care, as yet no thicker than a thread, and often + quite overshone; yet always it reappeared, nay ever waxing broader and + broader; till in after-years it almost overshadowed my whole canopy, and + threatened to engulf me in final night. It was the ring of Necessity + whereby we are all begirt; happy he for whom a kind heavenly Sun brightens + it into a ring of Duty, and plays round it with beautiful prismatic + diffractions; yet ever, as basis and as bourn for our whole being, it is + there. + </p> + <p> + "For the first few years of our terrestrial Apprenticeship, we have not + much work to do; but, boarded and lodged gratis, are set down mostly to + look about us over the workshop, and see others work, till we have + understood the tools a little, and can handle this and that. If good + Passivity alone, and not good Passivity and good Activity together, were + the thing wanted, then was my early position favorable beyond the most. In + all that respects openness of Sense, affectionate Temper, ingenuous + Curiosity, and the fostering of these, what more could I have wished? On + the other side, however, things went not so well. My Active Power (<i>Thatkraft</i>) + was unfavorably hemmed in; of which misfortune how many traces yet abide + with me! In an orderly house, where the litter of children's sports is + hateful enough, your training is too stoical; rather to bear and forbear + than to make and do. I was forbid much: wishes in any measure bold I had + to renounce; everywhere a strait bond of Obedience inflexibly held me + down. Thus already Freewill often came in painful collision with + Necessity; so that my tears flowed, and at seasons the Child itself might + taste that root of bitterness, wherewith the whole fruitage of our life is + mingled and tempered. + </p> + <p> + "In which habituation to Obedience, truly, it was beyond measure safer to + err by excess than by defect. Obedience is our universal duty and destiny; + wherein whoso will not bend must break: too early and too thoroughly we + cannot be trained to know that Would, in this world of ours, is as mere + zero to Should, and for most part as the smallest of fractions even to + Shall. Hereby was laid for me the basis of worldly Discretion, nay of + Morality itself. Let me not quarrel with my upbringing. It was rigorous, + too frugal, compressively secluded, every way unscientific: yet in that + very strictness and domestic solitude might there not lie the root of + deeper earnestness, of the stem from which all noble fruit must grow? + Above all, how unskilful soever, it was loving, it was well-meant, honest; + whereby every deficiency was helped. My kind Mother, for as such I must + ever love the good Gretchen, did me one altogether invaluable service: she + taught me, less indeed by word than by act and daily reverent look and + habitude, her own simple version of the Christian Faith. Andreas too + attended Church; yet more like a parade-duty, for which he in the other + world expected pay with arrears,—as, I trust, he has received; but + my Mother, with a true woman's heart, and fine though uncultivated sense, + was in the strictest acceptation Religious. How indestructibly the Good + grows, and propagates itself, even among the weedy entanglements of Evil! + The highest whom I knew on Earth I here saw bowed down, with awe + unspeakable, before a Higher in Heaven: such things, especially in + infancy, reach inwards to the very core of your being; mysteriously does a + Holy of Holies build itself into visibility in the mysterious deeps; and + Reverence, the divinest in man, springs forth undying from its mean + envelopment of Fear. Wouldst thou rather be a peasant's son that knew, + were it never so rudely, there was a God in Heaven and in Man; or a duke's + son that only knew there were two-and-thirty quarters on the + family-coach?" + </p> + <p> + To which last question we must answer: Beware, O Teufelsdrockh, of + spiritual pride! + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0014"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. PEDAGOGY. + </h2> + <p> + Hitherto we see young Gneschen, in his indivisible case of yellow serge, + borne forward mostly on the arms of kind Nature alone; seated, indeed, and + much to his mind, in the terrestrial workshop, but (except his soft hazel + eyes, which we doubt not already gleamed with a still intelligence) called + upon for little voluntary movement there. Hitherto, accordingly, his + aspect is rather generic, that of an incipient Philosopher and Poet in the + abstract; perhaps it would puzzle Herr Heuschrecke himself to say wherein + the special Doctrine of Clothes is as yet foreshadowed or betokened. For + with Gneschen, as with others, the Man may indeed stand pictured in the + Boy (at least all the pigments are there); yet only some half of the Man + stands in the Child, or young Boy, namely, his Passive endowment, not his + Active. The more impatient are we to discover what figure he cuts in this + latter capacity; how, when, to use his own words, "he understands the + tools a little, and can handle this or that," he will proceed to handle + it. + </p> + <p> + Here, however, may be the place to state that, in much of our + Philosopher's history, there is something of an almost Hindoo character: + nay perhaps in that so well-fostered and every way excellent "Passivity" + of his, which, with no free development of the antagonist Activity, + distinguished his childhood, we may detect the rudiments of much that, in + after days, and still in these present days, astonishes the world. For the + shallow-sighted, Teufelsdrockh is oftenest a man without Activity of any + kind, a No-man; for the deep-sighted, again, a man with Activity almost + superabundant, yet so spiritual, close-hidden, enigmatic, that no mortal + can foresee its explosions, or even when it has exploded, so much as + ascertain its significance. A dangerous, difficult temper for the modern + European; above all, disadvantageous in the hero of a Biography! Now as + heretofore it will behoove the Editor of these pages, were it never so + unsuccessfully, to do his endeavor. + </p> + <p> + Among the earliest tools of any complicacy which a man, especially a man + of letters, gets to handle, are his Class-books. On this portion of his + History, Teufelsdrockh looks down professedly as indifferent. Reading he + "cannot remember ever to have learned;" so perhaps had it by nature. He + says generally: "Of the insignificant portion of my Education, which + depended on Schools, there need almost no notice be taken. I learned what + others learn; and kept it stored by in a corner of my head, seeing as yet + no manner of use in it. My Schoolmaster, a down-bent, broken-hearted, + underfoot martyr, as others of that guild are, did little for me, except + discover that he could do little: he, good soul, pronounced me a genius, + fit for the learned professions; and that I must be sent to the Gymnasium, + and one day to the University. Meanwhile, what printed thing soever I + could meet with I read. My very copper pocket-money I laid out on + stall-literature; which, as it accumulated, I with my own hands sewed into + volumes. By this means was the young head furnished with a considerable + miscellany of things and shadows of things: History in authentic fragments + lay mingled with Fabulous chimeras, wherein also was reality; and the + whole not as dead stuff, but as living pabulum, tolerably nutritive for a + mind as yet so peptic." + </p> + <p> + That the Entepfuhl Schoolmaster judged well, we now know. Indeed, already + in the youthful Gneschen, with all his outward stillness, there may have + been manifest an inward vivacity that promised much; symptoms of a spirit + singularly open, thoughtful, almost poetical. Thus, to say nothing of his + Suppers on the Orchard-wall, and other phenomena of that earlier period, + have many readers of these pages stumbled, in their twelfth year, on such + reflections as the following? "It struck me much, as I sat by the Kuhbach, + one silent noontide, and watched it flowing, gurgling, to think how this + same streamlet had flowed and gurgled, through all changes of weather and + of fortune, from beyond the earliest date of History. Yes, probably on the + morning when Joshua forded Jordan; even as at the mid-day when Caesar, + doubtless with difficulty, swam the Nile, yet kept his <i>Commentaries</i> + dry,—this little Kuhbach, assiduous as Tiber, Eurotas or Siloa, was + murmuring on across the wilderness, as yet unnamed, unseen: here, too, as + in the Euphrates and the Ganges, is a vein or veinlet of the grand + World-circulation of Waters, which, with its atmospheric arteries, has + lasted and lasts simply with the World. Thou fool! Nature alone is + antique, and the oldest art a mushroom; that idle crag thou sittest on is + six thousand years of age." In which little thought, as in a little + fountain, may there not lie the beginning of those well-nigh unutterable + meditations on the grandeur and mystery of TIME, and its relation to + ETERNITY, which play such a part in this Philosophy of Clothes? + </p> + <p> + Over his Gymnasic and Academic years the Professor by no means lingers so + lyrical and joyful as over his childhood. Green sunny tracts there are + still; but intersected by bitter rivulets of tears, here and there + stagnating into sour marshes of discontent. "With my first view of the + Hinterschlag Gymnasium," writes he, "my evil days began. Well do I still + remember the red sunny Whitsuntide morning, when, trotting full of hope by + the side of Father Andreas, I entered the main street of the place, and + saw its steeple-clock (then striking Eight) and <i>Schuldthurm</i> (Jail), + and the aproned or disaproned Burghers moving in to breakfast: a little + dog, in mad terror, was rushing past; for some human imps had tied a tin + kettle to its tail; thus did the agonized creature, loud-jingling, career + through the whole length of the Borough, and become notable enough. Fit + emblem of many a Conquering Hero, to whom Fate (wedding Fantasy to Sense, + as it often elsewhere does) has malignantly appended a tin kettle of + Ambition, to chase him on; which the faster he runs, urges him the faster, + the more loudly and more foolishly! Fit emblem also of much that awaited + myself, in that mischievous Den; as in the World, whereof it was a portion + and epitome! + </p> + <p> + "Alas, the kind beech-rows of Entepfuhl were hidden in the distance: I was + among strangers, harshly, at best indifferently, disposed towards me; the + young heart felt, for the first time, quite orphaned and alone." His + school-fellows, as is usual, persecuted him: "They were Boys," he says, + "mostly rude Boys, and obeyed the impulse of rude Nature, which bids the + deer-herd fall upon any stricken hart, the duck-flock put to death any + broken-winged brother or sister, and on all hands the strong tyrannize + over the weak." He admits that though "perhaps in an unusual degree + morally courageous," he succeeded ill in battle, and would fain have + avoided it; a result, as would appear, owing less to his small personal + stature (for in passionate seasons he was "incredibly nimble"), than to + his "virtuous principles:" "if it was disgraceful to be beaten," says he, + "it was only a shade less disgraceful to have so much as fought; thus was + I drawn two ways at once, and in this important element of school-history, + the war-element, had little but sorrow." On the whole, that same excellent + "Passivity," so notable in Teufelsdrockh's childhood, is here visibly + enough again getting nourishment. "He wept often; indeed to such a degree + that he was nicknamed <i>Der Weinende</i> (the Tearful), which epithet, + till towards his thirteenth year, was indeed not quite unmerited. Only at + rare intervals did the young soul burst forth into fire-eyed rage, and, + with a stormfulness (<i>Ungestum</i>) under which the boldest quailed, + assert that he too had Rights of Man, or at least of Mankin." In all + which, who does not discern a fine flower-tree and cinnamon-tree (of + genius) nigh choked among pumpkins, reed-grass and ignoble shrubs; and + forced if it would live, to struggle upwards only, and not outwards; into + a <i>height</i> quite sickly, and disproportioned to its <i>breadth</i>? + </p> + <p> + We find, moreover, that his Greek and Latin were "mechanically" taught; + Hebrew scarce even mechanically; much else which they called History, + Cosmography, Philosophy, and so forth, no better than not at all. So that, + except inasmuch as Nature was still busy; and he himself "went about, as + was of old his wont, among the Craftsmen's workshops, there learning many + things;" and farther lighted on some small store of curious reading, in + Hans Wachtel the Cooper's house, where he lodged,—his time, it would + appear, was utterly wasted. Which facts the Professor has not yet learned + to look upon with any contentment. Indeed, throughout the whole of this + Bag <i>Scorpio</i>, where we now are, and often in the following Bag, he + shows himself unusually animated on the matter of Education, and not + without some touch of what we might presume to be anger. + </p> + <p> + "My Teachers," says he, "were hide-bound Pedants, without knowledge of + man's nature, or of boy's; or of aught save their lexicons and quarterly + account-books. Innumerable dead Vocables (no dead Language, for they + themselves knew no Language) they crammed into us, and called it fostering + the growth of mind. How can an inanimate, mechanical Gerund-grinder, the + like of whom will, in a subsequent century, be manufactured at Nurnberg + out of wood and leather, foster the growth of anything; much more of Mind, + which grows, not like a vegetable (by having its roots littered with + etymological compost), but like a spirit, by mysterious contact of Spirit; + Thought kindling itself at the fire of living Thought? How shall <i>he</i> + give kindling, in whose own inward man there is no live coal, but all is + burnt out to a dead grammatical cinder? The Hinterschlag Professors knew + syntax enough; and of the human soul thus much: that it had a faculty + called Memory, and could be acted on through the muscular integument by + appliance of birch-rods. + </p> + <p> + "Alas, so is it everywhere, so will it ever be; till the Hod-man is + discharged, or reduced to hod-bearing; and an Architect is hired, and on + all hands fitly encouraged: till communities and individuals discover, not + without surprise, that fashioning the souls of a generation by Knowledge + can rank on a level with blowing their bodies to pieces by Gunpowder; that + with Generals and Field-marshals for killing, there should be + world-honored Dignitaries, and were it possible, true God-ordained + Priests, for teaching. But as yet, though the Soldier wears openly, and + even parades, his butchering-tool, nowhere, far as I have travelled, did + the Schoolmaster make show of his instructing-tool: nay, were he to walk + abroad with birch girt on thigh, as if he therefrom expected honor, would + there not, among the idler class, perhaps a certain levity be excited?" + </p> + <p> + In the third year of this Gymnasic period, Father Andreas seems to have + died: the young Scholar, otherwise so maltreated, saw himself for the + first time clad outwardly in sables, and inwardly in quite inexpressible + melancholy. "The dark bottomless Abyss, that lies under our feet, had + yawned open; the pale kingdoms of Death, with all their innumerable silent + nations and generations, stood before him; the inexorable word, NEVER! now + first showed its meaning. My Mother wept, and her sorrow got vent; but in + my heart there lay a whole lake of tears, pent up in silent desolation. + Nevertheless the unworn Spirit is strong; Life is so healthful that it + even finds nourishment in Death: these stern experiences, planted down by + Memory in my Imagination, rose there to a whole cypress-forest, sad but + beautiful; waving, with not unmelodious sighs, in dark luxuriance, in the + hottest sunshine, through long years of youth:—as in manhood also it + does, and will do; for I have now pitched my tent under a Cypress-tree; + the Tomb is now my inexpugnable Fortress, ever close by the gate of which + I look upon the hostile armaments, and pains and penalties of tyrannous + Life placidly enough, and listen to its loudest threatenings with a still + smile. O ye loved ones, that already sleep in the noiseless Bed of Rest, + whom in life I could only weep for and never help; and ye, who + wide-scattered still toil lonely in the monster-bearing Desert, dyeing the + flinty ground with your blood,—yet a little while, and we shall all + meet THERE, and our Mother's bosom will screen us all; and Oppression's + harness, and Sorrow's fire-whip, and all the Gehenna Bailiffs that patrol + and inhabit ever-vexed Time, cannot thenceforth harm us any more!" + </p> + <p> + Close by which rather beautiful apostrophe, lies a labored Character of + the deceased Andreas Futteral; of his natural ability, his deserts in life + (as Prussian Sergeant); with long historical inquiries into the genealogy + of the Futteral Family, here traced back as far as Henry the Fowler: the + whole of which we pass over, not without astonishment. It only concerns us + to add, that now was the time when Mother Gretchen revealed to her + foster-son that he was not at all of this kindred; or indeed of any + kindred, having come into historical existence in the way already known to + us. "Thus was I doubly orphaned," says he; "bereft not only of Possession, + but even of Remembrance. Sorrow and Wonder, here suddenly united, could + not but produce abundant fruit. Such a disclosure, in such a season, + struck its roots through my whole nature: ever till the years of mature + manhood, it mingled with my whole thoughts, was as the stem whereon all my + day-dreams and night-dreams grew. A certain poetic elevation, yet also a + corresponding civic depression, it naturally imparted: <i>I was like no + other</i>; in which fixed idea, leading sometimes to highest, and oftener + to frightfullest results, may there not lie the first spring of + tendencies, which in my Life have become remarkable enough? As in birth, + so in action, speculation, and social position, my fellows are perhaps not + numerous." + </p> + <p> + In the Bag <i>Sagittarius</i>, as we at length discover, Teufelsdrockh has + become a University man; though how, when, or of what quality, will + nowhere disclose itself with the smallest certainty. Few things, in the + way of confusion and capricious indistinctness, can now surprise our + readers; not even the total want of dates, almost without parallel in a + Biographical work. So enigmatic, so chaotic we have always found, and must + always look to find, these scattered Leaves. In <i>Sagittarius</i>, + however, Teufelsdrockh begins to show himself even more than usually + Sibylline: fragments of all sorts: scraps of regular Memoir, + College-Exercises, Programs, Professional Testimoniums, Milkscores, torn + Billets, sometimes to appearance of an amatory cast; all blown together as + if by merest chance, henceforth bewilder the sane Historian. To combine + any picture of these University, and the subsequent, years; much more, to + decipher therein any illustrative primordial elements of the + Clothes-Philosophy, becomes such a problem as the reader may imagine. + </p> + <p> + So much we can see; darkly, as through the foliage of some wavering + thicket: a youth of no common endowment, who has passed happily through + Childhood, less happily yet still vigorously through Boyhood, now at + length perfect in "dead vocables," and set down, as he hopes, by the + living Fountain, there to superadd Ideas and Capabilities. From such + Fountain he draws, diligently, thirstily, yet never or seldom with his + whole heart, for the water nowise suits his palate; discouragements, + entanglements, aberrations are discoverable or supposable. Nor perhaps are + even pecuniary distresses wanting; for "the good Gretchen, who in spite of + advices from not disinterested relatives has sent him hither, must after a + time withdraw her willing but too feeble hand." Nevertheless in an + atmosphere of Poverty and manifold Chagrin, the Humor of that young Soul, + what character is in him, first decisively reveals itself; and, like + strong sunshine in weeping skies, gives out variety of colors, some of + which are prismatic. Thus, with the aid of Time and of what Time brings, + has the stripling Diogenes Teufelsdrockh waxed into manly stature; and + into so questionable an aspect, that we ask with new eagerness, How he + specially came by it, and regret anew that there is no more explicit + answer. Certain of the intelligible and partially significant fragments, + which are few in number, shall be extracted from that Limbo of a + Paper-bag, and presented with the usual preparation. + </p> + <p> + As if, in the Bag <i>Scorpio</i>, Teufelsdrockh had not already + expectorated his antipedagogic spleen; as if, from the name <i>Sagittarius</i>, + he had thought himself called upon to shoot arrows, we here again fall in + with such matter as this: "The University where I was educated still + stands vivid enough in my remembrance, and I know its name well; which + name, however, I, from tenderness to existing interests and persons, shall + in nowise divulge. It is my painful duty to say that, out of England and + Spain, ours was the worst of all hitherto discovered Universities. This is + indeed a time when right Education is, as nearly as may be, impossible: + however, in degrees of wrongness there is no limit: nay, I can conceive a + worse system than that of the Nameless itself; as poisoned victual may be + worse than absolute hunger. + </p> + <p> + "It is written, When the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the + ditch: wherefore, in such circumstances, may it not sometimes be safer, if + both leader and led simply—sit still? Had you, anywhere in Crim + Tartary, walled in a square enclosure; furnished it with a small, + ill-chosen Library; and then turned loose into it eleven hundred Christian + striplings, to tumble about as they listed, from three to seven years: + certain persons, under the title of Professors, being stationed at the + gates, to declare aloud that it was a University, and exact considerable + admission-fees,—you had, not indeed in mechanical structure, yet in + spirit and result, some imperfect resemblance of our High Seminary. I say, + imperfect; for if our mechanical structure was quite other, so neither was + our result altogether the same: unhappily, we were not in Crim Tartary, + but in a corrupt European city, full of smoke and sin; moreover, in the + middle of a Public, which, without far costlier apparatus than that of the + Square Enclosure, and Declaration aloud, you could not be sure of gulling. + </p> + <p> + "Gullible, however, by fit apparatus, all Publics are; and gulled, with + the most surprising profit. Towards anything like a <i>Statistics of + Imposture</i>, indeed, little as yet has been done: with a strange + indifference, our Economists, nigh buried under Tables for minor Branches + of Industry, have altogether overlooked the grand all-overtopping + Hypocrisy Branch; as if our whole arts of Puffery, of Quackery, + Priestcraft, Kingcraft, and the innumerable other crafts and mysteries of + that genus, had not ranked in Productive Industry at all! Can any one, for + example, so much as say, What moneys, in Literature and Shoeblacking, are + realized by actual Instruction and actual jet Polish; what by + fictitious-persuasive Proclamation of such; specifying, in distinct items, + the distributions, circulations, disbursements, incomings of said moneys, + with the smallest approach to accuracy? But to ask, How far, in all the + several infinitely complected departments of social business, in + government, education, in manual, commercial, intellectual fabrication of + every sort, man's Want is supplied by true Ware; how far by the mere + Appearance of true Ware:—in other words, To what extent, by what + methods, with what effects, in various times and countries, Deception + takes the place of wages of Performance: here truly is an Inquiry big with + results for the future time, but to which hitherto only the vaguest answer + can be given. If for the present, in our Europe, we estimate the ratio of + Ware to Appearance of Ware so high even as at One to a Hundred (which, + considering the Wages of a Pope, Russian Autocrat, or English + Game-Preserver, is probably not far from the mark),—what almost + prodigious saving may there not be anticipated, as the <i>Statistics of + Imposture</i> advances, and so the manufacturing of Shams (that of + Realities rising into clearer and clearer distinction therefrom) gradually + declines, and at length becomes all but wholly unnecessary! + </p> + <p> + "This for the coming golden ages. What I had to remark, for the present + brazen one, is, that in several provinces, as in Education, Polity, + Religion, where so much is wanted and indispensable, and so little can as + yet be furnished, probably Imposture is of sanative, anodyne nature, and + man's Gullibility not his worst blessing. Suppose your sinews of war quite + broken; I mean your military chest insolvent, forage all but exhausted; + and that the whole army is about to mutiny, disband, and cut your and each + other's throat,—then were it not well could you, as if by miracle, + pay them in any sort of fairy-money, feed them on coagulated water, or + mere imagination of meat; whereby, till the real supply came up, they + might be kept together and quiet? Such perhaps was the aim of Nature, who + does nothing without aim, in furnishing her favorite, Man, with this his + so omnipotent or rather omnipatient Talent of being Gulled. + </p> + <p> + "How beautifully it works, with a little mechanism; nay, almost makes + mechanism for itself! These Professors in the Nameless lived with ease, + with safety, by a mere Reputation, constructed in past times, and then too + with no great effort, by quite another class of persons. Which Reputation, + like a strong brisk-going undershot wheel, sunk into the general current, + bade fair, with only a little annual re-painting on their part, to hold + long together, and of its own accord assiduously grind for them. Happy + that it was so, for the Millers! They themselves needed not to work; their + attempts at working, at what they called Educating, now when I look back + on it, fill me with a certain mute admiration. + </p> + <p> + "Besides all this, we boasted ourselves a Rational University; in the + highest degree hostile to Mysticism; thus was the young vacant mind + furnished with much talk about Progress of the Species, Dark Ages, + Prejudice, and the like; so that all were quickly enough blown out into a + state of windy argumentativeness; whereby the better sort had soon to end + in sick, impotent Scepticism; the worser sort explode (<i>crepiren</i>) in + finished Self-conceit, and to all spiritual intents become dead.—But + this too is portion of mankind's lot. If our era is the Era of Unbelief, + why murmur under it; is there not a better coming, nay come? As in + long-drawn systole and long-drawn diastole, must the period of Faith + alternate with the period of Denial; must the vernal growth, the summer + luxuriance of all Opinions, Spiritual Representations and Creations, be + followed by, and again follow, the autumnal decay, the winter dissolution. + For man lives in Time, has his whole earthly being, endeavor and destiny + shaped for him by Time: only in the transitory Time-Symbol is the + ever-motionless Eternity we stand on made manifest. And yet, in such + winter-seasons of Denial, it is for the nobler-minded perhaps a + comparative misery to have been born, and to be awake and work; and for + the duller a felicity, if, like hibernating animals, safe-lodged in some + Salamanca University or Sybaris City, or other superstitious or voluptuous + Castle of Indolence, they can slumber through, in stupid dreams, and only + awaken when the loud-roaring hailstorms have all alone their work, and to + our prayers and martyrdoms the new Spring has been vouchsafed." + </p> + <p> + That in the environment, here mysteriously enough shadowed forth, + Teufelsdrockh must have felt ill at ease, cannot be doubtful. "The hungry + young," he says, "looked up to their spiritual Nurses; and, for food, were + bidden eat the east-wind. What vain jargon of controversial Metaphysic, + Etymology, and mechanical Manipulation falsely named Science, was current + there, I indeed learned, better perhaps than the most. Among eleven + hundred Christian youths, there will not be wanting some eleven eager to + learn. By collision with such, a certain warmth, a certain polish was + communicated; by instinct and happy accident, I took less to rioting (<i>renommiren</i>), + than to thinking and reading, which latter also I was free to do. Nay from + the chaos of that Library, I succeeded in fishing up more books perhaps + than had been known to the very keepers thereof. The foundation of a + Literary Life was hereby laid: I learned, on my own strength, to read + fluently in almost all cultivated languages, on almost all subjects and + sciences; farther, as man is ever the prime object to man, already it was + my favorite employment to read character in speculation, and from the + Writing to construe the Writer. A certain groundplan of Human Nature and + Life began to fashion itself in me; wondrous enough, now when I look back + on it; for my whole Universe, physical and spiritual, was as yet a + Machine! However, such a conscious, recognized groundplan, the truest I + had, <i>was</i> beginning to be there, and by additional experiments might + be corrected and indefinitely extended." + </p> + <p> + Thus from poverty does the strong educe nobler wealth; thus in the + destitution of the wild desert does our young Ishmael acquire for himself + the highest of all possessions, that of Self-help. Nevertheless a desert + this was, waste, and howling with savage monsters. Teufelsdrockh gives us + long details of his "fever-paroxysms of Doubt;" his Inquiries concerning + Miracles, and the Evidences of religious Faith; and how "in the silent + night-watches, still darker in his heart than over sky and earth, he has + cast himself before the All-seeing, and with audible prayers cried + vehemently for Light, for deliverance from Death and the Grave. Not till + after long years, and unspeakable agonies, did the believing heart + surrender; sink into spell-bound sleep, under the nightmare, Unbelief; + and, in this hag-ridden dream, mistake God's fair living world for a + pallid, vacant Hades and extinct Pandemonium. But through such Purgatory + pain," continues he, "it is appointed us to pass; first must the dead + Letter of Religion own itself dead, and drop piecemeal into dust, if the + living Spirit of Religion, freed from this its charnel-house, is to arise + on us, new-born of Heaven, and with new healing under its wings." + </p> + <p> + To which Purgatory pains, seemingly severe enough, if we add a liberal + measure of Earthly distresses, want of practical guidance, want of + sympathy, want of money, want of hope; and all this in the fervid season + of youth, so exaggerated in imagining, so boundless in desires, yet here + so poor in means,—do we not see a strong incipient spirit oppressed + and overloaded from without and from within; the fire of genius struggling + up among fuel-wood of the greenest, and as yet with more of bitter vapor + than of clear flame? + </p> + <p> + From various fragments of Letters and other documentary scraps, it is to + be inferred that Teufelsdrockh, isolated, shy, retiring as he was, had not + altogether escaped notice: certain established men are aware of his + existence; and, if stretching out no helpful hand, have at least their + eyes on him. He appears, though in dreary enough humor, to be addressing + himself to the Profession of Law;—whereof, indeed, the world has + since seen him a public graduate. But omitting these broken, + unsatisfactory thrums of Economical relation, let us present rather the + following small thread of Moral relation; and therewith, the reader for + himself weaving it in at the right place, conclude our dim arras-picture + of these University years. + </p> + <p> + "Here also it was that I formed acquaintance with Herr Towgood, or, as it + is perhaps better written, Herr Toughgut; a young person of quality (<i>von + Adel</i>), from the interior parts of England. He stood connected, by + blood and hospitality, with the Counts von Zahdarm, in this quarter of + Germany; to which noble Family I likewise was, by his means, with all + friendliness, brought near. Towgood had a fair talent, unspeakably + ill-cultivated; with considerable humor of character: and, bating his + total ignorance, for he knew nothing except Boxing and a little Grammar, + showed less of that aristocratic impassivity, and silent fury, than for + most part belongs to Travellers of his nation. To him I owe my first + practical knowledge of the English and their ways; perhaps also something + of the partiality with which I have ever since regarded that singular + people. Towgood was not without an eye, could he have come at any light. + Invited doubtless by the presence of the Zahdarm Family, he had travelled + hither, in the almost frantic hope of perfecting his studies; he, whose + studies had as yet been those of infancy, hither to a University where so + much as the notion of perfection, not to say the effort after it, no + longer existed! Often we would condole over the hard destiny of the Young + in this era: how, after all our toil, we were to be turned out into the + world, with beards on our chins indeed, but with few other attributes of + manhood; no existing thing that we were trained to Act on, nothing that we + could so much as Believe. 'How has our head on the outside a polished + Hat,' would Towgood exclaim, 'and in the inside Vacancy, or a froth of + Vocables and Attorney-Logic! At a small cost men are educated to make + leather into shoes; but at a great cost, what am I educated to make? By + Heaven, Brother! what I have already eaten and worn, as I came thus far, + would endow a considerable Hospital of Incurables.'—'Man, indeed,' I + would answer, 'has a Digestive Faculty, which must be kept working, were + it even partly by stealth. But as for our Miseducation, make not bad + worse; waste not the time yet ours, in trampling on thistles because they + have yielded us no figs. <i>Frisch zu, Bruder</i>! Here are Books, and we + have brains to read them; here is a whole Earth and a whole Heaven, and we + have eyes to look on them: <i>Frisch zu</i>!' + </p> + <p> + "Often also our talk was gay; not without brilliancy, and even fire. We + looked out on Life, with its strange scaffolding, where all at once + harlequins dance, and men are beheaded and quartered: motley, not + unterrific was the aspect; but we looked on it like brave youths. For + myself, these were perhaps my most genial hours. Towards this young + warm-hearted, strong-headed and wrong-headed Herr Towgood I was even near + experiencing the now obsolete sentiment of Friendship. Yes, foolish + Heathen that I was, I felt that, under certain conditions, I could have + loved this man, and taken him to my bosom, and been his brother once and + always. By degrees, however, I understood the new time, and its wants. If + man's <i>Soul</i> is indeed, as in the Finnish Language, and Utilitarian + Philosophy, a kind of <i>Stomach</i>, what else is the true meaning of + Spiritual Union but an Eating together? Thus we, instead of Friends, are + Dinner-guests; and here as elsewhere have cast away chimeras." + </p> + <p> + So ends, abruptly as is usual, and enigmatically, this little incipient + romance. What henceforth becomes of the brave Herr Towgood, or Toughgut? + He has dived under, in the Autobiographical Chaos, and swims we see not + where. Does any reader "in the interior parts of England" know of such a + man? + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0015"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. GETTING UNDER WAY. + </h2> + <p> + "Thus nevertheless," writes our Autobiographer, apparently as quitting + College, "was there realized Somewhat; namely, I, Diogenes Teufelsdrockh: + a visible Temporary Figure (<i>Zeitbild</i>), occupying some cubic feet of + Space, and containing within it Forces both physical and spiritual; hopes, + passions, thoughts; the whole wondrous furniture, in more or less + perfection, belonging to that mystery, a Man. Capabilities there were in + me to give battle, in some small degree, against the great Empire of + Darkness: does not the very Ditcher and Delver, with his spade, extinguish + many a thistle and puddle; and so leave a little Order, where he found the + opposite? Nay your very Day-moth has capabilities in this kind; and ever + organizes something (into its own Body, if no otherwise), which was before + Inorganic; and of mute dead air makes living music, though only of the + faintest, by humming. + </p> + <p> + "How much more, one whose capabilities are spiritual; who has learned, or + begun learning, the grand thaumaturgic art of Thought! Thaumaturgic I name + it; for hitherto all Miracles have been wrought thereby, and henceforth + innumerable will be wrought; whereof we, even in these days, witness some. + Of the Poet's and Prophet's inspired Message, and how it makes and unmakes + whole worlds, I shall forbear mention: but cannot the dullest hear + Steam-engines clanking around him? Has he not seen the Scottish + Brass-smith's IDEA (and this but a mechanical one) travelling on + fire-wings round the Cape, and across two Oceans; and stronger than any + other Enchanter's Familiar, on all hands unweariedly fetching and + carrying: at home, not only weaving Cloth; but rapidly enough overturning + the whole old system of Society; and, for Feudalism and Preservation of + the Game, preparing us, by indirect but sure methods, Industrialism and + the Government of the Wisest? Truly a Thinking Man is the worst enemy the + Prince of Darkness can have; every time such a one announces himself, I + doubt not, there runs a shudder through the Nether Empire; and new + Emissaries are trained, with new tactics, to, if possible, entrap him, and + hoodwink and handcuff him. + </p> + <p> + "With such high vocation had I too, as denizen of the Universe, been + called. Unhappy it is, however, that though born to the amplest + Sovereignty, in this way, with no less than sovereign right of Peace and + War against the Time-Prince (<i>Zeitfurst</i>), or Devil, and all his + Dominions, your coronation-ceremony costs such trouble, your sceptre is so + difficult to get at, or even to get eye on!" + </p> + <p> + By which last wire-drawn similitude does Teufelsdrockh mean no more than + that young men find obstacles in what we call "getting under way"? "Not + what I Have," continues he, "but what I Do is my Kingdom. To each is given + a certain inward Talent, a certain outward Environment of Fortune; to + each, by wisest combination of these two, a certain maximum of Capability. + But the hardest problem were ever this first: To find by study of + yourself, and of the ground you stand on, what your combined inward and + outward Capability specially is. For, alas, our young soul is all budding + with Capabilities, and we see not yet which is the main and true one. + Always too the new man is in a new time, under new conditions; his course + can be the <i>fac-simile</i> of no prior one, but is by its nature + original. And then how seldom will the outward Capability fit the inward: + though talented wonderfully enough, we are poor, unfriended, dyspeptical, + bashful; nay what is worse than all, we are foolish. Thus, in a whole + imbroglio of Capabilities, we go stupidly groping about, to grope which is + ours, and often clutch the wrong one: in this mad work must several years + of our small term be spent, till the purblind Youth, by practice, acquire + notions of distance, and become a seeing Man. Nay, many so spend their + whole term, and in ever-new expectation, ever-new disappointment, shift + from enterprise to enterprise, and from side to side: till at length, as + exasperated striplings of threescore-and-ten, they shift into their last + enterprise, that of getting buried. + </p> + <p> + "Such, since the most of us are too ophthalmic, would be the general fate; + were it not that one thing saves us: our Hunger. For on this ground, as + the prompt nature of Hunger is well known, must a prompt choice be made: + hence have we, with wise foresight, Indentures and Apprenticeships for our + irrational young; whereby, in due season, the vague universality of a Man + shall find himself ready-moulded into a specific Craftsman; and so + thenceforth work, with much or with little waste of Capability as it may + be; yet not with the worst waste, that of time. Nay even in matters + spiritual, since the spiritual artist too is born blind, and does not, + like certain other creatures, receive sight in nine days, but far later, + sometimes never,—is it not well that there should be what we call + Professions, or Bread-studies (<i>Brodzwecke</i>), preappointed us? Here, + circling like the gin-horse, for whom partial or total blindness is no + evil, the Bread-artist can travel contentedly round and round, still + fancying that it is forward and forward; and realize much: for himself + victual; for the world an additional horse's power in the grand corn-mill + or hemp-mill of Economic Society. For me too had such a leading-string + been provided; only that it proved a neck-halter, and had nigh throttled + me, till I broke it off. Then, in the words of Ancient Pistol, did the + world generally become mine oyster, which I, by strength or cunning, was + to open, as I would and could. Almost had I deceased (<i>fast war ich + umgekommen</i>), so obstinately did it continue shut." + </p> + <p> + We see here, significantly foreshadowed, the spirit of much that was to + befall our Autobiographer; the historical embodiment of which, as it + painfully takes shape in his Life, lies scattered, in dim disastrous + details, through this Bag <i>Pisces</i>, and those that follow. A young + man of high talent, and high though still temper, like a young mettled + colt, "breaks off his neck-halter," and bounds forth, from his peculiar + manger, into the wide world; which, alas, he finds all rigorously fenced + in. Richest clover-fields tempt his eye; but to him they are forbidden + pasture: either pining in progressive starvation, he must stand; or, in + mad exasperation, must rush to and fro, leaping against sheer stone-walls, + which he cannot leap over, which only lacerate and lame him; till at last, + after thousand attempts and endurances, he, as if by miracle, clears his + way; not indeed into luxuriant and luxurious clover, yet into a certain + bosky wilderness where existence is still possible, and Freedom, though + waited on by Scarcity, is not without sweetness. In a word, Teufelsdrockh + having thrown up his legal Profession, finds himself without landmark of + outward guidance; whereby his previous want of decided Belief, or inward + guidance, is frightfully aggravated. Necessity urges him on; Time will not + stop, neither can he, a Son of Time; wild passions without solacement, + wild faculties without employment, ever vex and agitate him. He too must + enact that stern Monodrama, <i>No Object and no Rest</i>; must front its + successive destinies, work through to its catastrophe, and deduce + therefrom what moral he can. + </p> + <p> + Yet let us be just to him, let us admit that his "neck-halter" sat nowise + easy on him; that he was in some degree forced to break it off. If we look + at the young man's civic position, in this Nameless capital, as he emerges + from its Nameless University, we can discern well that it was far from + enviable. His first Law-Examination he has come through triumphantly; and + can even boast that the <i>Examen Rigorosum</i> need not have frightened + him: but though he is hereby "an <i>Auscultator</i> of respectability," + what avails it? There is next to no employment to be had. Neither, for a + youth without connections, is the process of Expectation very hopeful in + itself; nor for one of his disposition much cheered from without. "My + fellow Auscultators," he says, "were Auscultators: they dressed, and + digested, and talked articulate words; other vitality showed they almost + none. Small speculation in those eyes, that they did glare withal! Sense + neither for the high nor for the deep, nor for aught human or divine, save + only for the faintest scent of coming Preferment." In which words, + indicating a total estrangement on the part of Teufelsdrockh may there not + also lurk traces of a bitterness as from wounded vanity? Doubtless these + prosaic Auscultators may have sniffed at him, with his strange ways; and + tried to hate, and what was much more impossible, to despise him. Friendly + communion, in any case, there could not be: already has the young + Teufelsdrockh left the other young geese; and swims apart, though as yet + uncertain whether he himself is cygnet or gosling. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps, too, what little employment he had was performed ill, at best + unpleasantly. "Great practical method and expertness" he may brag of; but + is there not also great practical pride, though deep-hidden, only the + deeper-seated? So shy a man can never have been popular. We figure to + ourselves, how in those days he may have played strange freaks with his + independence, and so forth: do not his own words betoken as much? "Like a + very young person, I imagined it was with Work alone, and not also with + Folly and Sin, in myself and others, that I had been appointed to + struggle." Be this as it may, his progress from the passive + Auscultatorship, towards any active Assessorship, is evidently of the + slowest. By degrees, those same established men, once partially inclined + to patronize him, seem to withdraw their countenance, and give him up as + "a man of genius" against which procedure he, in these Papers, loudly + protests. "As if," says he, "the higher did not presuppose the lower; as + if he who can fly into heaven, could not also walk post if he resolved on + it! But the world is an old woman, and mistakes any gilt farthing for a + gold coin; whereby being often cheated, she will thenceforth trust nothing + but the common copper." + </p> + <p> + How our winged sky-messenger, unaccepted as a terrestrial runner, + contrived, in the mean while, to keep himself from flying skyward without + return, is not too clear from these Documents. Good old Gretchen seems to + have vanished from the scene, perhaps from the Earth; other Horn of + Plenty, or even of Parsimony, nowhere flows for him; so that "the prompt + nature of Hunger being well known," we are not without our anxiety. From + private Tuition, in never so many languages and sciences, the aid + derivable is small; neither, to use his own words, "does the young + Adventurer hitherto suspect in himself any literary gift; but at best + earns bread-and-water wages, by his wide faculty of Translation. + Nevertheless," continues he, "that I subsisted is clear, for you find me + even now alive." Which fact, however, except upon the principle of our + true-hearted, kind old Proverb, that "there is always life for a living + one," we must profess ourselves unable to explain. + </p> + <p> + Certain Landlords' Bills, and other economic Documents, bearing the mark + of Settlement, indicate that he was not without money; but, like an + independent Hearth-holder, if not House-holder, paid his way. Here also + occur, among many others, two little mutilated Notes, which perhaps throw + light on his condition. The first has now no date, or writer's name, but a + huge Blot; and runs to this effect: "The (<i>Inkblot</i>), tied down by + previous promise, cannot, except by best wishes, forward the Herr + Teufelsdrockh's views on the Assessorship in question; and sees himself + under the cruel necessity of forbearing, for the present, what were + otherwise his duty and joy, to assist in opening the career for a man of + genius, on whom far higher triumphs are yet waiting." The other is on gilt + paper; and interests us like a sort of epistolary mummy now dead, yet + which once lived and beneficently worked. We give it in the original: "<i>Herr + Teufelsdrockh wird von der Frau Grafinn, auf Donnerstag, zum AESTHETISCHEN + THEE schonstens eingeladen</i>." + </p> + <p> + Thus, in answer to a cry for solid pudding, whereof there is the most + urgent need, comes, epigrammatically enough, the invitation to a wash of + quite fluid <i>AEsthetic Tea</i>! How Teufelsdrockh, now at actual + hand-grips with Destiny herself, may have comported himself among these + Musical and Literary dilettanti of both sexes, like a hungry lion invited + to a feast of chickenweed, we can only conjecture. Perhaps in expressive + silence, and abstinence: otherwise if the lion, in such case, is to feast + at all, it cannot be on the chickenweed, but only on the chickens. For the + rest, as this Frau Grafinn dates from the <i>Zahdarm House</i>, she can be + no other than the Countess and mistress of the same; whose intellectual + tendencies, and good-will to Teufelsdrockh, whether on the footing of Herr + Towgood, or on his own footing, are hereby manifest. That some sort of + relation, indeed, continued, for a time, to connect our Autobiographer, + though perhaps feebly enough, with this noble House, we have elsewhere + express evidence. Doubtless, if he expected patronage, it was in vain; + enough for him if he here obtained occasional glimpses of the great world, + from which we at one time fancied him to have been always excluded. "The + Zahdarms," says he, "lived in the soft, sumptuous garniture of + Aristocracy; whereto Literature and Art, attracted and attached from + without, were to serve as the handsomest fringing. It was to the <i>Gnadigen + Frau</i> (her Ladyship) that this latter improvement was due: assiduously + she gathered, dexterously she fitted on, what fringing was to be had; lace + or cobweb, as the place yielded." Was Teufelsdrockh also a fringe, of lace + or cobweb; or promising to be such? "With his <i>Excellenz</i> (the + Count)," continues he, "I have more than once had the honor to converse; + chiefly on general affairs, and the aspect of the world, which he, though + now past middle life, viewed in no unfavorable light; finding indeed, + except the Outrooting of Journalism (<i>die auszurottende Journalistik</i>), + little to desiderate therein. On some points, as his <i>Excellenz</i> was + not uncholeric, I found it more pleasant to keep silence. Besides, his + occupation being that of Owning Land, there might be faculties enough, + which, as superfluous for such use, were little developed in him." + </p> + <p> + That to Teufelsdrockh the aspect of the world was nowise so faultless, and + many things besides "the Outrooting of Journalism" might have seemed + improvements, we can readily conjecture. With nothing but a barren + Auscultatorship from without, and so many mutinous thoughts and wishes + from within, his position was no easy one. "The Universe," he says, "was + as a mighty Sphinx-riddle, which I knew so little of, yet must rede, or be + devoured. In red streaks of unspeakable grandeur, yet also in the + blackness of darkness, was Life, to my too-unfurnished Thought, unfolding + itself. A strange contradiction lay in me; and I as yet knew not the + solution of it; knew not that spiritual music can spring only from + discords set in harmony; that but for Evil there were no Good, as victory + is only possible by battle." + </p> + <p> + "I have heard affirmed (surely in jest)," observes he elsewhere, "by not + unphilanthropic persons, that it were a real increase of human happiness, + could all young men from the age of nineteen be covered under barrels, or + rendered otherwise invisible; and there left to follow their lawful + studies and callings, till they emerged, sadder and wiser, at the age of + twenty-five. With which suggestion, at least as considered in the light of + a practical scheme, I need scarcely say that I nowise coincide. + Nevertheless it is plausibly urged that, as young ladies (<i>Madchen</i>) + are, to mankind, precisely the most delightful in those years; so young + gentlemen (<i>Bubchen</i>) do then attain their maximum of detestability. + Such gawks (<i>Gecken</i>) are they, and foolish peacocks, and yet with + such a vulturous hunger for self-indulgence; so obstinate, obstreperous, + vain-glorious; in all senses, so froward and so forward. No mortal's + endeavor or attainment will, in the smallest, content the as yet + unendeavoring, unattaining young gentleman; but he could make it all + infinitely better, were it worthy of him. Life everywhere is the most + manageable matter, simple as a question in the Rule-of-Three: multiply + your second and third term together, divide the product by the first, and + your quotient will be the answer,—which you are but an ass if you + cannot come at. The booby has not yet found out, by any trial, that, do + what one will, there is ever a cursed fraction, oftenest a decimal + repeater, and no net integer quotient so much as to be thought of." + </p> + <p> + In which passage does not there lie an implied confession that + Teufelsdrockh himself, besides his outward obstructions, had an inward, + still greater, to contend with; namely, a certain temporary, youthful, yet + still afflictive derangement of head? Alas, on the former side alone, his + case was hard enough. "It continues ever true," says he, "that Saturn, or + Chronos, or what we call TIME, devours all his Children: only by incessant + Running, by incessant Working, may you (for some threescore-and-ten years) + escape him; and you too he devours at last. Can any Sovereign, or Holy + Alliance of Sovereigns, bid Time stand still; even in thought, shake + themselves free of Time? Our whole terrestrial being is based on Time, and + built of Time; it is wholly a Movement, a Time-impulse; Time is the author + of it, the material of it. Hence also our Whole Duty, which is to move, to + work,—in the right direction. Are not our Bodies and our Souls in + continual movement, whether we will or not; in a continual Waste, + requiring a continual Repair? Utmost satisfaction of our whole outward and + inward Wants were but satisfaction for a space of Time; thus, whatso we + have done, is done, and for us annihilated, and ever must we go and do + anew. O Time-Spirit, how hast thou environed and imprisoned us, and sunk + us so deep in thy troublous dim Time-Element, that only in lucid moments + can so much as glimpses of our upper Azure Home be revealed to us! Me, + however, as a Son of Time, unhappier than some others, was Time + threatening to eat quite prematurely; for, strive as I might, there was no + good Running, so obstructed was the path, so gyved were the feet." That is + to say, we presume, speaking in the dialect of this lower world, that + Teufelsdrockh's whole duty and necessity was, like other men's, "to work,—in + the right direction," and that no work was to be had; whereby he became + wretched enough. As was natural: with haggard Scarcity threatening him in + the distance; and so vehement a soul languishing in restless inaction, and + forced thereby, like Sir Hudibras's sword by rust, + </p> +<pre> + "To eat into itself, for lack + Of something else to hew and hack;" +</pre> + <p> + But on the whole, that same "excellent Passivity," as it has all along + done, is here again vigorously flourishing; in which circumstance may we + not trace the beginnings of much that now characterizes our Professor and + perhaps, in faint rudiments, the origin of the Clothes-Philosophy itself? + Already the attitude he has assumed towards the World is too defensive; + not, as would have been desirable, a bold attitude of attack. "So far + hitherto," he says, "as I had mingled with mankind, I was notable, if for + anything, for a certain stillness of manner, which, as my friends often + rebukingly declared, did but ill express the keen ardor of my feelings. I, + in truth, regarded men with an excess both of love and of fear. The + mystery of a Person, indeed, is ever divine to him that has a sense for + the Godlike. Often, notwithstanding, was I blamed, and by half-strangers + hated, for my so-called Hardness (<i>Harte</i>), my Indifferentism towards + men; and the seemingly ironic tone I had adopted, as my favorite dialect + in conversation. Alas, the panoply of Sarcasm was but as a buckram case, + wherein I had striven to envelop myself; that so my own poor Person might + live safe there, and in all friendliness, being no longer exasperated by + wounds. Sarcasm I now see to be, in general, the language of the Devil; + for which reason I have long since as good as renounced it. But how many + individuals did I, in those days, provoke into some degree of hostility + thereby! An ironic man, with his sly stillness, and ambuscading ways, more + especially an ironic young man, from whom it is least expected, may be + viewed as a pest to society. Have we not seen persons of weight and name + coming forward, with gentlest indifference, to tread such a one out of + sight, as an insignificancy and worm, start ceiling-high (<i>balkenhock</i>), + and thence fall shattered and supine, to be borne home on shutters, not + without indignation, when he proved electric and a torpedo!" + </p> + <p> + Alas, how can a man with this devilishness of temper make way for himself + in Life; where the first problem, as Teufelsdrockh too admits, is "to + unite yourself with some one, and with somewhat (<i>sich anzuschliessen</i>)"? + Division, not union, is written on most part of his procedure. Let us add + too that, in no great length of time, the only important connection he had + ever succeeded in forming, his connection with the Zahdarm Family, seems + to have been paralyzed, for all practical uses, by the death of the "not + uncholeric" old Count. This fact stands recorded, quite incidentally, in a + certain <i>Discourse on Epitaphs</i>, huddled into the present Bag, among + so much else; of which Essay the learning and curious penetration are more + to be approved of than the spirit. His grand principle is, that lapidary + inscriptions, of what sort soever, should be Historical rather than + Lyrical. "By request of that worthy Nobleman's survivors," says he, "I + undertook to compose his Epitaph; and not unmindful of my own rules, + produced the following; which however, for an alleged defect of Latinity, + a defect never yet fully visible to myself, still remains unengraven;"—wherein, + we may predict, there is more than the Latinity that will surprise an + English reader: + </p> +<pre> + HIC JACET + PHILIPPUS ZAEHDARM, COGNOMINE MAGNUS, + ZAEHDARMI COMES, + EX IMPERII CONCILIO, + VELLERIS AUREI, PERISCELIDIS, NECNON VULTURIS NIGRI + EQUES. + QUI DUM SUB LUNA AGEBAT, + QUINQUIES MILLE PERDICES + PLUMBO CONFECIT: + VARII CIBI + CENTUMPONDIA MILLIES CENTENA MILLIA, + PER SE, PERQUE SERVOS QUADRUPEDES BIPEDESVE, + HAUD SINE TUMULT DEVOLVENS, + IN STERCUS + PALAM CONVERTIT. + NUNC A LABORE REQUIESCENTEM + OPERA SEQUUNTUR. + SI MONUMENTUM QUAERIS, + FIMETUM ADSPICE. + PRIMUM IN ORBE DEJECIT [<i>sub dato</i>]; POSTREMUM [<i>sub dato</i>]. +</pre> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0016"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. ROMANCE. + </h2> + <p> + "For long years," writes Teufelsdrockh, "had the poor Hebrew, in this + Egypt of an Auscultatorship, painfully toiled, baking bricks without + stubble, before ever the question once struck him with entire force: For + what?—<i>Beym Himmel</i>! For Food and Warmth! And are Food and + Warmth nowhere else, in the whole wide Universe, discoverable?—Come + of it what might, I resolved to try." + </p> + <p> + Thus then are we to see him in a new independent capacity, though perhaps + far from an improved one. Teufelsdrockh is now a man without Profession. + Quitting the common Fleet of herring-busses and whalers, where indeed his + leeward, laggard condition was painful enough, he desperately steers off, + on a course of his own, by sextant and compass of his own. Unhappy + Teufelsdrockh! Though neither Fleet, nor Traffic, nor Commodores pleased + thee, still was it not <i>a Fleet</i>, sailing in prescribed track, for + fixed objects; above all, in combination, wherein, by mutual guidance, by + all manner of loans and borrowings, each could manifoldly aid the other? + How wilt thou sail in unknown seas; and for thyself find that shorter + Northwest Passage to thy fair Spice-country of a Nowhere?—A solitary + rover, on such a voyage, with such nautical tactics, will meet with + adventures. Nay, as we forthwith discover, a certain Calypso-Island + detains him at the very outset; and as it were falsifies and oversets his + whole reckoning. + </p> + <p> + "If in youth," writes he once, "the Universe is majestically unveiling, + and everywhere Heaven revealing itself on Earth, nowhere to the Young Man + does this Heaven on Earth so immediately reveal itself as in the Young + Maiden. Strangely enough, in this strange life of ours, it has been so + appointed. On the whole, as I have often said, a Person (<i>Personlichkeit</i>) + is ever holy to us; a certain orthodox Anthropomorphism connects my <i>Me</i> + with all <i>Thees</i> in bonds of Love: but it is in this approximation of + the Like and Unlike, that such heavenly attraction, as between Negative + and Positive, first burns out into a flame. Is the pitifullest mortal + Person, think you, indifferent to us? Is it not rather our heartfelt wish + to be made one with him; to unite him to us, by gratitude, by admiration, + even by fear; or failing all these, unite ourselves to him? But how much + more, in this case of the Like-Unlike! Here is conceded us the higher + mystic possibility of such a union, the highest in our Earth; thus, in the + conducting medium of Fantasy, flames forth that fire-development of the + universal Spiritual Electricity, which, as unfolded between man and woman, + we first emphatically denominate LOVE. + </p> + <p> + "In every well-conditioned stripling, as I conjecture, there already + blooms a certain prospective Paradise, cheered by some fairest Eve; nor, + in the stately vistas, and flowerage and foliage of that Garden, is a Tree + of Knowledge, beautiful and awful in the midst thereof, wanting. Perhaps + too the whole is but the lovelier, if Cherubim and a Flaming Sword divide + it from all footsteps of men; and grant him, the imaginative stripling, + only the view, not the entrance. Happy season of virtuous youth, when + shame is still an impassable celestial barrier; and the sacred air-cities + of Hope have not shrunk into the mean clay-hamlets of Reality; and man, by + his nature, is yet infinite and free! + </p> + <p> + "As for our young Forlorn," continues Teufelsdrockh evidently meaning + himself, "in his secluded way of life, and with his glowing Fantasy, the + more fiery that it burnt under cover, as in a reverberating furnace, his + feeling towards the Queens of this Earth was, and indeed is, altogether + unspeakable. A visible Divinity dwelt in them; to our young Friend all + women were holy, were heavenly. As yet he but saw them flitting past, in + their many-colored angel-plumage; or hovering mute and inaccessible on the + outskirts of <i>AEsthetic Tea</i>: all of air they were, all Soul and + Form; so lovely, like mysterious priestesses, in whose hand was the + invisible Jacob's-ladder, whereby man might mount into very Heaven. That + he, our poor Friend, should ever win for himself one of these Gracefuls (<i>Holden</i>)—<i>Ach + Gott</i>! how could he hope it; should he not have died under it? There + was a certain delirious vertigo in the thought. + </p> + <p> + "Thus was the young man, if all-sceptical of Demons and Angels such as the + vulgar had once believed in, nevertheless not unvisited by hosts of true + Sky-born, who visibly and audibly hovered round him wheresoever he went; + and they had that religious worship in his thought, though as yet it was + by their mere earthly and trivial name that he named them. But now, if on + a soul so circumstanced, some actual Air-maiden, incorporated into + tangibility and reality, should cast any electric glance of kind eyes, + saying thereby, 'Thou too mayest love and be loved;' and so kindle him,—good + Heaven, what a volcanic, earthquake-bringing, all-consuming fire were + probably kindled!" + </p> + <p> + Such a fire, it afterwards appears, did actually burst forth, with + explosions more or less Vesuvian, in the inner man of Herr Diogenes; as + indeed how could it fail? A nature, which, in his own figurative style, we + might say, had now not a little carbonized tinder, of Irritability; with + so much nitre of latent Passion, and sulphurous Humor enough; the whole + lying in such hot neighborhood, close by "a reverberating furnace of + Fantasy:" have we not here the components of driest Gunpowder, ready, on + occasion of the smallest spark, to blaze up? Neither, in this our + Life-element, are sparks anywhere wanting. Without doubt, some Angel, + whereof so many hovered round, would one day, leaving "the outskirts of <i>AEsthetic + Tea</i>," flit higher; and, by electric Promethean glance, kindle no + despicable firework. Happy, if it indeed proved a Firework, and flamed off + rocket-wise, in successive beautiful bursts of splendor, each growing + naturally from the other, through the several stages of a happy Youthful + Love; till the whole were safely burnt out; and the young soul relieved + with little damage! Happy, if it did not rather prove a Conflagration and + mad Explosion; painfully lacerating the heart itself; nay perhaps bursting + the heart in pieces (which were Death); or at best, bursting the thin + walls of your "reverberating furnace," so that it rage thenceforth all + unchecked among the contiguous combustibles (which were Madness): till of + the so fair and manifold internal world of our Diogenes, there remained + Nothing, or only the "crater of an extinct volcano"! + </p> + <p> + From multifarious Documents in this Bag <i>Capricornus</i>, and in the + adjacent ones on both sides thereof, it becomes manifest that our + philosopher, as stoical and cynical as he now looks, was heartily and even + frantically in Love: here therefore may our old doubts whether his heart + were of stone or of flesh give way. He loved once; not wisely but too + well. And once only: for as your Congreve needs a new case or wrappage for + every new rocket, so each human heart can properly exhibit but one Love, + if even one; the "First Love which is infinite" can be followed by no + second like unto it. In more recent years, accordingly, the Editor of + these Sheets was led to regard Teufelsdrockh as a man not only who would + never wed, but who would never even flirt; whom the grand-climacteric + itself, and <i>St. Martin's Summer</i> of incipient Dotage, would crown + with no new myrtle-garland. To the Professor, women are henceforth Pieces + of Art; of Celestial Art, indeed, which celestial pieces he glories to + survey in galleries, but has lost thought of purchasing. + </p> + <p> + Psychological readers are not without curiosity to see how Teufelsdrockh + in this for him unexampled predicament, demeans himself; with what + specialties of successive configuration, splendor and color, his Firework + blazes off. Small, as usual, is the satisfaction that such can meet with + here. From amid these confused masses of Eulogy and Elegy, with their mad + Petrarchan and Werterean ware lying madly scattered among all sorts of + quite extraneous matter, not so much as the fair one's name can be + deciphered. For, without doubt, the title <i>Blumine</i>, whereby she is + here designated, and which means simply Goddess of Flowers, must be + fictitious. Was her real name Flora, then? But what was her surname, or + had she none? Of what station in Life was she; of what parentage, fortune, + aspect? Specially, by what Pre-established Harmony of occurrences did the + Lover and the Loved meet one another in so wide a world; how did they + behave in such meeting? To all which questions, not unessential in a + Biographic work, mere Conjecture must for most part return answer. "It was + appointed," says our Philosopher, "that the high celestial orbit of + Blumine should intersect the low sublunary one of our Forlorn; that he, + looking in her empyrean eyes, should fancy the upper Sphere of Light was + come down into this nether sphere of Shadows; and finding himself + mistaken, make noise enough." + </p> + <p> + We seem to gather that she was young, hazel-eyed, beautiful, and some + one's Cousin; high-born, and of high spirit; but unhappily dependent and + insolvent; living, perhaps, on the not too gracious bounty of moneyed + relatives. But how came "the Wanderer" into her circle? Was it by the + humid vehicle of <i>AEsthetic Tea</i>, or by the arid one of mere + Business? Was it on the hand of Herr Towgood; or of the Gnadige Frau, who, + as an ornamental Artist, might sometimes like to promote flirtation, + especially for young cynical Nondescripts? To all appearance, it was + chiefly by Accident, and the grace of Nature. + </p> + <p> + "Thou fair Waldschloss," writes our Autobiographer, "what stranger ever + saw thee, were it even an absolved Auscultator, officially bearing in his + pocket the last <i>Relatio ex Actis</i> he would ever write, but must have + paused to wonder! Noble Mansion! There stoodest thou, in deep Mountain + Amphitheatre, on umbrageous lawns, in thy serene solitude; stately, + massive, all of granite; glittering in the western sunbeams, like a palace + of El Dorado, overlaid with precious metal. Beautiful rose up, in wavy + curvature, the slope of thy guardian Hills; of the greenest was their + sward, embossed with its dark-brown frets of crag, or spotted by some + spreading solitary Tree and its shadow. To the unconscious Wayfarer thou + wert also as an Ammon's Temple, in the Libyan Waste; where, for joy and + woe, the tablet of his Destiny lay written. Well might he pause and gaze; + in that glance of his were prophecy and nameless forebodings." + </p> + <p> + But now let us conjecture that the so presentient Auscultator has handed + in his <i>Relatio ex Actis</i>; been invited to a glass of Rhine-wine; and + so, instead of returning dispirited and athirst to his dusty Town-home, is + ushered into the Garden-house, where sit the choicest party of dames and + cavaliers: if not engaged in AEsthetic Tea, yet in trustful evening + conversation, and perhaps Musical Coffee, for we hear of "harps and pure + voices making the stillness live." Scarcely, it would seem, is the + Garden-house inferior in respectability to the noble Mansion itself. + "Embowered amid rich foliage, rose-clusters, and the hues and odors of + thousand flowers, here sat that brave company; in front, from the + wide-opened doors, fair outlook over blossom and bush, over grove and + velvet green, stretching, undulating onwards to the remote Mountain peaks: + so bright, so mild, and everywhere the melody of birds and happy + creatures: it was all as if man had stolen a shelter from the SUIT in the + bosom-vesture of Summer herself. How came it that the Wanderer advanced + thither with such forecasting heart (<i>ahndungsvoll</i>), by the side of + his gay host? Did he feel that to these soft influences his hard bosom + ought to be shut; that here, once more, Fate had it in view to try him; to + mock him, and see whether there were Humor in him? + </p> + <p> + "Next moment he finds himself presented to the party; and especially by + name to—Blumine! Peculiar among all dames and damosels glanced + Blumine, there in her modesty, like a star among earthly lights. Noblest + maiden! whom he bent to, in body and in soul; yet scarcely dared look at, + for the presence filled him with painful yet sweetest embarrassment. + </p> + <p> + "Blumine's was a name well known to him; far and wide was the fair one + heard of, for her gifts, her graces, her caprices: from all which vague + colorings of Rumor, from the censures no less than from the praises, had + our friend painted for himself a certain imperious Queen of Hearts, and + blooming warm Earth-angel, much more enchanting than your mere white + Heaven-angels of women, in whose placid veins circulates too little + naphtha-fire. Herself also he had seen in public places; that light yet so + stately form; those dark tresses, shading a face where smiles and sunlight + played over earnest deeps: but all this he had seen only as a magic + vision, for him inaccessible, almost without reality. Her sphere was too + far from his; how should she ever think of him; O Heaven! how should they + so much as once meet together? And now that Rose-goddess sits in the same + circle with him; the light of <i>her</i> eyes has smiled on him; if he + speak, she will hear it! Nay, who knows, since the heavenly Sun looks into + lowest valleys, but Blumine herself might have aforetime noted the so + unnotable; perhaps, from his very gainsayers, as he had from hers, + gathered wonder, gathered favor for him? Was the attraction, the agitation + mutual, then; pole and pole trembling towards contact, when once brought + into neighborhood? Say rather, heart swelling in presence of the Queen of + Hearts; like the Sea swelling when once near its Moon! With the Wanderer + it was even so: as in heavenward gravitation, suddenly as at the touch of + a Seraph's wand, his whole soul is roused from its deepest recesses; and + all that was painful and that was blissful there, dim images, vague + feelings of a whole Past and a whole Future, are heaving in unquiet eddies + within him. + </p> + <p> + "Often, in far less agitating scenes, had our still Friend shrunk forcibly + together; and shrouded up his tremors and flutterings, of what sort + soever, in a safe cover of Silence, and perhaps of seeming Stolidity. How + was it, then, that here, when trembling to the core of his heart, he did + not sink into swoons, but rose into strength, into fearlessness and + clearness? It was his guiding Genius (<i>Damon</i>) that inspired him; he + must go forth and meet his Destiny. Show thyself now, whispered it, or be + forever hid. Thus sometimes it is even when your anxiety becomes + transcendental, that the soul first feels herself able to transcend it; + that she rises above it, in fiery victory; and borne on new-found wings of + victory, moves so calmly, even because so rapidly, so irresistibly. Always + must the Wanderer remember, with a certain satisfaction and surprise, how + in this case he sat not silent but struck adroitly into the stream of + conversation; which thenceforth, to speak with an apparent not a real + vanity, he may say that he continued to lead. Surely, in those hours, a + certain inspiration was imparted him, such inspiration as is still + possible in our late era. The self-secluded unfolds himself in noble + thoughts, in free, glowing words; his soul is as one sea of light, the + peculiar home of Truth and Intellect; wherein also Fantasy bodies forth + form after form, radiant with all prismatic hues." + </p> + <p> + It appears, in this otherwise so happy meeting, there talked one + "Philisitine;" who even now, to the general weariness, was dominantly + pouring forth Philistinism (<i>Philistriositaten</i>.); little witting + what hero was here entering to demolish him! We omit the series of + Socratic, or rather Diogenic utterances, not unhappy in their way, whereby + the monster, "persuaded into silence," seems soon after to have withdrawn + for the night. "Of which dialectic marauder," writes our hero, "the + discomfiture was visibly felt as a benefit by most: but what were all + applauses to the glad smile, threatening every moment to become a laugh, + wherewith Blumine herself repaid the victor? He ventured to address her + she answered with attention: nay what if there were a slight tremor in + that silver voice; what if the red glow of evening were hiding a transient + blush! + </p> + <p> + "The conversation took a higher tone, one fine thought called forth + another: it was one of those rare seasons, when the soul expands with full + freedom, and man feels himself brought near to man. Gayly in light, + graceful abandonment, the friendly talk played round that circle; for the + burden was rolled from every heart; the barriers of Ceremony, which are + indeed the laws of polite living, had melted as into vapor; and the poor + claims of <i>Me</i> and <i>Thee</i>, no longer parted by rigid fences, now + flowed softly into one another; and Life lay all harmonious, many-tinted, + like some fair royal champaign, the sovereign and owner of which were Love + only. Such music springs from kind hearts, in a kind environment of place + and time. And yet as the light grew more aerial on the mountaintops, and + the shadows fell longer over the valley, some faint tone of sadness may + have breathed through the heart; and, in whispers more or less audible, + reminded every one that as this bright day was drawing towards its close, + so likewise must the Day of Man's Existence decline into dust and + darkness; and with all its sick toilings, and joyful and mournful noises, + sink in the still Eternity. + </p> + <p> + "To our Friend the hours seemed moments; holy was he and happy: the words + from those sweetest lips came over him like dew on thirsty grass; all + better feelings in his soul seemed to whisper, It is good for us to be + here. At parting, the Blumine's hand was in his: in the balmy twilight, + with the kind stars above them, he spoke something of meeting again, which + was not contradicted; he pressed gently those small soft fingers, and it + seemed as if they were not hastily, not angrily withdrawn." + </p> + <p> + Poor Teufelsdrockh! it is clear to demonstration thou art smit: the Queen + of Hearts would see a "man of genius" also sigh for her; and there, by + art-magic, in that preternatural hour, has she bound and spell-bound thee. + "Love is not altogether a Delirium," says he elsewhere; "yet has it many + points in common therewith. I call it rather a discerning of the Infinite + in the Finite, of the Idea made Real; which discerning again may be either + true or false, either seraphic or demoniac, Inspiration or Insanity. But + in the former case too, as in common Madness, it is Fantasy that superadds + itself to sight; on the so petty domain of the Actual plants its + Archimedes-lever, whereby to move at will the infinite Spiritual. Fantasy + I might call the true Heaven-gate and Hell-gate of man: his sensuous life + is but the small temporary stage (<i>Zeitbuhne</i>), whereon + thick-streaming influences from both these far yet near regions meet + visibly, and act tragedy and melodrama. Sense can support herself + handsomely, in most countries, for some eighteenpence a day; but for + Fantasy planets and solar-systems will not suffice. Witness your Pyrrhus + conquering the world, yet drinking no better red wine than he had before." + Alas! witness also your Diogenes, flame-clad, scaling the upper Heaven, + and verging towards Insanity, for prize of a "high-souled Brunette," as if + the Earth held but one and not several of these! + </p> + <p> + He says that, in Town, they met again: "day after day, like his heart's + sun, the blooming Blumine shone on him. Ah! a little while ago, and he was + yet in all darkness: him what Graceful (<i>Holde</i>) would ever love? + Disbelieving all things, the poor youth had never learned to believe in + himself. Withdrawn, in proud timidity, within his own fastnesses; solitary + from men, yet baited by night-spectres enough, he saw himself, with a sad + indignation, constrained to renounce the fairest hopes of existence. And + now, O now! 'She looks on thee,' cried he: 'she the fairest, noblest; do + not her dark eyes tell thee, thou art not despised? The + Heaven's-Messenger! All Heaven's blessings be hers!' Thus did soft + melodies flow through his heart; tones of an infinite gratitude; sweetest + intimations that he also was a man, that for him also unutterable joys had + been provided. + </p> + <p> + "In free speech, earnest or gay, amid lambent glances, laughter, tears, + and often with the inarticulate mystic speech of Music: such was the + element they now lived in; in such a many-tinted, radiant Aurora, and by + this fairest of Orient Light-bringers must our Friend be blandished, and + the new Apocalypse of Nature enrolled to him. Fairest Blumine! And, even + as a Star, all Fire and humid Softness, a very Light-ray incarnate! Was + there so much as a fault, a 'caprice,' he could have dispensed with? Was + she not to him in very deed a Morning-star; did not her presence bring + with it airs from Heaven? As from AEolian Harps in the breath of dawn, as + from the Memnon's Statue struck by the rosy finger of Aurora, unearthly + music was around him, and lapped him into untried balmy Rest. Pale Doubt + fled away to the distance; Life bloomed up with happiness and hope. The + past, then, was all a haggard dream; he had been in the Garden of Eden, + then, and could not discern it! But lo now! the black walls of his prison + melt away; the captive is alive, is free. If he loved his Disenchantress? + <i>Ach Gott</i>! His whole heart and soul and life were hers, but never + had he named it Love: existence was all a Feeling, not yet shaped into a + Thought." + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, into a Thought, nay into an Action, it must be shaped; for + neither Disenchanter nor Disenchantress, mere "Children of Time," can + abide by Feeling alone. The Professor knows not, to this day, "how in her + soft, fervid bosom the Lovely found determination, even on hest of + Necessity, to cut asunder these so blissful bonds." He even appears + surprised at the "Duenna Cousin," whoever she may have been, "in whose + meagre hunger-bitten philosophy, the religion of young hearts was, from + the first, faintly approved of." We, even at such distance, can explain it + without necromancy. Let the Philosopher answer this one question: What + figure, at that period, was a Mrs. Teufelsdrockh likely to make in + polished society? Could she have driven so much as a brass-bound Gig, or + even a simple iron-spring one? Thou foolish "absolved Auscultator," before + whom lies no prospect of capital, will any yet known "religion of young + hearts" keep the human kitchen warm? Pshaw! thy divine Blumine, when she + "resigned herself to wed some richer," shows more philosophy, though but + "a woman of genius," than thou, a pretended man. + </p> + <p> + Our readers have witnessed the origin of this Love-mania, and with what + royal splendor it waxes, and rises. Let no one ask us to unfold the + glories of its dominant state; much less the horrors of its almost + instantaneous dissolution. How from such inorganic masses, henceforth + madder than ever, as lie in these Bags, can even fragments of a living + delineation be organized? Besides, of what profit were it? We view, with a + lively pleasure, the gay silk Montgolfier start from the ground, and shoot + upwards, cleaving the liquid deeps, till it dwindle to a luminous star: + but what is there to look longer on, when once, by natural elasticity, or + accident of fire, it has exploded? A hapless air-navigator, plunging, amid + torn parachutes, sand-bags, and confused wreck, fast enough into the jaws + of the Devil! Suffice it to know that Teufelsdrockh rose into the highest + regions of the Empyrean, by a natural parabolic track, and returned thence + in a quick perpendicular one. For the rest, let any feeling reader, who + has been unhappy enough to do the like, paint it out for himself: + considering only that if he, for his perhaps comparatively insignificant + mistress, underwent such agonies and frenzies, what must Teufelsdrockh's + have been, with a fire-heart, and for a nonpareil Blumine! We glance + merely at the final scene:— + </p> + <p> + "One morning, he found his Morning-star all dimmed and dusky-red; the fair + creature was silent, absent, she seemed to have been weeping. Alas, no + longer a Morning-star, but a troublous skyey Portent, announcing that the + Doomsday had dawned! She said, in a tremulous voice, They were to meet no + more." The thunder-struck Air-sailor is not wanting to himself in this + dread hour: but what avails it? We omit the passionate expostulations, + entreaties, indignations, since all was vain, and not even an explanation + was conceded him; and hasten to the catastrophe. "'Farewell, then, Madam!' + said he, not without sternness, for his stung pride helped him. She put + her hand in his, she looked in his face, tears started to her eyes; in + wild audacity he clasped her to his bosom; their lips were joined, their + two souls, like two dew-drops, rushed into one,—for the first time + and for the last!" Thus was Teufelsdrockh made immortal by a kiss. And + then? Why, then—"thick curtains of Night rushed over his soul, as + rose the immeasurable Crash of Doom; and through the ruins as of a + shivered Universe was he falling, falling, towards the Abyss." + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0017"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. SORROWS OF TEUFELSDROCKH. + </h2> + <p> + We have long felt that, with a man like our Professor, matters must often + be expected to take a course of their own; that in so multiplex, intricate + a nature, there might be channels, both for admitting and emitting, such + as the Psychologist had seldom noted; in short, that on no grand occasion + and convulsion, neither in the joy-storm nor in the woe-storm could you + predict his demeanor. + </p> + <p> + To our less philosophical readers, for example, it is now clear that the + so passionate Teufelsdrockh precipitated through "a shivered Universe" in + this extraordinary way, has only one of three things which he can next do: + Establish himself in Bedlam; begin writing Satanic Poetry; or blow out his + brains. In the progress towards any of which consummations, do not such + readers anticipate extravagance enough; breast-beating, brow-beating + (against walls), lion-bellowings of blasphemy and the like, stampings, + smitings, breakages of furniture, if not arson itself? + </p> + <p> + Nowise so does Teufelsdrockh deport him. He quietly lifts his <i>Pilgerstab</i> + (Pilgrim-staff), "old business being soon wound up;" and begins a + perambulation and circumambulation of the terraqueous Globe! Curious it + is, indeed, how with such vivacity of conception, such intensity of + feeling, above all, with these unconscionable habits of Exaggeration in + speech, he combines that wonderful stillness of his, that stoicism in + external procedure. Thus, if his sudden bereavement, in this matter of the + Flower-goddess, is talked of as a real Doomsday and Dissolution of Nature, + in which light doubtless it partly appeared to himself, his own nature is + nowise dissolved thereby; but rather is compressed closer. For once, as we + might say, a Blumine by magic appliances has unlocked that shut heart of + his, and its hidden things rush out tumultuous, boundless, like genii + enfranchised from their glass vial: but no sooner are your magic + appliances withdrawn, than the strange casket of a heart springs to again; + and perhaps there is now no key extant that will open it; for a + Teufelsdrockh as we remarked, will not love a second time. Singular + Diogenes! No sooner has that heart-rending occurrence fairly taken place, + than he affects to regard it as a thing natural, of which there is nothing + more to be said. "One highest hope, seemingly legible in the eyes of an + Angel, had recalled him as out of Death-shadows into celestial Life: but a + gleam of Tophet passed over the face of his Angel; he was rapt away in + whirlwinds, and heard the laughter of Demons. It was a Calenture," adds + he, "whereby the Youth saw green Paradise-groves in the waste + Ocean-waters: a lying vision, yet not wholly a lie, for <i>he</i> saw it." + But what things soever passed in him, when he ceased to see it; what + ragings and despairings soever Teufelsdrockh's soul was the scene of, he + has the goodness to conceal under a quite opaque cover of Silence. We know + it well; the first mad paroxysm past, our brave Gneschen collected his + dismembered philosophies, and buttoned himself together; he was meek, + silent, or spoke of the weather and the Journals: only by a transient + knitting of those shaggy brows, by some deep flash of those eyes, glancing + one knew not whether with tear-dew or with fierce fire,—might you + have guessed what a Gehenna was within: that a whole Satanic School were + spouting, though inaudibly, there. To consume your own choler, as some + chimneys consume their own smoke; to keep a whole Satanic School spouting, + if it must spout, inaudibly, is a negative yet no slight virtue, nor one + of the commonest in these times. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, we will not take upon us to say, that in the strange measure + he fell upon, there was not a touch of latent Insanity; whereof indeed the + actual condition of these Documents in <i>Capricornus</i> and <i>Aquarius + is</i> no bad emblem. His so unlimited Wanderings, toilsome enough, are + without assigned or perhaps assignable aim; internal Unrest seems his sole + guidance; he wanders, wanders, as if that curse of the Prophet had fallen + on him, and he were "made like unto a wheel." Doubtless, too, the chaotic + nature of these Paper-bags aggravates our obscurity. Quite without note of + preparation, for example, we come upon the following slip: "A peculiar + feeling it is that will rise in the Traveller, when turning some + hill-range in his desert road, he descries lying far below, embosomed + among its groves and green natural bulwarks, and all diminished to a + toy-box, the fair Town, where so many souls, as it were seen and yet + unseen, are driving their multifarious traffic. Its white steeple is then + truly a starward-pointing finger; the canopy of blue smoke seems like a + sort of Lifebreath: for always, of its own unity, the soul gives unity to + whatsoever it looks on with love; thus does the little Dwelling-place of + men, in itself a congeries of houses and huts, become for us an + individual, almost a person. But what thousand other thoughts unite + thereto, if the place has to ourselves been the arena of joyous or + mournful experiences; if perhaps the cradle we were rocked in still stands + there, if our Loving ones still dwell there, if our Buried ones there + slumber!" Does Teufelsdrockh as the wounded eagle is said to make for its + own eyrie, and indeed military deserters, and all hunted outcast + creatures, turn as if by instinct in the direction of their birthland,—fly + first, in this extremity, towards his native Entepfuhl; but reflecting + that there no help awaits him, take only one wistful look from the + distance, and then wend elsewhither? + </p> + <p> + Little happier seems to be his next flight: into the wilds of Nature; as + if in her mother-bosom he would seek healing. So at least we incline to + interpret the following Notice, separated from the former by some + considerable space, wherein, however, is nothing noteworthy:— + </p> + <p> + "Mountains were not new to him; but rarely are Mountains seen in such + combined majesty and grace as here. The rocks are of that sort called + Primitive by the mineralogists, which always arrange themselves in masses + of a rugged, gigantic character; which ruggedness, however, is here + tempered by a singular airiness of form, and softness of environment: in a + climate favorable to vegetation, the gray cliff, itself covered with + lichens, shoots up through a garment of foliage or verdure; and white, + bright cottages, tree-shaded, cluster round the everlasting granite. In + fine vicissitude, Beauty alternates with Grandeur: you ride through stony + hollows, along strait passes, traversed by torrents, overhung by high + walls of rock; now winding amid broken shaggy chasms, and huge fragments; + now suddenly emerging into some emerald valley, where the streamlet + collects itself into a Lake, and man has again found a fair dwelling, and + it seems as if Peace had established herself in the bosom of Strength. + </p> + <p> + "To Peace, however, in this vortex of existence, can the Son of Time not + pretend: still less if some Spectre haunt him from the Past; and the + Future is wholly a Stygian Darkness, spectre-bearing. Reasonably might the + Wanderer exclaim to himself: Are not the gates of this world's happiness + inexorably shut against thee; hast thou a hope that is not mad? + Nevertheless, one may still murmur audibly, or in the original Greek if + that suit thee better: 'Whoso can look on Death will start at no shadows.' + </p> + <p> + "From such meditations is the Wanderer's attention called outwards; for + now the Valley closes in abruptly, intersected by a huge mountain mass, + the stony water-worn ascent of which is not to be accomplished on + horseback. Arrived aloft, he finds himself again lifted into the evening + sunset light; and cannot but pause, and gaze round him, some moments + there. An upland irregular expanse of wold, where valleys in complex + branchings are suddenly or slowly arranging their descent towards every + quarter of the sky. The mountain-ranges are beneath your feet, and folded + together: only the loftier summits look down here and there as on a second + plain; lakes also lie clear and earnest in their solitude. No trace of man + now visible; unless indeed it were he who fashioned that little visible + link of Highway, here, as would seem, scaling the inaccessible, to unite + Province with Province. But sunwards, lo you! how it towers sheer up, a + world of Mountains, the diadem and centre of the mountain region! A + hundred and a hundred savage peaks, in the last light of Day; all glowing, + of gold and amethyst, like giant spirits of the wilderness; there in their + silence, in their solitude, even as on the night when Noah's Deluge first + dried! Beautiful, nay solemn, was the sudden aspect to our Wanderer. He + gazed over those stupendous masses with wonder, almost with longing + desire; never till this hour had he known Nature, that she was One, that + she was his Mother and divine. And as the ruddy glow was fading into + clearness in the sky, and the Sun had now departed, a murmur of Eternity + and Immensity, of Death and of Life, stole through his soul; and he felt + as if Death and Life were one, as if the Earth were not dead, as if the + Spirit of the Earth had its throne in that splendor, and his own spirit + were therewith holding communion. + </p> + <p> + "The spell was broken by a sound of carriage-wheels. Emerging from the + hidden Northward, to sink soon into the hidden Southward, came a gay + Barouche-and-four: it was open; servants and postilions wore wedding + favors: that happy pair, then, had found each other, it was their marriage + evening! Few moments brought them near: <i>Du Himmel</i>! It was Herr + Towgood and—Blumine! With slight unrecognizing salutation they + passed me; plunged down amid the neighboring thickets, onwards, to Heaven, + and to England; and I, in my friend Richter's words, <i>I remained alone, + behind them, with the Night</i>." + </p> + <p> + Were it not cruel in these circumstances, here might be the place to + insert an observation, gleaned long ago from the great <i>Clothes-Volume</i>, + where it stands with quite other intent: "Some time before Small-pox was + extirpated," says the Professor, "there came a new malady of the spiritual + sort on Europe: I mean the epidemic, now endemical, of View-hunting. Poets + of old date, being privileged with Senses, had also enjoyed external + Nature; but chiefly as we enjoy the crystal cup which holds good or bad + liquor for us; that is to say, in silence, or with slight incidental + commentary: never, as I compute, till after the <i>Sorrows of Werter</i>, + was there man found who would say: Come let us make a Description! Having + drunk the liquor, come let us eat the glass! Of which endemic the Jenner + is unhappily still to seek." Too true! + </p> + <p> + We reckon it more important to remark that the Professor's Wanderings, so + far as his stoical and cynical envelopment admits us to clear insight, + here first take their permanent character, fatuous or not. That + Basilisk-glance of the Barouche-and-four seems to have withered up what + little remnant of a purpose may have still lurked in him: Life has become + wholly a dark labyrinth; wherein, through long years, our Friend, flying + from spectres, has to stumble about at random, and naturally with more + haste than progress. + </p> + <p> + Foolish were it in us to attempt following him, even from afar, in this + extraordinary world-pilgrimage of his; the simplest record of which, were + clear record possible, would fill volumes. Hopeless is the obscurity, + unspeakable the confusion. He glides from country to country, from + condition to condition; vanishing and reappearing, no man can calculate + how or where. Through all quarters of the world he wanders, and apparently + through all circles of society. If in any scene, perhaps difficult to fix + geographically, he settles for a time, and forms connections, be sure he + will snap them abruptly asunder. Let him sink out of sight as Private + Scholar (<i>Privatsirender</i>), living by the grace of God in some + European capital, you may next find him as Hadjee in the neighborhood of + Mecca. It is an inexplicable Phantasmagoria, capricious, quick-changing; + as if our Traveller, instead of limbs and highways, had transported + himself by some wishing-carpet, or Fortunatus' Hat. The whole, too, + imparted emblematically, in dim multifarious tokens (as that collection of + Street-Advertisements); with only some touch of direct historical notice + sparingly interspersed: little light-islets in the world of haze! So that, + from this point, the Professor is more of an enigma than ever. In + figurative language, we might say he becomes, not indeed a spirit, yet + spiritualized, vaporized. Fact unparalleled in Biography: The river of his + History, which we have traced from its tiniest fountains, and hoped to see + flow onward, with increasing current, into the ocean, here dashes itself + over that terrific Lover's Leap; and, as a mad-foaming cataract, flies + wholly into tumultuous clouds of spray! Low down it indeed collects again + into pools and plashes; yet only at a great distance, and with difficulty, + if at all, into a general stream. To cast a glance into certain of those + pools and plashes, and trace whither they run, must, for a chapter or two, + form the limit of our endeavor. + </p> + <p> + For which end doubtless those direct historical Notices, where they can be + met with, are the best. Nevertheless, of this sort too there occurs much, + which, with our present light, it were questionable to emit. Teufelsdrockh + vibrating everywhere between the highest and the lowest levels, comes into + contact with public History itself. For example, those conversations and + relations with illustrious Persons, as Sultan Mahmoud, the Emperor + Napoleon, and others, are they not as yet rather of a diplomatic character + than of a biographic? The Editor, appreciating the sacredness of crowned + heads, nay perhaps suspecting the possible trickeries of a + Clothes-Philosopher, will eschew this province for the present; a new time + may bring new insight and a different duty. + </p> + <p> + If we ask now, not indeed with what ulterior Purpose, for there was none, + yet with what immediate outlooks; at all events, in what mood of mind, the + Professor undertook and prosecuted this world-pilgrimage,—the answer + is more distinct than favorable. "A nameless Unrest," says he, "urged me + forward; to which the outward motion was some momentary lying solace. + Whither should I go? My Loadstars were blotted out; in that canopy of grim + fire shone no star. Yet forward must I; the ground burnt under me; there + was no rest for the sole of my foot. I was alone, alone! Ever too the + strong inward longing shaped Phantasms for itself: towards these, one + after the other, must I fruitlessly wander. A feeling I had, that for my + fever-thirst there was and must be somewhere a healing Fountain. To many + fondly imagined Fountains, the Saints' Wells of these days, did I pilgrim; + to great Men, to great Cities, to great Events: but found there no + healing. In strange countries, as in the well-known; in savage deserts, as + in the press of corrupt civilization, it was ever the same: how could your + Wanderer escape from—<i>his own Shadow</i>? Nevertheless still + Forward! I felt as if in great haste; to do I saw not what. From the + depths of my own heart, it called to me, Forwards! The winds and the + streams, and all Nature sounded to me, Forwards! <i>Ach Gott</i>, I was + even, once for all, a Son of Time." + </p> + <p> + From which is it not clear that the internal Satanic School was still + active enough? He says elsewhere: "The <i>Enchiridion of Epictetus</i> I + had ever with me, often as my sole rational companion; and regret to + mention that the nourishment it yielded was trifling." Thou foolish + Teufelsdrockh How could it else? Hadst thou not Greek enough to understand + thus much: <i>The end of Man is an Action, and not a Thought</i>, though + it were the noblest? + </p> + <p> + "How I lived?" writes he once: "Friend, hast thou considered the 'rugged + all-nourishing Earth,' as Sophocles well names her; how she feeds the + sparrow on the house-top, much more her darling, man? While thou stirrest + and livest, thou hast a probability of victual. My breakfast of tea has + been cooked by a Tartar woman, with water of the Amur, who wiped her + earthen kettle with a horse-tail. I have roasted wild eggs in the sand of + Sahara; I have awakened in Paris <i>Estrapades</i> and Vienna <i>Malzleins</i>, + with no prospect of breakfast beyond elemental liquid. That I had my + Living to seek saved me from Dying,—by suicide. In our busy Europe, + is there not an everlasting demand for Intellect, in the chemical, + mechanical, political, religious, educational, commercial departments? In + Pagan countries, cannot one write Fetishes? Living! Little knowest thou + what alchemy is in an inventive Soul; how, as with its little finger, it + can create provision enough for the body (of a Philosopher); and then, as + with both hands, create quite other than provision; namely, spectres to + torment itself withal." + </p> + <p> + Poor Teufelsdrockh! Flying with Hunger always parallel to him; and a whole + Infernal Chase in his rear; so that the countenance of Hunger is + comparatively a friend's! Thus must he, in the temper of ancient Cain, or + of the modern Wandering Jew,—save only that he feels himself not + guilty and but suffering the pains of guilt,—wend to and fro with + aimless speed. Thus must he, over the whole surface of the Earth (by + footprints), write his <i>Sorrows of Teufelsdrockh</i>; even as the great + Goethe, in passionate words, had to write his <i>Sorrows of Werter</i>, + before the spirit freed herself, and he could become a Man. Vain truly is + the hope of your swiftest Runner to escape "from his own Shadow"! + Nevertheless, in these sick days, when the Born of Heaven first descries + himself (about the age of twenty) in a world such as ours, richer than + usual in two things, in Truths grown obsolete, and Trades grown obsolete,—what + can the fool think but that it is all a Den of Lies, wherein whoso will + not speak Lies and act Lies, must stand idle and despair? Whereby it + happens that, for your nobler minds, the publishing of some such Work of + Art, in one or the other dialect, becomes almost a necessity. For what is + it properly but an Altercation with the Devil, before you begin honestly + Fighting him? Your Byron publishes his <i>Sorrows of Lord George</i>, in + verse and in prose, and copiously otherwise: your Bonaparte represents his + <i>Sorrows of Napoleon</i> Opera, in an all-too stupendous style; with + music of cannon-volleys, and murder-shrieks of a world; his stage-lights + are the fires of Conflagration; his rhyme and recitative are the tramp of + embattled Hosts and the sound of falling Cities.—Happier is he who, + like our Clothes-Philosopher, can write such matter, since it must be + written, on the insensible Earth, with his shoe-soles only; and also + survive the writing thereof! + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0018"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. THE EVERLASTING NO. + </h2> + <p> + Under the strange nebulous envelopment, wherein our Professor has now + shrouded himself, no doubt but his spiritual nature is nevertheless + progressive, and growing: for how can the "Son of Time," in any case, + stand still? We behold him, through those dim years, in a state of crisis, + of transition: his mad Pilgrimings, and general solution into aimless + Discontinuity, what is all this but a mad Fermentation; wherefrom the + fiercer it is, the clearer product will one day evolve itself? + </p> + <p> + Such transitions are ever full of pain: thus the Eagle when he moults is + sickly; and, to attain his new beak, must harshly dash off the old one + upon rocks. What Stoicism soever our Wanderer, in his individual acts and + motions, may affect, it is clear that there is a hot fever of anarchy and + misery raging within; coruscations of which flash out: as, indeed, how + could there be other? Have we not seen him disappointed, bemocked of + Destiny, through long years? All that the young heart might desire and + pray for has been denied; nay, as in the last worst instance, offered and + then snatched away. Ever an "excellent Passivity;" but of useful, + reasonable Activity, essential to the former as Food to Hunger, nothing + granted: till at length, in this wild Pilgrimage, he must forcibly seize + for himself an Activity, though useless, unreasonable. Alas, his cup of + bitterness, which had been filling drop by drop, ever since that first + "ruddy morning" in the Hinterschlag Gymnasium, was at the very lip; and + then with that poison-drop, of the Towgood-and-Blumine business, it runs + over, and even hisses over in a deluge of foam. + </p> + <p> + He himself says once, with more justness than originality: "Men is, + properly speaking, based upon Hope, he has no other possession but Hope; + this world of his is emphatically the Place of Hope." What, then, was our + Professor's possession? We see him, for the present, quite shut out from + Hope; looking not into the golden orient, but vaguely all round into a dim + copper firmament, pregnant with earthquake and tornado. + </p> + <p> + Alas, shut out from Hope, in a deeper sense than we yet dream of! For, as + he wanders wearisomely through this world, he has now lost all tidings of + another and higher. Full of religion, or at least of religiosity, as our + Friend has since exhibited himself, he hides not that, in those days, he + was wholly irreligious: "Doubt had darkened into Unbelief," says he; + "shade after shade goes grimly over your soul, till you have the fixed, + starless, Tartarean black." To such readers as have reflected, what can be + called reflecting, on man's life, and happily discovered, in contradiction + to much Profit-and-Loss Philosophy, speculative and practical, that Soul + is not synonymous with Stomach; who understand, therefore, in our Friend's + words, "that, for man's well-being, Faith is properly the one thing + needful; how, with it, Martyrs, otherwise weak, can cheerfully endure the + shame and the cross; and without it, Worldlings puke up their sick + existence, by suicide, in the midst of luxury:" to such it will be clear + that, for a pure moral nature, the loss of his religious Belief was the + loss of everything. Unhappy young man! All wounds, the crush of + long-continued Destitution, the stab of false Friendship and of false + Love, all wounds in thy so genial heart, would have healed again, had not + its life-warmth been withdrawn. Well might he exclaim, in his wild way: + "Is there no God, then; but at best an absentee God, sitting idle, ever + since the first Sabbath, at the outside of his Universe, and <i>see</i>ing + it go? Has the word Duty no meaning; is what we call Duty no divine + Messenger and Guide, but a false earthly Phantasm, made up of Desire and + Fear, of emanations from the Gallows and from Doctor Graham's + Celestial-Bed? Happiness of an approving Conscience! Did not Paul of + Tarsus, whom admiring men have since named Saint, feel that <i>he</i> was + 'the chief of sinners;' and Nero of Rome, jocund in spirit (<i>wohlgemuth</i>), + spend much of his time in fiddling? Foolish Wordmonger and Motive-grinder, + who in thy Logic-mill hast an earthly mechanism for the Godlike itself, + and wouldst fain grind me out Virtue from the husks of Pleasure,—I + tell thee, Nay! To the unregenerate Prometheus Vinctus of a man, it is + ever the bitterest aggravation of his wretchedness that he is conscious of + Virtue, that he feels himself the victim not of suffering only, but of + injustice. What then? Is the heroic inspiration we name Virtue but some + Passion; some bubble of the blood, bubbling in the direction others <i>profit</i> + by? I know not: only this I know, If what thou namest Happiness be our + true aim, then are we all astray. With Stupidity and sound Digestion man + may front much. But what, in these dull unimaginative days, are the + terrors of Conscience to the diseases of the Liver! Not on Morality, but + on Cookery, let us build our stronghold: there brandishing our frying-pan, + as censer, let us offer sweet incense to the Devil, and live at ease on + the fat things he has provided for his Elect!" + </p> + <p> + Thus has the bewildered Wanderer to stand, as so many have done, shouting + question after question into the Sibyl-cave of Destiny, and receive no + Answer but an Echo. It is all a grim Desert, this once-fair world of his; + wherein is heard only the howling of wild beasts, or the shrieks of + despairing, hate-filled men; and no Pillar of Cloud by day, and no Pillar + of Fire by night, any longer guides the Pilgrim. To such length has the + spirit of Inquiry carried him. "But what boots it (<i>was thut's</i>)?" + cries he: "it is but the common lot in this era. Not having come to + spiritual majority prior to the <i>Siecle de Louis Quinze</i>, and not + being born purely a Loghead (<i>Dummkopf</i> ), thou hadst no other + outlook. The whole world is, like thee, sold to Unbelief; their old + Temples of the Godhead, which for long have not been rain-proof, crumble + down; and men ask now: Where is the Godhead; our eyes never saw him?" + </p> + <p> + Pitiful enough were it, for all these wild utterances, to call our + Diogenes wicked. Unprofitable servants as we all are, perhaps at no era of + his life was he more decisively the Servant of Goodness, the Servant of + God, than even now when doubting God's existence. "One circumstance I + note," says he: "after all the nameless woe that Inquiry, which for me, + what it is not always, was genuine Love of Truth, had wrought me! I + nevertheless still loved Truth, and would bate no jot of my allegiance to + her. 'Truth!' I cried, 'though the Heavens crush me for following her: no + Falsehood! though a whole celestial Lubberland were the price of + Apostasy.' In conduct it was the same. Had a divine Messenger from the + clouds, or miraculous Handwriting on the wall, convincingly proclaimed to + me <i>This thou shalt do</i>, with what passionate readiness, as I often + thought, would I have done it, had it been leaping into the infernal Fire. + Thus, in spite of all Motive-grinders, and Mechanical Profit-and-Loss + Philosophies, with the sick ophthalmia and hallucination they had brought + on, was the Infinite nature of Duty still dimly present to me: living + without God in the world, of God's light I was not utterly bereft; if my + as yet sealed eyes, with their unspeakable longing, could nowhere see Him, + nevertheless in my heart He was present, and His heaven-written Law still + stood legible and sacred there." + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, under all these tribulations, and temporal and spiritual + destitutions, what must the Wanderer, in his silent soul, have endured! + "The painfullest feeling," writes he, "is that of your own Feebleness (<i>Unkraft</i>); + ever, as the English Milton says, to be weak is the true misery. And yet + of your Strength there is and can be no clear feeling, save by what you + have prospered in, by what you have done. Between vague wavering + Capability and fixed indubitable Performance, what a difference! A certain + inarticulate Self-consciousness dwells dimly in us; which only our Works + can render articulate and decisively discernible. Our Works are the mirror + wherein the spirit first sees its natural lineaments. Hence, too, the + folly of that impossible Precept, <i>Know thyself</i>; till it be + translated into this partially possible one, <i>Know what thou canst work + at</i>. + </p> + <p> + "But for me, so strangely unprosperous had I been, the net-result of my + Workings amounted as yet simply to—Nothing. How then could I believe + in my Strength, when there was as yet no mirror to see it in? Ever did + this agitating, yet, as I now perceive, quite frivolous question, remain + to me insoluble: Hast thou a certain Faculty, a certain Worth, such even + as the most have not; or art thou the completest Dullard of these modern + times? Alas, the fearful Unbelief is unbelief in yourself; and how could I + believe? Had not my first, last Faith in myself, when even to me the + Heavens seemed laid open, and I dared to love, been all too cruelly + belied? The speculative Mystery of Life grew ever more mysterious to me: + neither in the practical Mystery had I made the slightest progress, but + been everywhere buffeted, foiled, and contemptuously cast out. A feeble + unit in the middle of a threatening Infinitude, I seemed to have nothing + given me but eyes, whereby to discern my own wretchedness. Invisible yet + impenetrable walls, as of Enchantment, divided me from all living: was + there, in the wide world, any true bosom I could press trustfully to mine? + O Heaven, No, there was none! I kept a lock upon my lips: why should I + speak much with that shifting variety of so-called Friends, in whose + withered, vain and too-hungry souls Friendship was but an incredible + tradition? In such cases, your resource is to talk little, and that little + mostly from the Newspapers. Now when I look back, it was a strange + isolation I then lived in. The men and women around me, even speaking with + me, were but Figures; I had, practically, forgotten that they were alive, + that they were not merely automatic. In the midst of their crowded streets + and assemblages, I walked solitary; and (except as it was my own heart, + not another's, that I kept devouring) savage also, as the tiger in his + jungle. Some comfort it would have been, could I, like a Faust, have + fancied myself tempted and tormented of the Devil; for a Hell, as I + imagine, without Life, though only diabolic Life, were more frightful: but + in our age of Down-pulling and Disbelief, the very Devil has been pulled + down, you cannot so much as believe in a Devil. To me the Universe was all + void of Life, of Purpose, of Volition, even of Hostility: it was one huge, + dead, immeasurable Steam-engine, rolling on, in its dead indifference, to + grind me limb from limb. Oh, the vast, gloomy, solitary Golgotha, and Mill + of Death! Why was the Living banished thither companionless, conscious? + Why, if there is no Devil; nay, unless the Devil is your God?" + </p> + <p> + A prey incessantly to such corrosions, might not, moreover, as the worst + aggravation to them, the iron constitution even of a Teufelsdrockh + threaten to fail? We conjecture that he has known sickness; and, in spite + of his locomotive habits, perhaps sickness of the chronic sort. Hear this, + for example: "How beautiful to die of broken-heart, on Paper! Quite + another thing in practice; every window of your Feeling, even of your + Intellect, as it were, begrimed and mud-bespattered, so that no pure ray + can enter; a whole Drug-shop in your inwards; the fordone soul drowning + slowly in quagmires of Disgust!" + </p> + <p> + Putting all which external and internal miseries together, may we not find + in the following sentences, quite in our Professor's still vein, + significance enough? "From Suicide a certain after-shine (<i>Nachschein</i>) + of Christianity withheld me: perhaps also a certain indolence of + character; for, was not that a remedy I had at any time within reach? + Often, however, was there a question present to me: Should some one now, + at the turning of that corner, blow thee suddenly out of Space, into the + other World, or other No-world, by pistol-shot,—how were it? On + which ground, too, I have often, in sea-storms and sieged cities and other + death-scenes, exhibited an imperturbability, which passed, falsely enough, + for courage." + </p> + <p> + "So had it lasted," concludes the Wanderer, "so had it lasted, as in + bitter protracted Death-agony, through long years. The heart within me, + unvisited by any heavenly dew-drop, was smouldering in sulphurous, + slow-consuming fire. Almost since earliest memory I had shed no tear; or + once only when I, murmuring half-audibly, recited Faust's Death-song, that + wild <i>Selig der den er im Siegesglanze findet</i> (Happy whom <i>he</i> + finds in Battle's splendor), and thought that of this last Friend even I + was not forsaken, that Destiny itself could not doom me not to die. Having + no hope, neither had I any definite fear, were it of Man or of Devil: nay, + I often felt as if it might be solacing, could the Arch-Devil himself, + though in Tartarean terrors, but rise to me, that I might tell him a + little of my mind. And yet, strangely enough, I lived in a continual, + indefinite, pining fear; tremulous, pusillanimous, apprehensive of I knew + not what: it seemed as if all things in the Heavens above and the Earth + beneath would hurt me; as if the Heavens and the Earth were but boundless + jaws of a devouring monster, wherein I, palpitating, waited to be + devoured. + </p> + <p> + "Full of such humor, and perhaps the miserablest man in the whole French + Capital or Suburbs, was I, one sultry Dog-day, after much perambulation, + toiling along the dirty little <i>Rue Saint-Thomas de l'Enfer</i>, among + civic rubbish enough, in a close atmosphere, and over pavements hot as + Nebuchadnezzar's Furnace; whereby doubtless my spirits were little + cheered; when, all at once, there rose a Thought in me, and I asked + myself: 'What <i>art</i> thou afraid of? Wherefore, like a coward, dost + thou forever pip and whimper, and go cowering and trembling? Despicable + biped! what is the sum-total of the worst that lies before thee? Death? + Well, Death; and say the pangs of Tophet too, and all that the Devil and + Man may, will or can do against thee! Hast thou not a heart; canst thou + not suffer whatsoever it be; and, as a Child of Freedom, though outcast, + trample Tophet itself under thy feet, while it consumes thee? Let it come, + then; I will meet it and defy it!' And as I so thought, there rushed like + a stream of fire over my whole soul; and I shook base Fear away from me + forever. I was strong, of unknown strength; a spirit, almost a god. Ever + from that time, the temper of my misery was changed: not Fear or whining + Sorrow was it, but Indignation and grim fire-eyed Defiance. + </p> + <p> + "Thus had the EVERLASTING NO (<i>das ewige Nein</i>) pealed + authoritatively through all the recesses of my Being, of my ME; and then + was it that my whole ME stood up, in native God-created majesty, and with + emphasis recorded its Protest. Such a Protest, the most important + transaction in Life, may that same Indignation and Defiance, in a + psychological point of view, be fitly called. The Everlasting No had said: + 'Behold, thou art fatherless, outcast, and the Universe is mine (the + Devil's);' to which my whole Me now made answer: '<i>I</i> am not thine, + but Free, and forever hate thee!' + </p> + <p> + "It is from this hour that I incline to date my Spiritual New-birth, or + Baphometic Fire-baptism; perhaps I directly thereupon began to be a Man." + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0019"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. CENTRE OF INDIFFERENCE. + </h2> + <p> + Though, after this "Baphometic Fire-baptism" of his, our Wanderer + signifies that his Unrest was but increased; as, indeed, "Indignation and + Defiance," especially against things in general, are not the most + peaceable inmates; yet can the Psychologist surmise that it was no longer + a quite hopeless Unrest; that henceforth it had at least a fixed centre to + revolve round. For the fire-baptized soul, long so scathed and + thunder-riven, here feels its own Freedom, which feeling is its Baphometic + Baptism: the citadel of its whole kingdom it has thus gained by assault, + and will keep inexpugnable; outwards from which the remaining dominions, + not indeed without hard battling, will doubtless by degrees be conquered + and pacificated. Under another figure, we might say, if in that great + moment, in the <i>Rue Saint-Thomas de l'Enfer</i>, the old inward Satanic + School was not yet thrown out of doors, it received peremptory judicial + notice to quit;—whereby, for the rest, its howl-chantings, + Ernulphus-cursings, and rebellious gnashings of teeth, might, in the mean + while, become only the more tumultuous, and difficult to keep secret. + </p> + <p> + Accordingly, if we scrutinize these Pilgrimings well, there is perhaps + discernible henceforth a certain incipient method in their madness. Not + wholly as a Spectre does Teufelsdrockh now storm through the world; at + worst as a spectra-fighting Man, nay who will one day be a + Spectre-queller. If pilgriming restlessly to so many "Saints' Wells," and + ever without quenching of his thirst, he nevertheless finds little secular + wells, whereby from time to time some alleviation is ministered. In a + word, he is now, if not ceasing, yet intermitting to "eat his own heart;" + and clutches round him outwardly on the NOT-ME for wholesomer food. Does + not the following glimpse exhibit him in a much more natural state? + </p> + <p> + "Towns also and Cities, especially the ancient, I failed not to look upon + with interest. How beautiful to see thereby, as through a long vista, into + the remote Time; to have, as it were, an actual section of almost the + earliest Past brought safe into the Present, and set before your eyes! + There, in that old City, was a live ember of Culinary Fire put down, say + only two thousand years ago; and there, burning more or less triumphantly, + with such fuel as the region yielded, it has burnt, and still burns, and + thou thyself seest the very smoke thereof. Ah! and the far more mysterious + live ember of Vital Fire was then also put down there; and still + miraculously burns and spreads; and the smoke and ashes thereof (in these + Judgment-Halls and Churchyards), and its bellows-engines (in these + Churches), thou still seest; and its flame, looking out from every kind + countenance, and every hateful one, still warms thee or scorches thee. + </p> + <p> + "Of Man's Activity and Attainment the chief results are aeriform, mystic, + and preserved in Tradition only: such are his Forms of Government, with + the Authority they rest on; his Customs, or Fashions both of Cloth-habits + and of Soul-habits; much more his collective stock of Handicrafts, the + whole Faculty he has acquired of manipulating Nature: all these things, as + indispensable and priceless as they are, cannot in any way be fixed under + lock and key, but must flit, spirit-like, on impalpable vehicles, from + Father to Son; if you demand sight of them, they are nowhere to be met + with. Visible Ploughmen and Hammermen there have been, ever from Cain and + Tubal-cain downwards: but where does your accumulated Agricultural, + Metallurgic, and other Manufacturing SKILL lie warehoused? It transmits + itself on the atmospheric air, on the sun's rays (by Hearing and by + Vision); it is a thing aeriform, impalpable, of quite spiritual sort. In + like manner, ask me not, Where are the LAWS; where is the GOVERNMENT? In + vain wilt thou go to Schonbrunn, to Downing Street, to the Palais Bourbon; + thou findest nothing there but brick or stone houses, and some bundles of + Papers tied with tape. Where, then, is that same cunningly devised + almighty GOVERNMENT of theirs to be laid hands on? Everywhere, yet + nowhere: seen only in its works, this too is a thing aeriform, invisible; + or if you will, mystic and miraculous. So spiritual (<i>geistig</i>) is + our whole daily Life: all that we do springs out of Mystery, Spirit, + invisible Force; only like a little Cloud-image, or Armida's Palace, + air-built, does the Actual body itself forth from the great mystic Deep. + </p> + <p> + "Visible and tangible products of the Past, again, I reckon up to the + extent of three: Cities, with their Cabinets and Arsenals; then tilled + Fields, to either or to both of which divisions Roads with their Bridges + may belong; and thirdly—Books. In which third truly, the last + invented, lies a worth far surpassing that of the two others. Wondrous + indeed is the virtue of a true Book. Not like a dead city of stones, + yearly crumbling, yearly needing repair; more like a tilled field, but + then a spiritual field: like a spiritual tree, let me rather say, it + stands from year to year, and from age to age (we have Books that already + number some hundred and fifty human ages); and yearly comes its new + produce of leaves (Commentaries, Deductions, Philosophical, Political + Systems; or were it only Sermons, Pamphlets, Journalistic Essays), every + one of which is talismanic and thaumaturgic, for it can persuade men. O + thou who art able to write a Book, which once in the two centuries or + oftener there is a man gifted to do, envy not him whom they name + City-builder, and inexpressibly pity him whom they name Conqueror or + City-burner! Thou too art a Conqueror and Victor; but of the true sort, + namely over the Devil: thou too hast built what will outlast all marble + and metal, and be a wonder-bringing City of the Mind, a Temple and + Seminary and Prophetic Mount, whereto all kindreds of the Earth will + pilgrim.—Fool! why journeyest thou wearisomely, in thy antiquarian + fervor, to gaze on the stone pyramids of Geeza, or the clay ones of + Sacchara? These stand there, as I can tell thee, idle and inert, looking + over the Desert, foolishly enough, for the last three thousand years: but + canst thou not open thy Hebrew BIBLE, then, or even Luther's Version + thereof?" + </p> + <p> + No less satisfactory is his sudden appearance not in Battle, yet on some + Battle-field; which, we soon gather, must be that of Wagram; so that here, + for once, is a certain approximation to distinctness of date. Omitting + much, let us impart what follows:— + </p> + <p> + "Horrible enough! A whole Marchfeld strewed with shell-splinters, + cannon-shot, ruined tumbrils, and dead men and horses; stragglers still + remaining not so much as buried. And those red mould heaps; ay, there lie + the Shells of Men, out of which all the Life and Virtue has been blown; + and now are they swept together, and crammed down out of sight, like blown + Egg-shells!—Did Nature, when she bade the Donau bring down his + mould-cargoes from the Carinthian and Carpathian Heights, and spread them + out here into the softest, richest level,—intend thee, O Marchfeld, + for a corn-bearing Nursery, whereon her children might be nursed; or for a + Cockpit, wherein they might the more commodiously be throttled and + tattered? Were thy three broad Highways, meeting here from the ends of + Europe, made for Ammunition-wagons, then? Were thy Wagrams and Stillfrieds + but so many ready-built Casemates, wherein the house of Hapsburg might + batter with artillery, and with artillery be battered? Konig Ottokar, amid + yonder hillocks, dies under Rodolf's truncheon; here Kaiser Franz falls + a-swoon under Napoleon's: within which five centuries, to omit the others, + how has thy breast, fair Plain, been defaced and defiled! The greensward + is torn up and trampled down; man's fond care of it, his fruit-trees, + hedge-rows, and pleasant dwellings, blown away with gunpowder; and the + kind seedfield lies a desolate, hideous Place of Skulls.—Nevertheless, + Nature is at work; neither shall these Powder-Devilkins with their utmost + devilry gainsay her: but all that gore and carnage will be shrouded in, + absorbed into manure; and next year the Marchfeld will be green, nay + greener. Thrifty unwearied Nature, ever out of our great waste educing + some little profit of thy own,—how dost thou, from the very carcass + of the Killer, bring Life for the Living! + </p> + <p> + "What, speaking in quite unofficial language, is the net purport and + upshot of war? To my own knowledge, for example, there dwell and toil, in + the British village of Dumdrudge, usually some five hundred souls. From + these, by certain 'Natural Enemies' of the French, there are successively + selected, during the French war, say thirty able-bodied men; Dumdrudge, at + her own expense, has suckled and nursed them: she has, not without + difficulty and sorrow, fed them up to manhood, and even trained them to + crafts, so that one can weave, another build, another hammer, and the + weakest can stand under thirty stone avoirdupois. Nevertheless, amid much + weeping and swearing, they are selected; all dressed in red; and shipped + away, at the public charges, some two thousand miles, or say only to the + south of Spain; and fed there till wanted. And now to that same spot, in + the south of Spain, are thirty similar French artisans, from a French + Dumdrudge, in like manner wending: till at length, after infinite effort, + the two parties come into actual juxtaposition; and Thirty stands fronting + Thirty, each with a gun in his hand. Straightaway the word 'Fire!' is + given; and they blow the souls out of one another; and in place of sixty + brisk useful craftsmen, the world has sixty dead carcasses, which it must + bury, and anew shed tears for. Had these men any quarrel? Busy as the + Devil is, not the smallest! They lived far enough apart; were the entirest + strangers; nay, in so wide a Universe, there was even, unconsciously, by + Commerce, some mutual helpfulness between them. How then? Simpleton! their + Governors had fallen out; and instead of shooting one another, had the + cunning to make these poor blockheads shoot.—Alas, so is it in + Deutschland, and hitherto in all other lands; still as of old, 'what + devilry soever Kings do, the Greeks must pay the piper!'—In that + fiction of the English Smollett, it is true, the final Cessation of War is + perhaps prophetically shadowed forth; where the two Natural Enemies, in + person, take each a Tobacco-pipe, filled with Brimstone; light the same, + and smoke in one another's faces, till the weaker gives in: but from such + predicted Peace-Era, what blood-filled trenches, and contentious + centuries, may still divide us!" + </p> + <p> + Thus can the Professor, at least in lucid intervals, look away from his + own sorrows, over the many-colored world, and pertinently enough note what + is passing there. We may remark, indeed, that for the matter of spiritual + culture, if for nothing else, perhaps few periods of his life were richer + than this. Internally, there is the most momentous instructive Course of + Practical Philosophy, with Experiments, going on; towards the right + comprehension of which his Peripatetic habits, favorable to Meditation, + might help him rather than hinder. Externally, again, as he wanders to and + fro, there are, if for the longing heart little substance, yet for the + seeing eye sights enough in these so boundless Travels of his, granting + that the Satanic School was even partially kept down, what an incredible + knowledge of our Planet, and its Inhabitants and their Works, that is to + say, of all knowable things, might not Teufelsdrockh acquire! + </p> + <p> + "I have read in most Public Libraries," says he, "including those of + Constantinople and Samarcand: in most Colleges, except the Chinese + Mandarin ones, I have studied, or seen that there was no studying. Unknown + Languages have I oftenest gathered from their natural repertory, the Air, + by my organ of Hearing; Statistics, Geographics, Topographics came, + through the Eye, almost of their own accord. The ways of Man, how he seeks + food, and warmth, and protection for himself, in most regions, are + ocularly known to me. Like the great Hadrian, I meted out much of the + terraqueous Globe with a pair of Compasses that belonged to myself only. + </p> + <p> + "Of great Scenes why speak? Three summer days, I lingered reflecting, and + even composing (<i>dichtete</i>), by the Pine-chasms of Vaucluse; and in + that clear Lakelet moistened my bread. I have sat under the Palm-trees of + Tadmor; smoked a pipe among the ruins of Babylon. The great Wall of China + I have seen; and can testify that it is of gray brick, coped and covered + with granite, and shows only second-rate masonry.—Great Events, + also, have not I witnessed? Kings sweated down (<i>ausgemergelt</i>) into + Berlin-and-Milan Customhouse-Officers; the World well won, and the World + well lost; oftener than once a hundred thousand individuals shot (by each + other) in one day. All kindreds and peoples and nations dashed together, + and shifted and shovelled into heaps, that they might ferment there, and + in time unite. The birth-pangs of Democracy, wherewith convulsed Europe + was groaning in cries that reached Heaven, could not escape me. + </p> + <p> + "For great Men I have ever had the warmest predilection; and can perhaps + boast that few such in this era have wholly escaped me. Great Men are the + inspired (speaking and acting) Texts of that divine BOOK OF REVELATIONS, + whereof a Chapter is completed from epoch to epoch, and by some named + HISTORY; to which inspired Texts your numerous talented men, and your + innumerable untalented men, are the better or worse exegetic Commentaries, + and wagon-load of too-stupid, heretical or orthodox, weekly Sermons. For + my study, the inspired Texts themselves! Thus did not I, in very early + days, having disguised me as tavern-waiter, stand behind the field-chairs, + under that shady Tree at Treisnitz by the Jena Highway; waiting upon the + great Schiller and greater Goethe; and hearing what I have not forgotten. + For—" + </p> + <p> + —But at this point the Editor recalls his principle of caution, some + time ago laid down, and must suppress much. Let not the sacredness of + Laurelled, still more, of Crowned Heads, be tampered with. Should we, at a + future day, find circumstances altered, and the time come for Publication, + then may these glimpses into the privacy of the Illustrious be conceded; + which for the present were little better than treacherous, perhaps + traitorous Eavesdroppings. Of Lord Byron, therefore, of Pope Pius, Emperor + Tarakwang, and the "White Water-roses" (Chinese Carbonari) with their + mysteries, no notice here! Of Napoleon himself we shall only, glancing + from afar, remark that Teufelsdrockh's relation to him seems to have been + of very varied character. At first we find our poor Professor on the point + of being shot as a spy; then taken into private conversation, even pinched + on the ear, yet presented with no money; at last indignantly dismissed, + almost thrown out of doors, as an "Ideologist." "He himself," says the + Professor, "was among the completest Ideologists, at least Ideopraxists: + in the Idea (<i>in der Idee</i>) he lived, moved and fought. The man was a + Divine Missionary, though unconscious of it; and preached, through the + cannon's throat, that great doctrine, <i>La carriere ouverte aux talens</i> + (The Tools to him that can handle them), which is our ultimate Political + Evangel, wherein alone can liberty lie. Madly enough he preached, it is + true, as Enthusiasts and first Missionaries are wont, with imperfect + utterance, amid much frothy rant; yet as articulately perhaps as the case + admitted. Or call him, if you will, an American Backwoodsman, who had to + fell unpenetrated forests, and battle with innumerable wolves, and did not + entirely forbear strong liquor, rioting, and even theft; whom, + notwithstanding, the peaceful Sower will follow, and, as he cuts the + boundless harvest, bless." + </p> + <p> + More legitimate and decisively authentic is Teufelsdrockh's appearance and + emergence (we know not well whence) in the solitude of the North Cape, on + that June Midnight. He has a "light-blue Spanish cloak" hanging round him, + as his "most commodious, principal, indeed sole upper-garment;" and stands + there, on the World-promontory, looking over the infinite Brine, like a + little blue Belfry (as we figure), now motionless indeed, yet ready, if + stirred, to ring quaintest changes. + </p> + <p> + "Silence as of death," writes he; "for Midnight, even in the Arctic + latitudes, has its character: nothing but the granite cliffs ruddy-tinged, + the peaceable gurgle of that slow-heaving Polar Ocean, over which in the + utmost North the great Sun hangs low and lazy, as if he too were + slumbering. Yet is his cloud-couch wrought of crimson and cloth-of-gold; + yet does his light stream over the mirror of waters, like a tremulous + fire-pillar, shooting downwards to the abyss, and hide itself under my + feet. In such moments, Solitude also is invaluable; for who would speak, + or be looked on, when behind him lies all Europe and Africa, fast asleep, + except the watchmen; and before him the silent Immensity, and Palace of + the Eternal, whereof our Sun is but a porch-lamp? + </p> + <p> + "Nevertheless, in this solemn moment comes a man, or monster, scrambling + from among the rock-hollows; and, shaggy, huge as the Hyperborean Bear, + hails me in Russian speech: most probably, therefore, a Russian Smuggler. + With courteous brevity, I signify my indifference to contraband trade, my + humane intentions, yet strong wish to be private. In vain: the monster, + counting doubtless on his superior stature, and minded to make sport for + himself, or perhaps profit, were it with murder, continues to advance; + ever assailing me with his importunate train-oil breath; and now has + advanced, till we stand both on the verge of the rock, the deep Sea + rippling greedily down below. What argument will avail? On the thick + Hyperborean, cherubic reasoning, seraphic eloquence were lost. Prepared + for such extremity, I, deftly enough, whisk aside one step; draw out, from + my interior reservoirs, a sufficient Birmingham Horse-pistol, and say, 'Be + so obliging as retire, Friend (<i>Er ziehe sich zuruck, Freund</i>), and + with promptitude!' This logic even the Hyperborean understands: fast + enough, with apologetic, petitionary growl, he sidles off; and, except for + suicidal as well as homicidal purposes, need not return. + </p> + <p> + "Such I hold to be the genuine use of Gunpowder: that it makes all men + alike tall. Nay, if thou be cooler, cleverer than I, if thou have more <i>Mind</i>, + though all but no <i>Body</i> whatever, then canst thou kill me first, and + art the taller. Hereby, at last, is the Goliath powerless, and the David + resistless; savage Animalism is nothing, inventive Spiritualism is all. + </p> + <p> + "With respect to Duels, indeed, I have my own ideas. Few things, in this + so surprising world, strike me with more surprise. Two little visual + Spectra of men, hovering with insecure enough cohesion in the midst of the + UNFATHOMABLE, and to dissolve therein, at any rate, very soon,—make + pause at the distance of twelve paces asunder; whirl round; and, + simultaneously by the cunningest mechanism, explode one another into + Dissolution; and off-hand become Air, and Non-extant! Deuce on it (<i>verdammt</i>), + the little spitfires!—Nay, I think with old Hugo von Trimberg: 'God + must needs laugh outright, could such a thing be, to see his wondrous + Manikins here below.'" + </p> + <p> + But amid these specialties, let us not forget the great generality, which + is our chief quest here: How prospered the inner man of Teufelsdrockh, + under so much outward shifting! Does Legion still lurk in him, though + repressed; or has he exorcised that Devil's Brood? We can answer that the + symptoms continue promising. Experience is the grand spiritual Doctor; and + with him Teufelsdrockh has now been long a patient, swallowing many a + bitter bolus. Unless our poor Friend belong to the numerous class of + Incurables, which seems not likely, some cure will doubtless be effected. + We should rather say that Legion, or the Satanic School, was now pretty + well extirpated and cast out, but next to nothing introduced in its room; + whereby the heart remains, for the while, in a quiet but no comfortable + state. + </p> + <p> + "At length, after so much roasting," thus writes our Autobiographer, "I + was what you might name calcined. Pray only that it be not rather, as is + the more frequent issue, reduced to a <i>caput-mortuum</i>! But in any + case, by mere dint of practice, I had grown familiar with many things. + Wretchedness was still wretched; but I could now partly see through it, + and despise it. Which highest mortal, in this inane Existence, had I not + found a Shadow-hunter, or Shadow-hunted; and, when I looked through his + brave garnitures, miserable enough? Thy wishes have all been sniffed + aside, thought I: but what, had they even been all granted! Did not the + Boy Alexander weep because he had not two Planets to conquer; or a whole + Solar System; or after that, a whole Universe? <i>Ach Gott</i>, when I + gazed into these Stars, have they not looked down on me as if with pity, + from their serene spaces; like Eyes glistening with heavenly tears over + the little lot of man! Thousands of human generations, all as noisy as our + own, have been swallowed up of Time, and there remains no wreck of them + any more; and Arcturus and Orion and Sirius and the Pleiades are still + shining in their courses, clear and young, as when the Shepherd first + noted them in the plain of Shinar. Pshaw! what is this paltry little + Dog-cage of an Earth; what art thou that sittest whining there? Thou art + still Nothing, Nobody: true; but who, then, is Something, Somebody? For + thee the Family of Man has no use; it rejects thee; thou art wholly as a + dissevered limb: so be it; perhaps it is better so!" + </p> + <p> + Too-heavy-laden Teufelsdrockh! Yet surely his bands are loosening; one day + he will hurl the burden far from him, and bound forth free and with a + second youth. + </p> + <p> + "This," says our Professor, "was the CENTRE OF INDIFFERENCE I had now + reached; through which whoso travels from the Negative Pole to the + Positive must necessarily pass." + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0020"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. THE EVERLASTING YEA. + </h2> + <p> + "Temptations in the Wilderness!" exclaims Teufelsdrockh, "Have we not all + to be tried with such? Not so easily can the old Adam, lodged in us by + birth, be dispossessed. Our Life is compassed round with Necessity; yet is + the meaning of Life itself no other than Freedom, than Voluntary Force: + thus have we a warfare; in the beginning, especially, a hard-fought + battle. For the God-given mandate, <i>Work thou in Well-doing</i>, lies + mysteriously written, in Promethean Prophetic Characters, in our hearts; + and leaves us no rest, night or day, till it be deciphered and obeyed; + till it burn forth, in our conduct, a visible, acted Gospel of Freedom. + And as the clay-given mandate, <i>Eat thou and be filled</i>, at the same + time persuasively proclaims itself through every nerve,—must not + there be a confusion, a contest, before the better Influence can become + the upper? + </p> + <p> + "To me nothing seems more natural than that the Son of Man, when such + God-given mandate first prophetically stirs within him, and the Clay must + now be vanquished or vanquish,—should be carried of the spirit into + grim Solitudes, and there fronting the Tempter do grimmest battle with + him; defiantly setting him at naught till he yield and fly. Name it as we + choose: with or without visible Devil, whether in the natural Desert of + rocks and sands, or in the populous moral Desert of selfishness and + baseness,—to such Temptation are we all called. Unhappy if we are + not! Unhappy if we are but Half-men, in whom that divine handwriting has + never blazed forth, all-subduing, in true sun-splendor; but quivers + dubiously amid meaner lights: or smoulders, in dull pain, in darkness, + under earthly vapors!—Our Wilderness is the wide World in an + Atheistic Century; our Forty Days are long years of suffering and fasting: + nevertheless, to these also comes an end. Yes, to me also was given, if + not Victory, yet the consciousness of Battle, and the resolve to persevere + therein while life or faculty is left. To me also, entangled in the + enchanted forests, demon-peopled, doleful of sight and of sound, it was + given, after weariest wanderings, to work out my way into the higher + sunlit slopes—of that Mountain which has no summit, or whose summit + is in Heaven only!" + </p> + <p> + He says elsewhere, under a less ambitious figure; as figures are, once for + all, natural to him: "Has not thy Life been that of most sufficient men (<i>tuchtigen + Manner</i>) thou hast known in this generation? An outflush of foolish + young Enthusiasm, like the first fallow-crop, wherein are as many weeds as + valuable herbs: this all parched away, under the Droughts of practical and + spiritual Unbelief, as Disappointment, in thought and act, often-repeated + gave rise to Doubt, and Doubt gradually settled into Denial! If I have had + a second-crop, and now see the perennial greensward, and sit under + umbrageous cedars, which defy all Drought (and Doubt); herein too, be the + Heavens praised, I am not without examples, and even exemplars." + </p> + <p> + So that, for Teufelsdrockh, also, there has been a "glorious revolution:" + these mad shadow-hunting and shadow-hunted Pilgrimings of his were but + some purifying "Temptation in the Wilderness," before his apostolic work + (such as it was) could begin; which Temptation is now happily over, and + the Devil once more worsted! Was "that high moment in the <i>Rue de + l'Enfer</i>," then, properly the turning-point of the battle; when the + Fiend said, <i>Worship me, or be torn in shreds</i>; and was answered + valiantly with an <i>Apage Satana</i>?—Singular Teufelsdrockh, would + thou hadst told thy singular story in plain words! But it is fruitless to + look there, in those Paper-bags, for such. Nothing but innuendoes, + figurative crotchets: a typical Shadow, fitfully wavering, + prophetico-satiric; no clear logical Picture. "How paint to the sensual + eye," asks he once, "what passes in the Holy-of-Holies of Man's Soul; in + what words, known to these profane times, speak even afar-off of the + unspeakable?" We ask in turn: Why perplex these times, profane as they + are, with needless obscurity, by omission and by commission? Not mystical + only is our Professor, but whimsical; and involves himself, now more than + ever, in eye-bewildering <i>chiaroscuro</i>. Successive glimpses, here + faithfully imparted, our more gifted readers must endeavor to combine for + their own behoof. + </p> + <p> + He says: "The hot Harmattan wind had raged itself out; its howl went + silent within me; and the long-deafened soul could now hear. I paused in + my wild wanderings; and sat me down to wait, and consider; for it was as + if the hour of change drew nigh. I seemed to surrender, to renounce + utterly, and say: Fly, then, false shadows of Hope; I will chase you no + more, I will believe you no more. And ye too, haggard spectres of Fear, I + care not for you; ye too are all shadows and a lie. Let me rest here: for + I am way-weary and life-weary; I will rest here, were it but to die: to + die or to live is alike to me; alike insignificant."—And again: + "Here, then, as I lay in that CENTRE OF INDIFFERENCE; cast, doubtless by + benignant upper Influence, into a healing sleep, the heavy dreams rolled + gradually away, and I awoke to a new Heaven and a new Earth. The first + preliminary moral Act, Annihilation of Self (<i>Selbst-todtung</i>), had + been happily accomplished; and my mind's eyes were now unsealed, and its + hands ungyved." + </p> + <p> + Might we not also conjecture that the following passage refers to his + Locality, during this same "healing sleep;" that his Pilgrim-staff lies + cast aside here, on "the high table-land;" and indeed that the repose is + already taking wholesome effect on him? If it were not that the tone, in + some parts, has more of riancy, even of levity, than we could have + expected! However, in Teufelsdrockh, there is always the strangest + Dualism: light dancing, with guitar-music, will be going on in the + fore-court, while by fits from within comes the faint whimpering of woe + and wail. We transcribe the piece entire. + </p> + <p> + "Beautiful it was to sit there, as in my skyey Tent, musing and + meditating; on the high table-land, in front of the Mountains; over me, as + roof, the azure Dome, and around me, for walls, four azure-flowing + curtains,—namely, of the Four azure Winds, on whose bottom-fringes + also I have seen gilding. And then to fancy the fair Castles that stood + sheltered in these Mountain hollows; with their green flower-lawns, and + white dames and damosels, lovely enough: or better still, the straw-roofed + Cottages, wherein stood many a Mother baking bread, with her children + round her:—all hidden and protectingly folded up in the + valley-folds; yet there and alive, as sure as if I beheld them. Or to see, + as well as fancy, the nine Towns and Villages, that lay round my + mountain-seat, which, in still weather, were wont to speak to me (by their + steeple-bells) with metal tongue; and, in almost all weather, proclaimed + their vitality by repeated Smoke-clouds; whereon, as on a culinary + horologe, I might read the hour of the day. For it was the smoke of + cookery, as kind housewives at morning, midday, eventide, were boiling + their husbands' kettles; and ever a blue pillar rose up into the air, + successively or simultaneously, from each of the nine, saying, as plainly + as smoke could say: Such and such a meal is getting ready here. Not + uninteresting! For you have the whole Borough, with all its love-makings + and scandal-mongeries, contentions and contentments, as in miniature, and + could cover it all with your hat.—If, in my wide Way-farings, I had + learned to look into the business of the World in its details, here + perhaps was the place for combining it into general propositions, and + deducing inferences therefrom. + </p> + <p> + "Often also could I see the black Tempest marching in anger through the + Distance: round some Schreckhorn, as yet grim-blue, would the eddying + vapor gather, and there tumultuously eddy, and flow down like a mad + witch's hair; till, after a space, it vanished, and, in the clear sunbeam, + your Schreckhorn stood smiling grim-white, for the vapor had held snow. + How thou fermentest and elaboratest, in thy great fermenting-vat and + laboratory of an Atmosphere, of a World, O Nature!—Or what is + Nature? Ha! why do I not name thee GOD? Art not thou the 'Living Garment + of God'? O Heavens, is it, in very deed, HE, then, that ever speaks + through thee; that lives and loves in thee, that lives and loves in me? + </p> + <p> + "Fore-shadows, call them rather fore-splendors, of that Truth, and + Beginning of Truths, fell mysteriously over my soul. Sweeter than + Dayspring to the Shipwrecked in Nova Zembla; ah, like the mother's voice + to her little child that strays bewildered, weeping, in unknown tumults; + like soft streamings of celestial music to my too-exasperated heart, came + that Evangel. The Universe is not dead and demoniacal, a charnel-house + with spectres; but godlike, and my Father's! + </p> + <p> + "With other eyes, too, could I now look upon my fellowman: with an + infinite Love, an infinite Pity. Poor, wandering, wayward man! Art thou + not tried, and beaten with stripes, even as I am? Ever, whether thou bear + the royal mantle or the beggar's gabardine, art thou not so weary, so + heavy-laden; and thy Bed of Rest is but a Grave. O my Brother, my Brother, + why cannot I shelter thee in my bosom, and wipe away all tears from thy + eyes!—Truly, the din of many-voiced Life, which, in this solitude, + with the mind's organ, I could hear, was no longer a maddening discord, + but a melting one; like inarticulate cries, and sobbings of a dumb + creature, which in the ear of Heaven are prayers. The poor Earth, with her + poor joys, was now my needy Mother, not my cruel Stepdame; Man, with his + so mad Wants and so mean Endeavors, had become the dearer to me; and even + for his sufferings and his sins, I now first named him Brother. Thus was I + standing in the porch of that '<i>Sanctuary of Sorrow</i>;' by strange, + steep ways had I too been guided thither; and ere long its sacred gates + would open, and the '<i>Divine Depth of Sorrow</i>' lie disclosed to me." + </p> + <p> + The Professor says, he here first got eye on the Knot that had been + strangling him, and straightway could unfasten it, and was free. "A vain + interminable controversy," writes he, "touching what is at present called + Origin of Evil, or some such thing, arises in every soul, since the + beginning of the world; and in every soul, that would pass from idle + Suffering into actual Endeavoring, must first be put an end to. The most, + in our time, have to go content with a simple, incomplete enough + Suppression of this controversy; to a few some Solution of it is + indispensable. In every new era, too, such Solution comes out in different + terms; and ever the Solution of the last era has become obsolete, and is + found unserviceable. For it is man's nature to change his Dialect from + century to century; he cannot help it though he would. The authentic <i>Church-Catechism</i> + of our present century has not yet fallen into my hands: meanwhile, for my + own private behoof I attempt to elucidate the matter so. Man's + Unhappiness, as I construe, comes of his Greatness; it is because there is + an Infinite in him, which with all his cunning he cannot quite bury under + the Finite. Will the whole Finance Ministers and Upholsterers and + Confectioners of modern Europe undertake, in joint-stock company, to make + one Shoeblack HAPPY? They cannot accomplish it, above an hour or two: for + the Shoeblack also has a Soul quite other than his Stomach; and would + require, if you consider it, for his permanent satisfaction and + saturation, simply this allotment, no more, and no less: <i>God's infinite + Universe altogether to himself</i>, therein to enjoy infinitely, and fill + every wish as fast as it rose. Oceans of Hochheimer, a Throat like that of + Ophiuchus: speak not of them; to the infinite Shoeblack they are as + nothing. No sooner is your ocean filled, than he grumbles that it might + have been of better vintage. Try him with half of a Universe, of an + Omnipotence, he sets to quarrelling with the proprietor of the other half, + and declares himself the most maltreated of men.—Always there is a + black spot in our sunshine: it is even, as I said, the <i>Shadow of + Ourselves</i>. + </p> + <p> + "But the whim we have of Happiness is somewhat thus. By certain + valuations, and averages, of our own striking, we come upon some sort of + average terrestrial lot; this we fancy belongs to us by nature, and of + indefeasible right. It is simple payment of our wages, of our deserts; + requires neither thanks nor complaint; only such <i>overplus</i> as there + may be do we account Happiness; any <i>deficit</i> again is Misery. Now + consider that we have the valuation of our own deserts ourselves, and what + a fund of Self-conceit there is in each of us,—do you wonder that + the balance should so often dip the wrong way, and many a Blockhead cry: + See there, what a payment; was ever worthy gentleman so used!—I tell + thee, Blockhead, it all comes of thy Vanity; of what thou <i>fanciest</i> + those same deserts of thine to be. Fancy that thou deservest to be hanged + (as is most likely), thou wilt feel it happiness to be only shot: fancy + that thou deservest to be hanged in a hair-halter, it will be a luxury to + die in hemp. + </p> + <p> + "So true is it, what I then said, that <i>the Fraction of Life can be + increased in value not so much by increasing your Numerator as by + lessening your Denominator</i>. Nay, unless my Algebra deceive me, <i>Unity</i> + itself divided by <i>Zero</i> will give <i>Infinity</i>. Make thy claim of + wages a zero, then; thou hast the world under thy feet. Well did the + Wisest of our time write: 'It is only with Renunciation (<i>Entsagen</i>) + that Life, properly speaking, can be said to begin.' + </p> + <p> + "I asked myself: What is this that, ever since earliest years, thou hast + been fretting and fuming, and lamenting and self-tormenting, on account + of? Say it in a word: is it not because thou art not HAPPY? Because the + THOU (sweet gentleman) is not sufficiently honored, nourished, + soft-bedded, and lovingly cared for? Foolish soul! What Act of Legislature + was there that <i>thou</i> shouldst be Happy? A little while ago thou + hadst no right to <i>be</i> at all. What if thou wert born and predestined + not to be Happy, but to be Unhappy! Art thou nothing other than a Vulture, + then, that fliest through the Universe seeking after somewhat to <i>eat</i>; + and shrieking dolefully because carrion enough is not given thee? Close + thy <i>Byron</i>; open thy <i>Goethe</i>." + </p> + <p> + "<i>Es leuchtet mir ein</i>, I see a glimpse of it!" cries he elsewhere: + "there is in man a HIGHER than Love of Happiness: he can do without + Happiness, and instead thereof find Blessedness! Was it not to preach + forth this same HIGHER that sages and martyrs, the Poet and the Priest, in + all times, have spoken and suffered; bearing testimony, through life and + through death, of the Godlike that is in Man, and how in the Godlike only + has he Strength and Freedom? Which God-inspiredd Doctrine art thou also + honored to be taught; O Heavens! and broken with manifold merciful + Afflictions, even till thou become contrite and learn it! Oh, thank thy + Destiny for these; thankfully bear what yet remain: thou hadst need of + them; the Self in thee needed to be annihilated. By benignant + fever-paroxysms is Life rooting out the deep-seated chronic Disease, and + triumphs over Death. On the roaring billows of Time, thou art not + engulfed, but borne aloft into the azure of Eternity. Love not Pleasure; + love God. This is the EVERLASTING YEA, wherein all contradiction is + solved: wherein whoso walks and works, it is well with him." + </p> + <p> + And again: "Small is it that thou canst trample the Earth with its + injuries under thy feet, as old Greek Zeno trained thee: thou canst love + the Earth while it injures thee, and even because it injures thee; for + this a Greater than Zeno was needed, and he too was sent. Knowest thou + that '<i>Worship of Sorrow</i>'? The Temple thereof, founded some eighteen + centuries ago, now lies in ruins, overgrown with jungle, the habitation of + doleful creatures: nevertheless, venture forward; in a low crypt, arched + out of falling fragments, thou findest the Altar still there, and its + sacred Lamp perennially burning." + </p> + <p> + Without pretending to comment on which strange utterances, the Editor will + only remark, that there lies beside them much of a still more questionable + character; unsuited to the general apprehension; nay wherein he himself + does not see his way. Nebulous disquisitions on Religion, yet not without + bursts of splendor; on the "perennial continuance of Inspiration;" on + Prophecy; that there are "true Priests, as well as Baal-Priests, in our + own day:" with more of the like sort. We select some fractions, by way of + finish to this farrago. + </p> + <p> + "Cease, my much-respected Herr von Voltaire," thus apostrophizes the + Professor: "shut thy sweet voice; for the task appointed thee seems + finished. Sufficiently hast thou demonstrated this proposition, + considerable or otherwise: That the Mythus of the Christian Religion looks + not in the eighteenth century as it did in the eighth. Alas, were thy + six-and-thirty quartos, and the six-and-thirty thousand other quartos and + folios, and flying sheets or reams, printed before and since on the same + subject, all needed to convince us of so little! But what next? Wilt thou + help us to embody the divine Spirit of that Religion in a new Mythus, in a + new vehicle and vesture, that our Souls, otherwise too like perishing, may + live? What! thou hast no faculty in that kind? Only a torch for burning, + no hammer for building? Take our thanks, then, and—thyself away. + </p> + <p> + "Meanwhile what are antiquated Mythuses to me? Or is the God present, felt + in my own heart, a thing which Herr von Voltaire will dispute out of me; + or dispute into me? To the '<i>Worship of Sorrow</i>' ascribe what origin + and genesis thou pleasest, <i>has</i> not that Worship originated, and + been generated; is it not <i>here</i>? Feel it in thy heart, and then say + whether it is of God! This is Belief; all else is Opinion,—for which + latter whoso will, let him worry and be worried." + </p> + <p> + "Neither," observes he elsewhere, "shall ye tear out one another's eyes, + struggling over 'Plenary Inspiration,' and such like: try rather to get a + little even Partial Inspiration, each of you for himself. One BIBLE I + know, of whose Plenary Inspiration doubt is not so much as possible; nay + with my own eyes I saw the God's-Hand writing it: thereof all other Bibles + are but Leaves,—say, in Picture-Writing to assist the weaker + faculty." + </p> + <p> + Or, to give the wearied reader relief, and bring it to an end, let him + take the following perhaps more intelligible passage:— + </p> + <p> + "To me, in this our life," says the Professor, "which is an internecine + warfare with the Time-spirit, other warfare seems questionable. Hast thou + in any way a contention with thy brother, I advise thee, think well what + the meaning thereof is. If thou gauge it to the bottom, it is simply this: + 'Fellow, see! thou art taking more than thy share of Happiness in the + world, something from my share: which, by the Heavens, thou shalt not; nay + I will fight thee rather.'—Alas, and the whole lot to be divided is + such a beggarly matter, truly a 'feast of shells,' for the substance has + been spilled out: not enough to quench one Appetite; and the collective + human species clutching at them!—Can we not, in all such cases, + rather say: 'Take it, thou too-ravenous individual; take that pitiful + additional fraction of a share, which I reckoned mine, but which thou so + wantest; take it with a blessing: would to Heaven I had enough for thee!'—If + Fichte's <i>Wissenschaftslehre</i> be, 'to a certain extent, Applied + Christianity,' surely to a still greater extent, so is this. We have here + not a Whole Duty of Man, yet a Half Duty, namely the Passive half: could + we but do it, as we can demonstrate it! + </p> + <p> + "But indeed Conviction, were it never so excellent, is worthless till it + convert itself into Conduct. Nay properly Conviction is not possible till + then; inasmuch as all Speculation is by nature endless, formless, a vortex + amid vortices, only by a felt indubitable certainty of Experience does it + find any centre to revolve round, and so fashion itself into a system. + Most true is it, as a wise man teaches us, that 'Doubt of any sort cannot + be removed except by Action.' On which ground, too, let him who gropes + painfully in darkness or uncertain light, and prays vehemently that the + dawn may ripen into day, lay this other precept well to heart, which to me + was of invaluable service: '<i>Do the Duty which lies nearest thee</i>,' + which thou knowest to be a Duty! Thy second Duty will already have become + clearer. + </p> + <p> + "May we not say, however, that the hour of Spiritual Enfranchisement is + even this: When your Ideal World, wherein the whole man has been dimly + struggling and inexpressibly languishing to work, becomes revealed, and + thrown open; and you discover, with amazement enough, like the Lothario in + <i>Wilhelm Meister</i>, that your 'America is here or nowhere'? The + Situation that has not its Duty, its Ideal, was never yet occupied by man. + Yes here, in this poor, miserable, hampered, despicable Actual, wherein + thou even now standest, here or nowhere is thy Ideal: work it out + therefrom; and working, believe, live, be free. Fool! the Ideal is in + thyself, the impediment too is in thyself: thy Condition is but the stuff + thou art to shape that same Ideal out of: what matters whether such stuff + be of this sort or that, so the Form thou give it be heroic, be poetic? O + thou that pinest in the imprisonment of the Actual, and criest bitterly to + the gods for a kingdom wherein to rule and create, know this of a truth: + the thing thou seekest is already with thee, 'here or nowhere,' couldst + thou only see! + </p> + <p> + "But it is with man's Soul as it was with Nature: the beginning of + Creation is—Light. Till the eye have vision, the whole members are + in bonds. Divine moment, when over the tempest-tost Soul, as once over the + wild-weltering Chaos, it is spoken: Let there be Light! Ever to the + greatest that has felt such moment, is it not miraculous and + God-announcing; even as, under simpler figures, to the simplest and least. + The mad primeval Discord is hushed; the rudely jumbled conflicting + elements bind themselves into separate Firmaments: deep silent + rock-foundations are built beneath; and the skyey vault with its + everlasting Luminaries above: instead of a dark wasteful Chaos, we have a + blooming, fertile, heaven-encompassed World. + </p> + <p> + "I too could now say to myself: Be no longer a Chaos, but a World, or even + Worldkin. Produce! Produce! Were it but the pitifullest infinitesimal + fraction of a Product, produce it, in God's name! 'Tis the utmost thou + hast in thee: out with it, then. Up, up! Whatsoever thy hand findeth to + do, do it with thy whole might. Work while it is called To-day; for the + Night cometh, wherein no man can work." + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0021"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X. PAUSE. + </h2> + <p> + Thus have we, as closely and perhaps satisfactorily as, in such + circumstances, might be, followed Teufelsdrockh, through the various + successive states and stages of Growth, Entanglement, Unbelief, and almost + Reprobation, into a certain clearer state of what he himself seems to + consider as Conversion. "Blame not the word," says he; "rejoice rather + that such a word, signifying such a thing, has come to light in our modern + Era, though hidden from the wisest Ancients. The Old World knew nothing of + Conversion; instead of an <i>Ecce Homo</i>, they had only some <i>Choice + of Hercules</i>. It was a new-attained progress in the Moral Development + of man: hereby has the Highest come home to the bosoms of the most + Limited; what to Plato was but a hallucination, and to Socrates a chimera, + is now clear and certain to your Zinzendorfs, your Wesleys, and the + poorest of their Pietists and Methodists." + </p> + <p> + It is here, then, that the spiritual majority of Teufelsdrockh commences: + we are henceforth to see him "work in well-doing," with the spirit and + clear aims of a Man. He has discovered that the Ideal Workshop he so + panted for is even this same Actual ill-furnished Workshop he has so long + been stumbling in. He can say to himself: "Tools? Thou hast no Tools? Why, + there is not a Man, or a Thing, now alive but has tools. The basest of + created animalcules, the Spider itself, has a spinning-jenny, and + warping-mill, and power-loom within its head: the stupidest of Oysters has + a Papin's-Digester, with stone-and-lime house to hold it in: every being + that can live can do something: this let him <i>do</i>.—Tools? Hast + thou not a Brain, furnished, furnishable with some glimmerings of Light; + and three fingers to hold a Pen withal? Never since Aaron's Rod went out + of practice, or even before it, was there such a wonder-working Tool: + greater than all recorded miracles have been performed by Pens. For + strangely in this so solid-seeming World, which nevertheless is in + continual restless flux, it is appointed that <i>Sound</i>, to appearance + the most fleeting, should be the most continuing of all things. The WORD + is well said to be omnipotent in this world; man, thereby divine, can + create as by a <i>Fiat</i>. Awake, arise! Speak forth what is in thee; + what God has given thee, what the Devil shall not take away. Higher task + than that of Priesthood was allotted to no man: wert thou but the meanest + in that sacred Hierarchy, is it not honor enough therein to spend and be + spent? + </p> + <p> + "By this Art, which whoso will may sacrilegiously degrade into a + handicraft," adds Teufelsdrockh, "have I thenceforth abidden. Writings of + mine, not indeed known as mine (for what am I?), have fallen, perhaps not + altogether void, into the mighty seedfield of Opinion; fruits of my unseen + sowing gratifyingly meet me here and there. I thank the Heavens that I + have now found my Calling; wherein, with or without perceptible result, I + am minded diligently to persevere. + </p> + <p> + "Nay how knowest thou," cries he, "but this and the other pregnant Device, + now grown to be a world-renowned far-working Institution; like a grain of + right mustard-seed once cast into the right soil, and now stretching out + strong boughs to the four winds, for the birds of the air to lodge in,—may + have been properly my doing? Some one's doing, it without doubt was; from + some Idea, in some single Head, it did first of all take beginning: why + not from some Idea in mine?" Does Teufelsdrockh, here glance at that + "SOCIETY FOR THE CONSERVATION OF PROPERTY (<i>Eigenthums-conservirende + Gesellschaft</i>)," of which so many ambiguous notices glide spectra-like + through these inexpressible Paper-bags? "An Institution," hints he, "not + unsuitable to the wants of the time; as indeed such sudden extension + proves: for already can the Society number, among its office-bearers or + corresponding members, the highest Names, if not the highest Persons, in + Germany, England, France; and contributions, both of money and of + meditation pour in from all quarters; to, if possible, enlist the + remaining Integrity of the world, and, defensively and with forethought, + marshal it round this Palladium." Does Teufelsdrockh mean, then, to give + himself out as the originator of that so notable <i>Eigenthums-conservirende</i> + ("Owndom-conserving") <i>Gesellschaft</i>; and if so, what, in the Devil's + name, is it? He again hints: "At a time when the divine Commandment, <i>Thou + shalt not steal</i>, wherein truly, if well understood, is comprised the + whole Hebrew Decalogue, with Solon's and Lycurgrus's Constitutions, + Justinian's Pandects, the Code Napoleon, and all Codes, Catechisms, + Divinities, Moralities whatsoever, that man has hitherto devised (and + enforced with Altar-fire and Gallows-ropes) for his social guidance: at a + time, I say, when this divine Commandment has all but faded away from the + general remembrance; and, with little disguise, a new opposite + Commandment, <i>Thou shalt steal</i>, is everywhere promulgated,—it + perhaps behooved, in this universal dotage and deliration, the sound + portion of mankind to bestir themselves and rally. When the widest and + wildest violations of that divine right of Property, the only divine right + now extant or conceivable, are sanctioned and recommended by a vicious + Press, and the world has lived to hear it asserted that <i>we have no + Property in our very Bodies, but only an accidental Possession and + Life-rent</i>, what is the issue to be looked for? Hangmen and Catchpoles + may, by their noose-gins and baited fall-traps, keep down the smaller sort + of vermin; but what, except perhaps some such Universal Association, can + protect us against whole meat-devouring and man-devouring hosts of + Boa-constrictors. If, therefore, the more sequestered Thinker have + wondered, in his privacy, from what hand that perhaps not ill-written <i>Program</i> + in the Public Journals, with its high <i>Prize-Questions</i> and so + liberal <i>Prizes</i>, could have proceeded,—let him now cease such + wonder; and, with undivided faculty, betake himself to the <i>Concurrenz</i> + (Competition)." + </p> + <p> + We ask: Has this same "perhaps not ill-written <i>Program</i>," or any + other authentic Transaction of that Property-conserving Society, fallen + under the eye of the British Reader, in any Journal foreign or domestic? + If so, what are those <i>Prize-Questions</i>; what are the terms of + Competition, and when and where? No printed Newspaper-leaf, no farther + light of any sort, to be met with in these Paper-bags! Or is the whole + business one other of those whimsicalities and perverse inexplicabilities, + whereby Herr Teufelsdrockh, meaning much or nothing, is pleased so often + to play fast-and-loose with us? + </p> + <p> + Here, indeed, at length, must the Editor give utterance to a painful + suspicion, which, through late Chapters, has begun to haunt him; + paralyzing any little enthusiasm that might still have rendered his thorny + Biographical task a labor of love. It is a suspicion grounded perhaps on + trifles, yet confirmed almost into certainty by the more and more + discernible humoristico-satirical tendency of Teufelsdrockh, in whom + underground humors and intricate sardonic rogueries, wheel within wheel, + defy all reckoning: a suspicion, in one word, that these Autobiographical + Documents are partly a mystification! What if many a so-called Fact were + little better than a Fiction; if here we had no direct Camera-obscura + Picture of the Professor's History; but only some more or less fantastic + Adumbration, symbolically, perhaps significantly enough, shadowing forth + the same! Our theory begins to be that, in receiving as literally + authentic what was but hieroglyphically so, Hofrath Heuschrecke, whom in + that case we scruple not to name Hofrath Nose-of-Wax, was made a fool of, + and set adrift to make fools of others. Could it be expected, indeed, that + a man so known for impenetrable reticence as Teufelsdrockh would all at + once frankly unlock his private citadel to an English Editor and a German + Hofrath; and not rather deceptively <i>in</i>lock both Editor and Hofrath + in the labyrinthic tortuosities and covered-ways of said citadel (having + enticed them thither), to see, in his half-devilish way, how the fools + would look? + </p> + <p> + Of one fool, however, the Herr Professor will perhaps find himself short. + On a small slip, formerly thrown aside as blank, the ink being all but + invisible, we lately noticed, and with effort decipher, the following: + "What are your historical Facts; still more your biographical? Wilt thou + know a Man, above all a Mankind, by stringing together bead-rolls of what + thou namest Facts? The Man is the spirit he worked in; not what he did, + but what he became. Facts are engraved Hierograms, for which the fewest + have the key. And then how your Blockhead (<i>Dummkopf</i>) studies not + their Meaning; but simply whether they are well or ill cut, what he calls + Moral or Immoral! Still worse is it with your Bungler (<i>Pfuscher</i>): + such I have seen reading some Rousseau, with pretences of interpretation; + and mistaking the ill-cut Serpent-of-Eternity for a common poisonous + reptile." Was the Professor apprehensive lest an Editor, selected as the + present boasts himself, might mistake the Teufelsdrockh + Serpent-of-Eternity in like manner? For which reason it was to be altered, + not without underhand satire, into a plainer Symbol? Or is this merely one + of his half-sophisms, half-truisms, which if he can but set on the back of + a Figure, he cares not whither it gallop? We say not with certainty; and + indeed, so strange is the Professor, can never say. If our suspicion be + wholly unfounded, let his own questionable ways, not our necessary + circumspectness bear the blame. + </p> + <p> + But be this as it will, the somewhat exasperated and indeed exhausted + Editor determines here to shut these Paper-bags for the present. Let it + suffice that we know of Teufelsdrockh, so far, if "not what he did, yet + what he became:" the rather, as his character has now taken its ultimate + bent, and no new revolution, of importance, is to be looked for. The + imprisoned Chrysalis is now a winged Psyche: and such, wheresoever be its + flight, it will continue. To trace by what complex gyrations (flights or + involuntary waftings) through the mere external Life-element, + Teufelsdrockh, reaches his University Professorship, and the Psyche + clothes herself in civic Titles, without altering her now fixed nature,—would + be comparatively an unproductive task, were we even unsuspicious of its + being, for us at least, a false and impossible one. His outward Biography, + therefore, which, at the Blumine Lover's-Leap, we saw churned utterly into + spray-vapor, may hover in that condition, for aught that concerns us here. + Enough that by survey of certain "pools and plashes," we have ascertained + its general direction; do we not already know that, by one way and other, + it <i>has</i> long since rained down again into a stream; and even now, at + Weissnichtwo, flows deep and still, fraught with the <i>Philosophy of + Clothes</i>, and visible to whoso will cast eye thereon? Over much + invaluable matter, that lies scattered, like jewels among quarry-rubbish, + in those Paper-catacombs, we may have occasion to glance back, and + somewhat will demand insertion at the right place: meanwhile be our + tiresome diggings therein suspended. + </p> + <p> + If now, before reopening the great <i>Clothes-Volume</i>, we ask what our + degree of progress, during these Ten Chapters, has been, towards right + understanding of the <i>Clothes-Philosophy</i>, let not our discouragement + become total. To speak in that old figure of the Hell-gate Bridge over + Chaos, a few flying pontoons have perhaps been added, though as yet they + drift straggling on the Flood; how far they will reach, when once the + chains are straightened and fastened, can, at present, only be matter of + conjecture. + </p> + <p> + So much we already calculate: Through many a little loophole, we have had + glimpses into the internal world of Teufelsdrockh; his strange mystic, + almost magic Diagram of the Universe, and how it was gradually drawn, is + not henceforth altogether dark to us. Those mysterious ideas on TIME, + which merit consideration, and are not wholly unintelligible with such, + may by and by prove significant. Still more may his somewhat peculiar view + of Nature, the decisive Oneness he ascribes to Nature. How all Nature and + Life are but one <i>Garment</i>, a "Living Garment," woven and ever + a-weaving in the "Loom of Time;" is not here, indeed, the outline of a + whole <i>Clothes-Philosophy</i>; at least the arena it is to work in? + Remark, too, that the Character of the Man, nowise without meaning in such + a matter, becomes less enigmatic: amid so much tumultuous obscurity, + almost like diluted madness, do not a certain indomitable Defiance and yet + a boundless Reverence seem to loom forth, as the two mountain-summits, on + whose rock-strata all the rest were based and built? + </p> + <p> + Nay further, may we not say that Teufelsdrockh's Biography, allowing it + even, as suspected, only a hieroglyphical truth, exhibits a man, as it + were preappointed for Clothes-Philosophy? To look through the Shows of + things into Things themselves he is led and compelled. The "Passivity" + given him by birth is fostered by all turns of his fortune. Everywhere + cast out, like oil out of water, from mingling in any Employment, in any + public Communion, he has no portion but Solitude, and a life of + Meditation. The whole energy of his existence is directed, through long + years, on one task: that of enduring pain, if he cannot cure it. Thus + everywhere do the Shows of things oppress him, withstand him, threaten him + with fearfullest destruction: only by victoriously penetrating into Things + themselves can he find peace and a stronghold. But is not this same + looking through the Shows, or Vestures, into the Things, even the first + preliminary to a <i>Philosophy of Clothes</i>? Do we not, in all this, + discern some beckonings towards the true higher purport of such a + Philosophy; and what shape it must assume with such a man, in such an era? + </p> + <p> + Perhaps in entering on Book Third, the courteous Reader is not utterly + without guess whither he is bound: nor, let us hope, for all the fantastic + Dream-Grottos through which, as is our lot with Teufelsdrockh, he must + wander, will there be wanting between whiles some twinkling of a steady + Polar Star. + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2H_4_0024"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + BOOK III. + </h2> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0022"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER I. INCIDENT IN MODERN HISTORY. + </h2> + <p> + As a wonder-loving and wonder-seeking man, Teufelsdrockh, from an early + part of this Clothes-Volume, has more and more exhibited himself. Striking + it was, amid all his perverse cloudiness, with what force of vision and of + heart he pierced into the mystery of the World; recognizing in the highest + sensible phenomena, so far as Sense went, only fresh or faded Raiment; yet + ever, under this, a celestial Essence thereby rendered visible: and while, + on the one hand, he trod the old rags of Matter, with their tinsels, into + the mire, he on the other everywhere exalted Spirit above all earthly + principalities and powers, and worshipped it, though under the meanest + shapes, with a true Platonic mysticism. What the man ultimately purposed + by thus casting his Greek-fire into the general Wardrobe of the Universe; + what such, more or less complete, rending and burning of Garments + throughout the whole compass of Civilized Life and Speculation, should + lead to; the rather as he was no Adamite, in any sense, and could not, + like Rousseau, recommend either bodily or intellectual Nudity, and a + return to the savage state: all this our readers are now bent to discover; + this is, in fact, properly the gist and purport of Professor + Teufelsdrockh's Philosophy of Clothes. + </p> + <p> + Be it remembered, however, that such purport is here not so much evolved, + as detected to lie ready for evolving. We are to guide our British Friends + into the new Gold-country, and show them the mines; nowise to dig out and + exhaust its wealth, which indeed remains for all time inexhaustible. Once + there, let each dig for his own behoof, and enrich himself. + </p> + <p> + Neither, in so capricious inexpressible a Work as this of the Professor's, + can our course now more than formerly be straightforward, step by step, + but at best leap by leap. Significant Indications stand out here and + there; which for the critical eye, that looks both widely and narrowly, + shape themselves into some ground-scheme of a Whole: to select these with + judgment, so that a leap from one to the other be possible, and (in our + old figure) by chaining them together, a passable Bridge be effected: + this, as heretofore, continues our only method. Among such light-spots, + the following, floating in much wild matter about <i>Perfectibility</i>, + has seemed worth clutching at:— + </p> + <p> + "Perhaps the most remarkable incident in Modern History," says + Teufelsdrockh, "is not the Diet of Worms, still less the Battle of + Austerlitz, Waterloo, Peterloo, or any other Battle; but an incident + passed carelessly over by most Historians, and treated with some degree of + ridicule by others: namely, George Fox's making to himself a suit of + Leather. This man, the first of the Quakers, and by trade a Shoemaker, was + one of those, to whom, under ruder or purer form, the Divine Idea of the + Universe is pleased to manifest itself; and, across all the hulls of + Ignorance and earthly Degradation, shine through, in unspeakable + Awfulness, unspeakable Beauty, on their souls: who therefore are rightly + accounted Prophets, God-possessed; or even Gods, as in some periods it has + chanced. Sitting in his stall; working on tanned hides, amid pincers, + paste-horns, rosin, swine-bristles, and a nameless flood of rubbish, this + youth had, nevertheless, a Living Spirit belonging to him; also an antique + Inspired Volume, through which, as through a window, it could look + upwards, and discern its celestial Home. The task of a daily pair of + shoes, coupled even with some prospect of victuals, and an honorable + Mastership in Cordwainery, and perhaps the post of Thirdborough in his + hundred, as the crown of long faithful sewing,—was nowise + satisfaction enough to such a mind: but ever amid the boring and hammering + came tones from that far country, came Splendors and Terrors; for this + poor Cordwainer, as we said, was a Man; and the Temple of Immensity, + wherein as Man he had been sent to minister, was full of holy mystery to + him. + </p> + <p> + "The Clergy of the neighborhood, the ordained Watchers and Interpreters of + that same holy mystery, listened with un-affected tedium to his + consultations, and advised him, as the solution of such doubts, to 'drink + beer, and dance with the girls.' Blind leaders of the blind! For what end + were their tithes levied and eaten; for what were their shovel-hats + scooped out, and their surplices and cassock-aprons girt on; and such a + church-repairing, and chaffering, and organing, and other racketing, held + over that spot of God's Earth,—if Man were but a Patent Digester, + and the Belly with its adjuncts the grand Reality? Fox turned from them, + with tears and a sacred scorn, back to his Leather-parings and his Bible. + Mountains of encumbrance, higher than AEtna, had been heaped over that + Spirit: but it was a Spirit, and would not lie buried there. Through long + days and nights of silent agony, it struggled and wrestled, with a man's + force, to be free: how its prison-mountains heaved and swayed + tumultuously, as the giant spirit shook them to this hand and that, and + emerged into the light of Heaven! That Leicester shoe-shop, had men known + it, was a holier place than any Vatican or Loretto-shrine.—'So + bandaged, and hampered, and hemmed in,' groaned he, 'with thousand + requisitions, obligations, straps, tatters, and tagrags, I can neither see + nor move: not my own am I, but the World's; and Time flies fast, and + Heaven is high, and Hell is deep: Man! bethink thee, if thou hast power of + Thought! Why not; what binds me here? Want, want!—Ha, of what? Will + all the shoe-wages under the Moon ferry me across into that far Land of + Light? Only Meditation can, and devout Prayer to God. I will to the woods: + the hollow of a tree will lodge me, wild berries feed me; and for Clothes, + cannot I stitch myself one perennial suit of Leather!' + </p> + <p> + "Historical Oil-painting," continues Teufelsdrockh, "is one of the Arts I + never practiced; therefore shall I not decide whether this subject were + easy of execution on the canvas. Yet often has it seemed to me as if such + first outflashing of man's Freewill, to lighten, more and more into Day, + the Chaotic Night that threatened to engulf him in its hindrances and its + horrors, were properly the only grandeur there is in History. Let some + living Angelo or Rosa, with seeing eye and understanding heart, picture + George Fox on that morning, when he spreads out his cutting-board for the + last time, and cuts cowhides by unwonted patterns, and stitches them + together into one continuous all-including Case, the farewell service of + his awl! Stitch away, thou noble Fox: every prick of that little + instrument is pricking into the heart of Slavery, and World-worship, and + the Mammon-god. Thy elbows jerk, as in strong swimmer-strokes, and every + stroke is bearing thee across the Prison-ditch, within which Vanity holds + her Workhouse and Ragfair, into lands of true Liberty; were the work done, + there is in broad Europe one Free Man, and thou art he! + </p> + <p> + "Thus from the lowest depth there is a path to the loftiest height; and + for the Poor also a Gospel has been published. Surely if, as D'Alembert + asserts, my illustrious namesake, Diogenes, was the greatest man of + Antiquity, only that he wanted Decency, then by stronger reason is George + Fox the greatest of the Moderns, and greater than Diogenes himself: for he + too stands on the adamantine basis of his Manhood, casting aside all props + and shoars; yet not, in half-savage Pride, undervaluing the Earth; valuing + it rather, as a place to yield him warmth and food, he looks Heavenward + from his Earth, and dwells in an element of Mercy and Worship, with a + still Strength, such as the Cynic's Tub did nowise witness. Great, truly, + was that Tub; a temple from which man's dignity and divinity was + scornfully preached abroad: but greater is the Leather Hull, for the same + sermon was preached there, and not in Scorn but in Love." + </p> + <p> + George Fox's "perennial suit," with all that it held, has been worn quite + into ashes for nigh two centuries: why, in a discussion on the <i>Perfectibility + of Society</i>, reproduce it now? Not out of blind sectarian partisanship: + Teufelsdrockh, himself is no Quaker; with all his pacific tendencies, did + not we see him, in that scene at the North Cape, with the Archangel + Smuggler, exhibit fire-arms? + </p> + <p> + For us, aware of his deep Sansculottism, there is more meant in this + passage than meets the ear. At the same time, who can avoid smiling at the + earnestness and Boeotian simplicity (if indeed there be not an underhand + satire in it), with which that "Incident" is here brought forward; and, in + the Professor's ambiguous way, as clearly perhaps as he durst in + Weissnichtwo, recommended to imitation! Does Teufelsdrockh anticipate + that, in this age of refinement, any considerable class of the community, + by way of testifying against the "Mammon-god," and escaping from what he + calls "Vanity's Workhouse and Ragfair," where doubtless some of them are + toiled and whipped and hoodwinked sufficiently,—will sheathe + themselves in close-fitting cases of Leather? The idea is ridiculous in + the extreme. Will Majesty lay aside its robes of state, and Beauty its + frills and train-gowns, for a second skin of tanned hide? By which change + Huddersfield and Manchester, and Coventry and Paisley, and the + Fancy-Bazaar, were reduced to hungry solitudes; and only Day and Martin + could profit. For neither would Teufelsdrockh's mad daydream, here as we + presume covertly intended, of levelling Society (<i>levelling</i> it + indeed with a vengeance, into one huge drowned marsh!), and so attaining + the political effects of Nudity without its frigorific or other + consequences,—be thereby realized. Would not the rich man purchase a + waterproof suit of Russia Leather; and the high-born Belle step forth in + red or azure morocco, lined with shamoy: the black cowhide being left to + the Drudges and Gibeonites of the world; and so all the old Distinctions + be re-established? + </p> + <p> + Or has the Professor his own deeper intention; and laughs in his sleeve at + our strictures and glosses, which indeed are but a part thereof? + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0023"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER II. CHURCH-CLOTHES. + </h2> + <p> + Not less questionable is his Chapter on <i>Church-Clothes</i>, which has + the farther distinction of being the shortest in the Volume. We here + translate it entire:— + </p> + <p> + "By Church-Clothes, it need not be premised that I mean infinitely more + than Cassocks and Surplices; and do not at all mean the mere haberdasher + Sunday Clothes that men go to Church in. Far from it! Church-Clothes are, + in our vocabulary, the Forms, the <i>Vestures</i>, under which men have at + various periods embodied and represented for themselves the Religious + Principle; that is to say, invested the Divine Idea of the World with a + sensible and practically active Body, so that it might dwell among them as + a living and life-giving WORD. + </p> + <p> + "These are unspeakably the most important of all the vestures and + garnitures of Human Existence. They are first spun and woven, I may say, + by that wonder of wonders, SOCIETY; for it is still only when 'two or + three are gathered together,' that Religion, spiritually existent, and + indeed indestructible, however latent, in each, first outwardly manifests + itself (as with 'cloven tongues of fire'), and seeks to be embodied in a + visible Communion and Church Militant. Mystical, more than magical, is + that Communing of Soul with Soul, both looking heavenward: here properly + Soul first speaks with Soul; for only in looking heavenward, take it in + what sense you may, not in looking earthward, does what we can call Union, + mutual Love, Society, begin to be possible. How true is that of Novalis: + 'It is certain, my Belief gains quite <i>infinitely</i> the moment I can + convince another mind thereof'! Gaze thou in the face of thy Brother, in + those eyes where plays the lambent fire of Kindness, or in those where + rages the lurid conflagration of Anger; feel how thy own so quiet Soul is + straightway involuntarily kindled with the like, and ye blaze and + reverberate on each other, till it is all one limitless confluent flame + (of embracing Love, or of deadly-grappling Hate); and then say what + miraculous virtue goes out of man into man. But if so, through all the + thick-plied hulls of our Earthly Life; how much more when it is of the + Divine Life we speak, and inmost ME is, as it were, brought into contact + with inmost ME! + </p> + <p> + "Thus was it that I said, the Church Clothes are first spun and woven by + Society; outward Religion originates by Society, Society becomes possible + by Religion. Nay, perhaps, every conceivable Society, past and present, + may well be figured as properly and wholly a Church, in one or other of + these three predicaments: an audibly preaching and prophesying Church, + which is the best; second, a Church that struggles to preach and prophesy, + but cannot as yet, till its Pentecost come; and third and worst, a Church + gone dumb with old age, or which only mumbles delirium prior to + dissolution. Whoso fancies that by Church is here meant Chapter-houses and + Cathedrals, or by preaching and prophesying, mere speech and chanting, let + him," says the oracular Professor, "read on, light of heart (<i>getrosten + Muthes</i>). + </p> + <p> + "But with regard to your Church proper, and the Church-Clothes specially + recognized as Church-Clothes, I remark, fearlessly enough, that without + such Vestures and sacred Tissues Society has not existed, and will not + exist. For if Government is, so to speak, the outward SKIN of the Body + Politic, holding the whole together and protecting it; and all your + Craft-Guilds, and Associations for Industry, of hand or of head, are the + Fleshly Clothes, the muscular and osseous Tissues (lying <i>under</i> such + SKIN), whereby Society stands and works;—then is Religion the inmost + Pericardial and Nervous Tissue, which ministers Life and warm Circulation + to the whole. Without which Pericardial Tissue the Bones and Muscles (of + Industry) were inert, or animated only by a Galvanic vitality; the SKIN + would become a shrivelled pelt, or fast-rotting rawhide; and Society + itself a dead carcass,—deserving to be buried. Men were no longer + Social, but Gregarious; which latter state also could not continue, but + must gradually issue in universal selfish discord, hatred, savage + isolation, and dispersion;—whereby, as we might continue to say, the + very dust and dead body of Society would have evaporated and become + abolished. Such, and so all-important, all-sustaining, are the + Church-Clothes to civilized or even to rational men. + </p> + <p> + "Meanwhile, in our era of the World, those same Church-Clothes have gone + sorrowfully out-at-elbows; nay, far worse, many of them have become mere + hollow Shapes, or Masks, under which no living Figure or Spirit any longer + dwells; but only spiders and unclean beetles, in horrid accumulation, + drive their trade; and the mask still glares on you with its glass eyes, + in ghastly affectation of Life,—some generation-and-half after + Religion has quite withdrawn from it, and in unnoticed nooks is weaving + for herself new Vestures, wherewith to reappear, and bless us, or our sons + or grandsons. As a Priest, or Interpreter of the Holy, is the noblest and + highest of all men, so is a Sham-priest (<i>Schein-priester</i>) the + falsest and basest; neither is it doubtful that his Canonicals, were they + Popes' Tiaras, will one day be torn from him, to make bandages for the + wounds of mankind; or even to burn into tinder, for general scientific or + culinary purposes. + </p> + <p> + "All which, as out of place here, falls to be handled in my Second Volume, + <i>On the Palingenesia, or Newbirth of Society</i>; which volume, as + treating practically of the Wear, Destruction, and Retexture of Spiritual + Tissues, or Garments, forms, properly speaking, the Transcendental or + ultimate Portion of this my work on <i>Clothes</i>, and is already in a + state of forwardness." + </p> + <p> + And herewith, no farther exposition, note, or commentary being added, does + Teufelsdrockh, and must his Editor now, terminate the singular chapter on + Church-Clothes! + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0024"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER III. SYMBOLS. + </h2> + <p> + Probably it will elucidate the drift of these foregoing obscure + utterances, if we here insert somewhat of our Professor's speculations on + <i>Symbols</i>. To state his whole doctrine, indeed, were beyond our + compass: nowhere is he more mysterious, impalpable, than in this of + "Fantasy being the organ of the Godlike;" and how "Man thereby, though + based, to all seeming, on the small Visible, does nevertheless extend down + into the infinite deeps of the Invisible, of which Invisible, indeed, his + Life is properly the bodying forth." Let us, omitting these high + transcendental aspects of the matter, study to glean (whether from the + Paper-bags or the Printed Volume) what little seems logical and practical, + and cunningly arrange it into such degree of coherence as it will assume. + By way of proem, take the following not injudicious remarks:— + </p> + <p> + "The benignant efficacies of Concealment," cries our Professor, "who shall + speak or sing? SILENCE and SECRECY! Altars might still be raised to them + (were this an altar-building time) for universal worship. Silence is the + element in which great things fashion themselves together; that at length + they may emerge, full-formed and majestic, into the daylight of Life, + which they are thenceforth to rule. Not William the Silent only, but all + the considerable men I have known, and the most undiplomatic and + unstrategic of these, forbore to babble of what they were creating and + projecting. Nay, in thy own mean perplexities, do thou thyself but <i>hold + thy tongue for one day</i>: on the morrow, how much clearer are thy + purposes and duties; what wreck and rubbish have those mute workmen within + thee swept away, when intrusive noises were shut out! Speech is too often + not, as the Frenchman defined it, the art of concealing Thought; but of + quite stifling and suspending Thought, so that there is none to conceal. + Speech too is great, but not the greatest. As the Swiss Inscription says: + <i>Sprechen ist silbern, Schweigen ist golden</i> (Speech is silvern, + Silence is golden); or as I might rather express it: Speech is of Time, + Silence is of Eternity. + </p> + <p> + "Bees will not work except in darkness; Thought will not work except in + Silence: neither will Virtue work except in Secrecy. Let not thy left hand + know what thy right hand doeth! Neither shalt thou prate even to thy own + heart of 'those secrets known to all.' Is not Shame (<i>Schaam</i>) the + soil of all Virtue, of all good manners and good morals? Like other + plants, Virtue will not grow unless its root be hidden, buried from the + eye of the sun. Let the sun shine on it, nay do but look at it privily + thyself, the root withers, and no flower will glad thee. O my Friends, + when we view the fair clustering flowers that overwreathe, for example, + the Marriage-bower, and encircle man's life with the fragrance and hues of + Heaven, what hand will not smite the foul plunderer that grubs them up by + the roots, and, with grinning, grunting satisfaction, shows us the dung + they flourish in! Men speak much of the Printing Press with its + Newspapers: <i>du Himmel</i>! what are these to Clothes and the Tailor's + Goose? + </p> + <p> + "Of kin to the so incalculable influences of Concealment, and connected + with still greater things, is the wondrous agency of <i>Symbols</i>. In a + Symbol there is concealment and yet revelation; here therefore, by Silence + and by Speech acting together, comes a double significance. And if both + the Speech be itself high, and the Silence fit and noble, how expressive + will their union be! Thus in many a painted Device, or simple Seal-emblem, + the commonest Truth stands out to us proclaimed with quite new emphasis. + </p> + <p> + "For it is here that Fantasy with her mystic wonderland plays into the + small prose domain of Sense, and becomes incorporated therewith. In the + Symbol proper, what we can call a Symbol, there is ever, more or less + distinctly and directly, some embodiment and revelation of the Infinite; + the Infinite is made to blend itself with the Finite, to stand visible, + and as it were, attainable there. By Symbols, accordingly, is man guided + and commanded, made happy, made wretched: He everywhere finds himself + encompassed with Symbols, recognized as such or not recognized: the + Universe is but one vast Symbol of God; nay if thou wilt have it, what is + man himself but a Symbol of God; is not all that he does symbolical; a + revelation to Sense of the mystic god-given force that is in him; a + 'Gospel of Freedom,' which he, the 'Messias of Nature,' preaches, as he + can, by act and word? Not a Hut he builds but is the visible embodiment of + a Thought; but bears visible record of invisible things; but is, in the + transcendental sense, symbolical as well as real." + </p> + <p> + "Man," says the Professor elsewhere, in quite antipodal contrast with + these high-soaring delineations, which we have here cut short on the verge + of the inane, "Man is by birth somewhat of an owl. Perhaps, too, of all + the owleries that ever possessed him, the most owlish, if we consider it, + is that of your actually existing Motive-Millwrights. Fantastic tricks + enough man has played, in his time; has fancied himself to be most things, + down even to an animated heap of Glass: but to fancy himself a dead + Iron-Balance for weighing Pains and Pleasures on, was reserved for this + his latter era. There stands he, his Universe one huge Manger, filled with + hay and thistles to be weighed against each other; and looks long-eared + enough. Alas, poor devil! spectres are appointed to haunt him: one age he + is hag-ridden, bewitched; the next, priest-ridden, befooled; in all ages, + bedevilled. And now the Genius of Mechanism smothers him worse than any + Nightmare did; till the Soul is nigh choked out of him, and only a kind of + Digestive, Mechanic life remains. In Earth and in Heaven he can see + nothing but Mechanism; has fear for nothing else, hope in nothing else: + the world would indeed grind him to pieces; but cannot he fathom the + Doctrine of Motives, and cunningly compute these, and mechanize them to + grind the other way? + </p> + <p> + "Were he not, as has been said, purblinded by enchantment, you had but to + bid him open his eyes and look. In which country, in which time, was it + hitherto that man's history, or the history of any man, went on by + calculated or calculable 'Motives'? What make ye of your Christianities, + and Chivalries, and Reformations, and Marseillaise Hymns, and Reigns of + Terror? Nay, has not perhaps the Motive-grinder himself been in <i>Love</i>? + Did he never stand so much as a contested Election? Leave him to Time, and + the medicating virtue of Nature." + </p> + <p> + "Yes, Friends," elsewhere observes the Professor, "not our Logical, + Mensurative faculty, but our Imaginative one is King over us; I might say, + Priest and Prophet to lead us heavenward; or Magician and Wizard to lead + us hellward. Nay, even for the basest Sensualist, what is Sense but the + implement of Fantasy; the vessel it drinks out of? Ever in the dullest + existence there is a sheen either of Inspiration or of Madness (thou + partly hast it in thy choice, which of the two), that gleams in from the + circumambient Eternity, and colors with its own hues our little islet of + Time. The Understanding is indeed thy window, too clear thou canst not + make it; but Fantasy is thy eye, with its color-giving retina, healthy or + diseased. Have not I myself known five hundred living soldiers sabred into + crows'-meat for a piece of glazed cotton, which they called their Flag; + which, had you sold it at any market-cross, would not have brought above + three groschen? Did not the whole Hungarian Nation rise, like some + tumultuous moon-stirred Atlantic, when Kaiser Joseph pocketed their Iron + Crown; an implement, as was sagaciously observed, in size and commercial + value little differing from a horse-shoe? It is in and through <i>Symbols</i> + that man, consciously or unconsciously, lives, works, and has his being: + those ages, moreover, are accounted the noblest which can the best + recognize symbolical worth, and prize it the highest. For is not a Symbol + ever, to him who has eyes for it, some dimmer or clearer revelation of the + Godlike? + </p> + <p> + "Of Symbols, however, I remark farther, that they have both an extrinsic + and intrinsic value; oftenest the former only. What, for instance, was in + that clouted Shoe, which the Peasants bore aloft with them as ensign in + their <i>Bauernkrieg</i> (Peasants' War)? Or in the Wallet-and-staff round + which the Netherland <i>Gueux</i>, glorying in that nickname of Beggars, + heroically rallied and prevailed, though against King Philip himself? + Intrinsic significance these had none: only extrinsic; as the accidental + Standards of multitudes more or less sacredly uniting together; in which + union itself, as above noted, there is ever something mystical and + borrowing of the Godlike. Under a like category, too, stand, or stood, the + stupidest heraldic Coats-of-arms; military Banners everywhere; and + generally all national or other sectarian Costumes and Customs: they have + no intrinsic, necessary divineness, or even worth; but have acquired an + extrinsic one. Nevertheless through all these there glimmers something of + a Divine Idea; as through military Banners themselves, the Divine Idea of + Duty, of heroic Daring; in some instances of Freedom, of Right. Nay the + highest ensign that men ever met and embraced under, the Cross itself, had + no meaning save an accidental extrinsic one. + </p> + <p> + "Another matter it is, however, when your Symbol has intrinsic meaning, + and is of itself <i>fit</i> that men should unite round it. Let but the + Godlike manifest itself to Sense, let but Eternity look, more or less + visibly, through the Time-Figure (<i>Zeitbild</i>)! Then is it fit that + men unite there; and worship together before such Symbol; and so from day + to day, and from age to age, superadd to it new divineness. + </p> + <p> + "Of this latter sort are all true Works of Art: in them (if thou know a + Work of Art from a Daub of Artifice) wilt thou discern Eternity looking + through Time; the Godlike rendered visible. Here too may an extrinsic + value gradually superadd itself: thus certain <i>Iliads</i>, and the like, + have, in three thousand years, attained quite new significance. But nobler + than all in this kind are the Lives of heroic god-inspired Men; for what + other Work of Art is so divine? In Death too, in the Death of the Just, as + the last perfection of a Work of Art, may we not discern symbolic meaning? + In that divinely transfigured Sleep, as of Victory, resting over the + beloved face which now knows thee no more, read (if thou canst for tears) + the confluence of Time with Eternity, and some gleam of the latter peering + through. + </p> + <p> + "Highest of all Symbols are those wherein the Artist or Poet has risen + into Prophet, and all men can recognize a present God, and worship the + Same: I mean religious Symbols. Various enough have been such religious + Symbols, what we call <i>Religions</i>; as men stood in this stage of + culture or the other, and could worse or better body forth the Godlike: + some Symbols with a transient intrinsic worth; many with only an + extrinsic. If thou ask to what height man has carried it in this manner, + look on our divinest Symbol: on Jesus of Nazareth, and his Life, and his + Biography, and what followed therefrom. Higher has the human Thought not + yet reached: this is Christianity and Christendom; a Symbol of quite + perennial, infinite character; whose significance will ever demand to be + anew inquired into, and anew made manifest. + </p> + <p> + "But, on the whole, as Time adds much to the sacredness of Symbols, so + likewise in his progress he at length defaces, or even desecrates them; + and Symbols, like all terrestrial Garments, wax old. Homer's Epos has not + ceased to be true; yet it is no longer our Epos, but shines in the + distance, if clearer and clearer, yet also smaller and smaller, like a + receding Star. It needs a scientific telescope, it needs to be + reinterpreted and artificially brought near us, before we can so much as + know that it <i>was</i> a Sun. So likewise a day comes when the Runic + Thor, with his Eddas, must withdraw into dimness; and many an African + Mumbo-Jumbo and Indian Pawaw be utterly abolished. For all things, even + Celestial Luminaries, much more atmospheric meteors, have their rise, + their culmination, their decline. + </p> + <p> + "Small is this which thou tellest me, that the Royal Sceptre is but a + piece of gilt wood; that the Pyx has become a most foolish box, and truly, + as Ancient Pistol thought, 'of little price.' A right Conjurer might I + name thee, couldst thou conjure back into these wooden tools the divine + virtue they once held. + </p> + <p> + "Of this thing, however, be certain: wouldst thou plant for Eternity, then + plant into the deep infinite faculties of man, his Fantasy and Heart; + wouldst thou plant for Year and Day, then plant into his shallow + superficial faculties, his Self-love and Arithmetical Understanding, what + will grow there. A Hierarch, therefore, and Pontiff of the World will we + call him, the Poet and inspired Maker; who, Prometheus-like, can shape new + Symbols, and bring new Fire from Heaven to fix it there. Such too will not + always be wanting; neither perhaps now are. Meanwhile, as the average of + matters goes, we account him Legislator and wise who can so much as tell + when a Symbol has grown old, and gently remove it. + </p> + <p> + "When, as the last English Coronation [*] I was preparing," concludes this + wonderful Professor, "I read in their Newspapers that the 'Champion of + England,' he who has to offer battle to the Universe for his new King, had + brought it so far that he could now 'mount his horse with little + assistance,' I said to myself: Here also we have a Symbol well-nigh + superannuated. Alas, move whithersoever you may, are not the tatters and + rags of superannuated worn-out Symbols (in this Ragfair of a World) + dropping off everywhere, to hoodwink, to halter, to tether you; nay, if + you shake them not aside, threatening to accumulate, and perhaps produce + suffocation?" + </p> +<pre> + * That of George IV.—ED. +</pre> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0025"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IV. HELOTAGE. + </h2> + <p> + At this point we determine on adverting shortly, or rather reverting, to a + certain Tract of Hofrath Heuschrecke's, entitled <i>Institute for the + Repression of Population</i>; which lies, dishonorably enough (with torn + leaves, and a perceptible smell of aloetic drugs), stuffed into the Bag <i>Pisces</i>. + Not indeed for the sake of the tract itself, which we admire little; but + of the marginal Notes, evidently in Teufelsdrockh's hand, which rather + copiously fringe it. A few of these may be in their right place here. + </p> + <p> + Into the Hofrath's <i>Institute</i>, with its extraordinary schemes, and + machinery of Corresponding Boards and the like, we shall not so much as + glance. Enough for us to understand that Heuschrecke is a disciple of + Malthus; and so zealous for the doctrine, that his zeal almost literally + eats him up. A deadly fear of Population possesses the Hofrath; something + like a fixed idea; undoubtedly akin to the more diluted forms of Madness. + Nowhere, in that quarter of his intellectual world, is there light; + nothing but a grim shadow of Hunger; open mouths opening wider and wider; + a world to terminate by the frightfullest consummation: by its too dense + inhabitants, famished into delirium, universally eating one another. To + make air for himself in which strangulation, choking enough to a + benevolent heart, the Hofrath founds, or proposes to found, this <i>Institute</i> + of his, as the best he can do. It is only with our Professor's comments + thereon that we concern ourselves. + </p> + <p> + First, then, remark that Teufelsdrockh, as a speculative Radical, has his + own notions about human dignity; that the Zahdarm palaces and courtesies + have not made him forgetful of the Futteral cottages. On the blank cover + of Heuschrecke's Tract we find the following indistinctly engrossed:— + </p> + <p> + "Two men I honor, and no third. First, the toilworn Craftsman that with + earth-made Implement laboriously conquers the Earth, and makes her man's. + Venerable to me is the hard Hand; crooked, coarse; wherein notwithstanding + lies a cunning virtue, indefeasibly royal, as of the Sceptre of this + Planet. Venerable too is the rugged face, all weather-tanned, besoiled, + with its rude intelligence; for it is the face of a Man living manlike. + Oh, but the more venerable for thy rudeness, and even because we must pity + as well as love thee! Hardly-entreated Brother! For us was thy back so + bent, for us were thy straight limbs and fingers so deformed: thou wert + our Conscript, on whom the lot fell, and fighting our battles wert so + marred. For in thee too lay a god-created Form, but it was not to be + unfolded; encrusted must it stand with the thick adhesions and defacements + of Labor: and thy body, like thy soul, was not to know freedom. Yet toil + on, toil on: <i>thou</i> art in thy duty, be out of it who may; thou + toilest for the altogether indispensable, for daily bread. + </p> + <p> + "A second man I honor, and still more highly: Him who is seen toiling for + the spiritually indispensable; not daily bread, but the bread of Life. Is + not he too in his duty; endeavoring towards inward Harmony; revealing + this, by act or by word, through all his outward endeavors, be they high + or low? Highest of all, when his outward and his inward endeavor are one: + when we can name him Artist; not earthly Craftsman only, but inspired + Thinker, who with heaven-made Implement conquers Heaven for us! If the + poor and humble toil that we have Food, must not the high and glorious + toil for him in return, that he have Light, have Guidance, Freedom, + Immortality?—These two, in all their degrees, I honor: all else is + chaff and dust, which let the wind blow whither it listeth. + </p> + <p> + "Unspeakably touching is it, however, when I find both dignities united; + and he that must toil outwardly for the lowest of man's wants, is also + toiling inwardly for the highest. Sublimer in this world know I nothing + than a Peasant Saint, could such now anywhere be met with. Such a one will + take thee back to Nazareth itself; thou wilt see the splendor of Heaven + spring forth from the humblest depths of Earth, like a light shining in + great darkness." + </p> + <p> + And again: "It is not because of his toils that I lament for the poor: we + must all toil, or steal (howsoever we name our stealing), which is worse; + no faithful workman finds his task a pastime. The poor is hungry and + athirst; but for him also there is food and drink: he is heavy-laden and + weary; but for him also the Heavens send Sleep, and of the deepest; in his + smoky cribs, a clear dewy heaven of Rest envelops him; and fitful + glitterings of cloud-skirted Dreams. But what I do mourn over is, that the + lamp of his soul should go out; that no ray of heavenly, or even of + earthly knowledge, should visit him; but only, in the haggard darkness, + like two spectres, Fear and Indignation bear him company. Alas, while the + Body stands so broad and brawny, must the Soul lie blinded, dwarfed, + stupefied, almost annihilated! Alas, was this too a Breath of God; + bestowed in Heaven, but on earth never to be unfolded!—That there + should one Man die ignorant who had capacity for Knowledge, this I call a + tragedy, were it to happen more than twenty times in the minute, as by + some computations it does. The miserable fraction of Science which our + united Mankind, in a wide Universe of Nescience, has acquired, why is not + this, with all diligence, imparted to all?" + </p> + <p> + Quite in an opposite strain is the following: "The old Spartans had a + wiser method; and went out and hunted down their Helots, and speared and + spitted them, when they grew too numerous. With our improved fashions of + hunting, Herr Hofrath, now after the invention of fire-arms, and standing + armies, how much easier were such a hunt! Perhaps in the most thickly + peopled country, some three days annually might suffice to shoot all the + able-bodied Paupers that had accumulated within the year. Let Governments + think of this. The expense were trifling: nay the very carcasses would pay + it. Have them salted and barrelled; could not you victual therewith, if + not Army and Navy, yet richly such infirm Paupers, in workhouses and + elsewhere, as enlightened Charity, dreading no evil of them, might see + good to keep alive?" + </p> + <p> + "And yet," writes he farther on, "there must be something wrong. A + full-formed Horse will, in any market, bring from twenty to as high as two + hundred Friedrichs d'or: such is his worth to the world. A full-formed Man + is not only worth nothing to the world, but the world could afford him a + round sum would he simply engage to go and hang himself. Nevertheless, + which of the two was the more cunningly devised article, even as an + Engine? Good Heavens! A white European Man, standing on his two Legs, with + his two five-fingered Hands at his shackle-bones, and miraculous Head on + his shoulders, is worth, I should say, from fifty to a hundred Horses!" + </p> + <p> + "True, thou Gold-Hofrath," cries the Professor elsewhere: "too crowded + indeed! Meanwhile, what portion of this inconsiderable terraqueous Globe + have ye actually tilled and delved, till it will grow no more? How thick + stands your Population in the Pampas and Savannas of America; round + ancient Carthage, and in the interior of Africa; on both slopes of the + Altaic chain, in the central Platform of Asia; in Spain, Greece, Turkey, + Crim Tartary, the Curragh of Kildare? One man, in one year, as I have + understood it, if you lend him Earth, will feed himself and nine others. + Alas, where now are the Hengsts and Alarics of our still-glowing, + still-expanding Europe; who, when their home is grown too narrow, will + enlist, and, like Fire-pillars, guide onwards those superfluous masses of + indomitable living Valor; equipped, not now with the battle-axe and + war-chariot, but with the steam engine and ploughshare? Where are they?—Preserving + their Game!" + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0026"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER V. THE PHOENIX. + </h2> + <p> + Putting which four singular Chapters together, and alongside of them + numerous hints, and even direct utterances, scattered over these Writings + of his, we come upon the startling yet not quite unlooked-for conclusion, + that Teufelsdrockh is one of those who consider Society, properly so + called, to be as good as extinct; and that only the gregarious feelings, + and old inherited habitudes, at this juncture, hold us from Dispersion, + and universal national, civil, domestic and personal war! He says + expressly: "For the last three centuries, above all for the last three + quarters of a century, that same Pericardial Nervous Tissue (as we named + it) of Religion, where lies the Life-essence of Society, has been smote at + and perforated, needfully and needlessly; till now it is quite rent into + shreds; and Society, long pining, diabetic, consumptive, can be regarded + as defunct; for those spasmodic, galvanic sprawlings are not life; neither + indeed will they endure, galvanize as you may, beyond two days." + </p> + <p> + "Call ye that a Society," cries he again, "where there is no longer any + Social Idea extant; not so much as the Idea of a common Home, but only of + a common over-crowded Lodging-house? Where each, isolated, regardless of + his neighbor, turned against his neighbor, clutches what he can get, and + cries 'Mine!' and calls it Peace, because, in the cut-purse and cut-throat + Scramble, no steel knives, but only a far cunninger sort, can be employed? + Where Friendship, Communion, has become an incredible tradition; and your + holiest Sacramental Supper is a smoking Tavern Dinner, with Cook for + Evangelist? Where your Priest has no tongue but for plate-licking: and + your high Guides and Governors cannot guide; but on all hands hear it + passionately proclaimed: <i>Laissez faire</i>; Leave us alone of <i>your</i> + guidance, such light is darker than darkness; eat you your wages, and + sleep! + </p> + <p> + "Thus, too," continues he, "does an observant eye discern everywhere that + saddest spectacle: The Poor perishing, like neglected, foundered + Draught-Cattle, of Hunger and Overwork; the Rich, still more wretchedly, + of Idleness, Satiety, and Overgrowth. The Highest in rank, at length, + without honor from the Lowest; scarcely, with a little mouth-honor, as + from tavern-waiters who expect to put it in the bill. Once-sacred Symbols + fluttering as empty Pageants, whereof men grudge even the expense; a World + becoming dismantled: in one word, the STATE fallen speechless, from + obesity and apoplexy; the STATE shrunken into a Police-Office, straitened + to get its pay!" + </p> + <p> + We might ask, are there many "observant eyes," belonging to practical men + in England or elsewhere, which have descried these phenomena; or is it + only from the mystic elevation of a German <i>Wahngasse</i> that such + wonders are visible? Teufelsdrockh contends that the aspect of a "deceased + or expiring Society" fronts us everywhere, so that whoso runs may read. + "What, for example," says he, "is the universally arrogated Virtue, almost + the sole remaining Catholic Virtue, of these days? For some half-century, + it has been the thing you name 'Independence.' Suspicion of 'Servility,' + of reverence for Superiors, the very dog-leech is anxious to disavow. + Fools! Were your Superiors worthy to govern, and you worthy to obey, + reverence for them were even your only possible freedom. Independence, in + all kinds, is rebellion; if unjust rebellion, why parade it, and + everywhere prescribe it?" + </p> + <p> + But what then? Are we returning, as Rousseau prayed, to the state of + Nature? "The Soul Politic having departed," says Teufelsdrockh, "what can + follow but that the Body Politic be decently interred, to avoid + putrescence? Liberals, Economists, Utilitarians enough I see marching with + its bier, and chanting loud paeans, towards the funeral pile, where, amid + wailings from some, and saturnalian revelries from the most, the venerable + Corpse is to be burnt. Or, in plain words, that these men, Liberals, + Utilitarians, or whatsoever they are called, will ultimately carry their + point, and dissever and destroy most existing Institutions of Society, + seems a thing which has some time ago ceased to be doubtful. + </p> + <p> + "Do we not see a little subdivision of the grand Utilitarian Armament come + to light even in insulated England? A living nucleus, that will attract + and grow, does at length appear there also; and under curious phasis; + properly as the inconsiderable fag-end, and so far in the rear of the + others as to fancy itself the van. Our European Mechanizers are a sect of + boundless diffusion, activity, and co-operative spirit: has not + Utilitarianism flourished in high places of Thought, here among ourselves, + and in every European country, at some time or other, within the last + fifty years? If now in all countries, except perhaps England, it has + ceased to flourish, or indeed to exist, among Thinkers, and sunk to + Journalists and the popular mass,—who sees not that, as hereby it no + longer preaches, so the reason is, it now needs no Preaching, but is in + full universal Action, the doctrine everywhere known, and enthusiastically + laid to heart? The fit pabulum, in these times, for a certain rugged + workshop intellect and heart, nowise without their corresponding workshop + strength and ferocity, it requires but to be stated in such scenes to make + proselytes enough.—Admirably calculated for destroying, only not for + rebuilding! It spreads like a sort of Dog-madness; till the whole + World-kennel will be rabid: then woe to the Huntsmen, with or without + their whips! They should have given the quadrupeds water," adds he; "the + water, namely, of Knowledge and of Life, while it was yet time." + </p> + <p> + Thus, if Professor Teufelsdrockh can be relied on, we are at this hour in + a most critical condition; beleaguered by that boundless "Armament of + Mechanizers" and Unbelievers, threatening to strip us bare! "The World," + says he, "as it needs must, is under a process of devastation and waste, + which, whether by silent assiduous corrosion, or open quicker combustion, + as the case chances, will effectually enough annihilate the past Forms of + Society; replace them with what it may. For the present, it is + contemplated that when man's whole Spiritual Interests are once <i>divested</i>, + these innumerable stript-off Garments shall mostly be burnt; but the + sounder Rags among them be quilted together into one huge Irish watch-coat + for the defence of the Body only!"—This, we think, is but Job's-news + to the humane reader. + </p> + <p> + "Nevertheless," cries Teufelsdrockh, "who can hinder it; who is there that + can clutch into the wheelspokes of Destiny, and say to the Spirit of the + Time: Turn back, I command thee?—Wiser were it that we yielded to + the Inevitable and Inexorable, and accounted even this the best." + </p> + <p> + Nay, might not an attentive Editor, drawing his own inferences from what + stands written, conjecture that Teufelsdrockh, individually had yielded to + this same "Inevitable and Inexorable" heartily enough; and now sat waiting + the issue, with his natural diabolico-angelical Indifference, if not even + Placidity? Did we not hear him complain that the World was a "huge + Ragfair," and the "rags and tatters of old Symbols" were raining down + everywhere, like to drift him in, and suffocate him? What with those + "unhunted Helots" of his; and the uneven <i>sic vos non vobis</i> pressure + and hard-crashing collision he is pleased to discern in existing things; + what with the so hateful "empty Masks," full of beetles and spiders, yet + glaring out on him, from their glass eyes, "with a ghastly affectation of + life,"—we feel entitled to conclude him even willing that much + should be thrown to the Devil, so it were but done gently! Safe himself in + that "Pinnacle of Weissnichtwo," he would consent, with a tragic + solemnity, that the monster UTILITARIA, held back, indeed, and moderated + by nose-rings, halters, foot-shackles, and every conceivable modification + of rope, should go forth to do her work;—to tread down old ruinous + Palaces and Temples with her broad hoof, till the whole were trodden down, + that new and better might be built! Remarkable in this point of view are + the following sentences. + </p> + <p> + "Society," says he, "is not dead: that Carcass, which you call dead + Society, is but her mortal coil which she has shuffled off, to assume a + nobler; she herself, through perpetual metamorphoses, in fairer and fairer + development, has to live till Time also merge in Eternity. Wheresoever two + or three Living Men are gathered together, there is Society; or there it + will be, with its cunning mechanisms and stupendous structures, + overspreading this little Globe, and reaching upwards to Heaven and + downwards to Gehenna: for always, under one or the other figure, it has + two authentic Revelations, of a God and of a Devil; the Pulpit, namely, + and the Gallows." + </p> + <p> + Indeed, we already heard him speak of "Religion, in unnoticed nooks, + weaving for herself new Vestures;"—Teufelsdrockh himself being one + of the loom-treadles? Elsewhere he quotes without censure that strange + aphorism of Saint Simon's, concerning which and whom so much were to be + said: "<i>L'age d'or, qu'une aveugle tradition a place jusqu'ici dans le + passe, est devant nous</i>; The golden age, which a blind tradition has + hitherto placed in the Past, is Before us."—But listen again:— + </p> + <p> + "When the Phoenix is fanning her funeral pyre, will there not be sparks + flying! Alas, some millions of men, and among them such as a Napoleon, + have already been licked into that high-eddying Flame, and like moths + consumed there. Still also have we to fear that incautious beards will get + singed. + </p> + <p> + "For the rest, in what year of grace such Phoenix-cremation will be + completed, you need not ask. The law of Perseverance is among the deepest + in man: by nature he hates change; seldom will he quit his old house till + it has actually fallen about his ears. Thus have I seen Solemnities linger + as Ceremonies, sacred Symbols as idle Pageants, to the extent of three + hundred years and more after all life and sacredness had evaporated out of + them. And then, finally, what time the Phoenix Death-Birth itself will + require, depends on unseen contingencies.—Meanwhile, would Destiny + offer Mankind, that after, say two centuries of convulsion and + conflagration, more or less vivid, the fire-creation should be + accomplished, and we to find ourselves again in a Living Society, and no + longer fighting but working,—were it not perhaps prudent in Mankind + to strike the bargain?" + </p> + <p> + Thus is Teufelsdrockh, content that old sick Society should be + deliberately burnt (alas, with quite other fuel than spice-wood); in the + faith that she is a Phoenix; and that a new heaven-born young one will + rise out of her ashes! We ourselves, restricted to the duty of Indicator, + shall forbear commentary. Meanwhile, will not the judicious reader shake + his head, and reproachfully, yet more in sorrow than in anger, say or + think: From a <i>Doctor utriusque Juris</i>, titular Professor in a + University, and man to whom hitherto, for his services, Society, bad as + she is, has given not only food and raiment (of a kind), but books, + tobacco and gukguk, we expected more gratitude to his benefactress; and + less of a blind trust in the future which resembles that rather of a + philosophical Fatalist and Enthusiast, than of a solid householder paying + scot-and-lot in a Christian country. + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0027"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VI. OLD CLOTHES. + </h2> + <p> + As mentioned above, Teufelsdrockh, though a Sansculottist, is in practice + probably the politest man extant: his whole heart and life are penetrated + and informed with the spirit of politeness; a noble natural Courtesy + shines through him, beautifying his vagaries; like sunlight, making a + rosyfingered, rainbow-dyed Aurora out of mere aqueous clouds; nay + brightening London-smoke itself into gold vapor, as from the crucible of + an alchemist. Hear in what earnest though fantastic wise he expresses + himself on this head:— + </p> + <p> + "Shall Courtesy be done only to the rich, and only by the rich? In + Good-breeding, which differs, if at all, from High-breeding, only as it + gracefully remembers the rights of others, rather than gracefully insists + on its own rights, I discern no special connection with wealth or birth: + but rather that it lies in human nature itself, and is due from all men + towards all men. Of a truth, were your Schoolmaster at his post, and worth + anything when there, this, with so much else, would be reformed. Nay, each + man were then also his neighbor's schoolmaster; till at length a + rude-visaged, unmannered Peasant could no more be met with, than a Peasant + unacquainted with botanical Physiology, or who felt not that the clod he + broke was created in Heaven. + </p> + <p> + "For whether thou bear a sceptre or a sledge-hammer, art not thou ALIVE; + is not this thy brother ALIVE? 'There is but one temple in the world,' + says Novalis, 'and that temple is the Body of Man. Nothing is holier than + this high Form. Bending before men is a reverence done to this Revelation + in the Flesh. We touch Heaven, when we lay our hands on a human Body.' + </p> + <p> + "On which ground, I would fain carry it farther than most do; and whereas + the English Johnson only bowed to every Clergyman, or man with a + shovel-hat, I would bow to every Man with any sort of hat, or with no hat + whatever. Is not he a Temple, then; the visible Manifestation and + Impersonation of the Divinity? And yet, alas, such indiscriminate bowing + serves not. For there is a Devil dwells in man, as well as a Divinity; and + too often the bow is but pocketed by the <i>former</i>. It would go to the + pocket of Vanity (which is your clearest phasis of the Devil, in these + times); therefore must we withhold it. + </p> + <p> + "The gladder am I, on the other hand, to do reverence to those Shells and + outer Husks of the Body, wherein no devilish passion any longer lodges, + but only the pure emblem and effigies of Man: I mean, to Empty, or even to + Cast Clothes. Nay, is it not to Clothes that most men do reverence: to the + fine frogged broadcloth, nowise to the 'straddling animal with bandy legs' + which it holds, and makes a Dignitary of? Who ever saw any Lord my-lorded + in tattered blanket fastened with wooden skewer? Nevertheless, I say, + there is in such worship a shade of hypocrisy, a practical deception: for + how often does the Body appropriate what was meant for the Cloth only! + Whoso would avoid falsehood, which is the essence of all Sin, will perhaps + see good to take a different course. That reverence which cannot act + without obstruction and perversion when the Clothes are full, may have + free course when they are empty. Even as, for Hindoo Worshippers, the + Pagoda is not less sacred than the God; so do I too worship the hollow + cloth Garment with equal fervor, as when it contained the Man: nay, with + more, for I now fear no deception, of myself or of others. + </p> + <p> + "Did not King <i>Toomtabard</i>, or, in other words, John Baliol, reign + long over Scotland; the man John Baliol being quite gone, and only the + 'Toom Tabard' (Empty Gown) remaining? What still dignity dwells in a suit + of Cast Clothes! How meekly it bears its honors! No haughty looks, no + scornful gesture: silent and serene, it fronts the world; neither + demanding worship, nor afraid to miss it. The Hat still carries the + physiognomy of its Head: but the vanity and the stupidity, and + goose-speech which was the sign of these two, are gone. The Coat-arm is + stretched out, but not to strike; the Breeches, in modest simplicity, + depend at ease, and now at last have a graceful flow; the Waistcoat hides + no evil passion, no riotous desire; hunger or thirst now dwells not in it. + Thus all is purged from the grossness of sense, from the carking cares and + foul vices of the World; and rides there, on its Clothes-horse; as, on a + Pegasus, might some skyey Messenger, or purified Apparition, visiting our + low Earth. + </p> + <p> + "Often, while I sojourned in that monstrous tuberosity of Civilized Life, + the Capital of England; and meditated, and questioned Destiny, under that + ink-sea of vapor, black, thick, and multifarious as Spartan broth; and was + one lone soul amid those grinding millions;—often have I turned into + their Old-Clothes Market to worship. With awe-struck heart I walk through + that Monmouth Street, with its empty Suits, as through a Sanhedrim of + stainless Ghosts. Silent are they, but expressive in their silence: the + past witnesses and instruments of Woe and Joy, of Passions, Virtues, + Crimes, and all the fathomless tumult of Good and Evil in 'the Prison men + call Life.' Friends! trust not the heart of that man for whom Old Clothes + are not venerable. Watch, too, with reverence, that bearded Jewish + High-priest, who with hoarse voice, like some Angel of Doom, summons them + from the four winds! On his head, like the Pope, he has three Hats,—a + real triple tiara; on either hand are the similitude of wings, whereon the + summoned Garments come to alight; and ever, as he slowly cleaves the air, + sounds forth his deep fateful note, as if through a trumpet he were + proclaiming: 'Ghosts of Life, come to Judgment!' Reck not, ye fluttering + Ghosts: he will purify you in his Purgatory, with fire and with water; + and, one day, new-created ye shall reappear. Oh, let him in whom the flame + of Devotion is ready to go out, who has never worshipped, and knows not + what to worship, pace and repace, with austerest thought, the pavement of + Monmouth Street, and say whether his heart and his eyes still continue + dry. If Field Lane, with its long fluttering rows of yellow handkerchiefs, + be a Dionysius' Ear, where, in stifled jarring hubbub, we hear the + Indictment which Poverty and Vice bring against lazy Wealth, that it has + left them there cast out and trodden under foot of Want, Darkness and the + Devil,—then is Monmouth Street a Mirza's Hill, where, in motley + vision, the whole Pageant of Existence passes awfully before us; with its + wail and jubilee, mad loves and mad hatreds, church-bells and + gallows-ropes, farce-tragedy, beast-godhood,—the Bedlam of + Creation!" + </p> + <p> + To most men, as it does to ourselves, all this will seem overcharged. We + too have walked through Monmouth Street; but with little feeling of + "Devotion:" probably in part because the contemplative process is so + fatally broken in upon by the brood of money-changers who nestle in that + Church, and importune the worshipper with merely secular proposals. + Whereas Teufelsdrockh, might be in that happy middle state, which leaves + to the Clothes-broker no hope either of sale or of purchase, and so be + allowed to linger there without molestation.—Something we would have + given to see the little philosophical figure, with its steeple-hat and + loose flowing skirts, and eyes in a fine frenzy, "pacing and repacing in + austerest thought" that foolish Street; which to him was a true Delphic + avenue, and supernatural Whispering-gallery, where the "Ghosts of Life" + rounded strange secrets in his ear. O thou philosophic Teufelsdrockh, that + listenest while others only gabble, and with thy quick tympanum hearest + the grass grow! + </p> + <p> + At the same time, is it not strange that, in Paper-bag Documents destined + for an English work, there exists nothing like an authentic diary of this + his sojourn in London; and of his Meditations among the Clothes-shops only + the obscurest emblematic shadows? Neither, in conversation (for, indeed, + he was not a man to pester you with his Travels), have we heard him more + than allude to the subject. + </p> + <p> + For the rest, however, it cannot be uninteresting that we here find how + early the significance of Clothes had dawned on the now so distinguished + Clothes-Professor. Might we but fancy it to have been even in Monmouth + Street, at the bottom of our own English "ink-sea," that this remarkable + Volume first took being, and shot forth its salient point in his soul,—as + in Chaos did the Egg of Eros, one day to be hatched into a Universe! + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0028"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VII. ORGANIC FILAMENTS. + </h2> + <p> + For us, who happen to live while the World-Phoenix is burning herself, and + burning so slowly that, as Teufelsdrockh calculates, it were a handsome + bargain would she engage to have done "within two centuries," there seems + to lie but an ashy prospect. Not altogether so, however, does the + Professor figure it. "In the living subject," says he, "change is wont to + be gradual: thus, while the serpent sheds its old skin, the new is already + formed beneath. Little knowest thou of the burning of a World-Phoenix, who + fanciest that she must first burn out, and lie as a dead cinereous heap; + and therefrom the young one start up by miracle, and fly heavenward. Far + otherwise! In that Fire-whirlwind, Creation and Destruction proceed + together; ever as the ashes of the Old are blown about, do organic + filaments of the New mysteriously spin themselves: and amid the rushing + and the waving of the Whirlwind element come tones of a melodious + Death-song, which end not but in tones of a more melodious Birth-song. + Nay, look into the Fire-whirlwind with thy own eyes, and thou wilt see." + Let us actually look, then: to poor individuals, who cannot expect to live + two centuries, those same organic filaments, mysteriously spinning + themselves, will be the best part of the spectacle. First, therefore, this + of Mankind in general:— + </p> + <p> + "In vain thou deniest it," says the Professor; "thou art my Brother. Thy + very Hatred, thy very Envy, those foolish Lies thou tellest of me in thy + splenetic humor: what is all this but an inverted Sympathy? Were I a + Steam-engine, wouldst thou take the trouble to tell lies of me? Not thou! + I should grind all unheeded, whether badly or well. + </p> + <p> + "Wondrous truly are the bonds that unite us one and all; whether by the + soft binding of Love, or the iron chaining of Necessity, as we like to + choose it. More than once have I said to myself, of some perhaps + whimsically strutting Figure, such as provokes whimsical thoughts: 'Wert + thou, my little Brotherkin, suddenly covered up within the largest + imaginable Glass bell,—what a thing it were, not for thyself only, + but for the world! Post Letters, more or fewer, from all the four winds, + impinge against thy Glass walls, but have to drop unread: neither from + within comes there question or response into any Post-bag; thy Thoughts + fall into no friendly ear or heart, thy Manufacture into no purchasing + hand: thou art no longer a circulating venous-arterial Heart, that, taking + and giving, circulatest through all Space and all Time: there has a Hole + fallen out in the immeasurable, universal World-tissue, which must be + darned up again!' + </p> + <p> + "Such venous-arterial circulation, of Letters, verbal Messages, paper and + other Packages, going out from him and coming in, are a blood-circulation, + visible to the eye: but the finer nervous circulation, by which all + things, the minutest that he does, minutely influence all men, and the + very look of his face blesses or curses whomso it lights on, and so + generates ever new blessing or new cursing: all this you cannot see, but + only imagine. I say, there is not a red Indian, hunting by Lake Winnipeg, + can quarrel with his squaw, but the whole world must smart for it: will + not the price of beaver rise? It is a mathematical fact that the casting + of this pebble from my hand alters the centre of gravity of the Universe. + </p> + <p> + "If now an existing generation of men stand so woven together, not less + indissolubly does generation with generation. Hast thou ever meditated on + that word, Tradition: how we inherit not Life only, but all the garniture + and form of Life; and work, and speak, and even think and feel, as our + Fathers, and primeval grandfathers, from the beginning, have given it us?—Who + printed thee, for example, this unpretending Volume on the Philosophy of + Clothes? Not the Herren Stillschweigen and Company; but Cadmus of Thebes, + Faust of Mentz, and innumerable others whom thou knowest not. Had there + been no Moesogothic Ulfila, there had been no English Shakspeare, or a + different one. Simpleton! It was Tubal-cain that made thy very Tailor's + needle, and sewed that court-suit of thine. + </p> + <p> + "Yes, truly, if Nature is one, and a living indivisible whole, much more + is Mankind, the Image that reflects and creates Nature, without which + Nature were not. As palpable lifestreams in that wondrous Individual + Mankind, among so many life-streams that are not palpable, flow on those + main currents of what we call Opinion; as preserved in Institutions, + Polities, Churches, above all in Books. Beautiful it is to understand and + know that a Thought did never yet die; that as thou, the originator + thereof, hast gathered it and created it from the whole Past, so thou wilt + transmit it to the whole Future. It is thus that the heroic heart, the + seeing eye of the first times, still feels and sees in us of the latest; + that the Wise Man stands ever encompassed, and spiritually embraced, by a + cloud of witnesses and brothers; and there is a living, literal <i>Communion + of Saints</i>, wide as the World itself, and as the History of the World. + </p> + <p> + "Noteworthy also, and serviceable for the progress of this same + Individual, wilt thou find his subdivision into Generations. Generations + are as the Days of toilsome Mankind: Death and Birth are the vesper and + the matin bells, that summon Mankind to sleep, and to rise refreshed for + new advancement. What the Father has made, the Son can make and enjoy; but + has also work of his own appointed him. Thus all things wax, and roll + onwards; Arts, Establishments, Opinions, nothing is completed, but ever + completing. Newton has learned to see what Kepler saw; but there is also a + fresh heaven-derived force in Newton; he must mount to still higher points + of vision. So too the Hebrew Lawgiver is, in due time, followed by an + Apostle of the Gentiles. In the business of Destruction, as this also is + from time to time a necessary work, thou findest a like sequence and + perseverance: for Luther it was as yet hot enough to stand by that burning + of the Pope's Bull; Voltaire could not warm himself at the glimmering + ashes, but required quite other fuel. Thus likewise, I note, the English + Whig has, in the second generation, become an English Radical; who, in the + third again, it is to be hoped, will become an English Rebuilder. Find + Mankind where thou wilt, thou findest it in living movement, in progress + faster or slower: the Phoenix soars aloft, hovers with outstretched wings, + filling Earth with her music; or, as now, she sinks, and with spheral + swan-song immolates herself in flame, that she may soar the higher and + sing the clearer." + </p> + <p> + Let the friends of social order, in such a disastrous period, lay this to + heart, and derive from it any little comfort they can. We subjoin another + passage, concerning Titles:— + </p> + <p> + "Remark, not without surprise," says Teufelsdrockh, "how all high Titles + of Honor come hitherto from Fighting. Your <i>Herzog</i> (Duke, <i>Dux</i>) + is Leader of Armies; your Earl (<i>Jarl</i>) is Strong Man; your Marshal + cavalry Horse-shoer. A Millennium, or reign of Peace and Wisdom, having + from of old been prophesied, and becoming now daily more and more + indubitable, may it not be apprehended that such Fighting titles will + cease to be palatable, and new and higher need to be devised? + </p> + <p> + "The only Title wherein I, with confidence, trace eternity is that of + King. <i>Konig</i> (King), anciently <i>Konning</i>, means Ken-ning + (Cunning), or which is the same thing, Can-ning. Ever must the Sovereign + of Mankind be fitly entitled King." + </p> + <p> + "Well, also," says he elsewhere, "was it written by Theologians: a King + rules by divine right. He carries in him an authority from God, or man + will never give it him. Can I choose my own King? I can choose my own King + Popinjay, and play what farce or tragedy I may with him: but he who is to + be my Ruler, whose will is to be higher than my will, was chosen for me in + Heaven. Neither except in such Obedience to the Heaven-chosen is Freedom + so much as conceivable." + </p> + <p> + The Editor will here admit that, among all the wondrous provinces of + Teufelsdrockh's spiritual world, there is none he walks in with such + astonishment, hesitation, and even pain, as in the Political. How, with + our English love of Ministry and Opposition, and that generous conflict of + Parties, mind warming itself against mind in their mutual wrestle for the + Public Good, by which wrestle, indeed, is our invaluable Constitution kept + warm and alive; how shall we domesticate ourselves in this spectral + Necropolis, or rather City both of the Dead and of the Unborn, where the + Present seems little other than an inconsiderable Film dividing the Past + and the Future? In those dim long-drawn expanses, all is so immeasurable; + much so disastrous, ghastly; your very radiances and straggling + light-beams have a supernatural character. And then with such an + indifference, such a prophetic peacefulness (accounting the inevitably + coming as already here, to him all one whether it be distant by centuries + or only by days), does he sit;—and live, you would say, rather in + any other age than in his own! It is our painful duty to announce, or + repeat, that, looking into this man, we discern a deep, silent, + slow-burning, inextinguishable Radicalism, such as fills us with + shuddering admiration. + </p> + <p> + Thus, for example, he appears to make little even of the Elective + Franchise; at least so we interpret the following: "Satisfy yourselves," + he says, "by universal, indubitable experiment, even as ye are now doing + or will do, whether FREEDOM, heaven-born and leading heavenward, and so + vitally essential for us all, cannot peradventure be mechanically hatched + and brought to light in that same Ballot-Box of yours; or at worst, in + some other discoverable or devisable Box, Edifice, or Steam-mechanism. It + were a mighty convenience; and beyond all feats of manufacture witnessed + hitherto." Is Teufelsdrockh acquainted with the British constitution, even + slightly?—He says, under another figure: "But after all, were the + problem, as indeed it now everywhere is, To rebuild your old House from + the top downwards (since you must live in it the while), what better, what + other, than the Representative Machine will serve your turn? Meanwhile, + however, mock me not with the name of Free, 'when you have but knit up my + chains into ornamental festoons.'"—Or what will any member of the + Peace Society make of such an assertion as this: "The lower people + everywhere desire War. Not so unwisely; there is then a demand for lower + people—to be shot!" + </p> + <p> + Gladly, therefore, do we emerge from those soul-confusing labyrinths of + speculative Radicalism, into somewhat clearer regions. Here, looking + round, as was our hest, for "organic filaments," we ask, may not this, + touching "Hero-worship," be of the number? It seems of a cheerful + character; yet so quaint, so mystical, one knows not what, or how little, + may lie under it. Our readers shall look with their own eyes:— + </p> + <p> + "True is it that, in these days, man can do almost all things, only not + obey. True likewise that whoso cannot obey cannot be free, still less bear + rule; he that is the inferior of nothing, can be the superior of nothing, + the equal of nothing. Nevertheless, believe not that man has lost his + faculty of Reverence; that if it slumber in him, it has gone dead. Painful + for man is that same rebellious Independence, when it has become + inevitable; only in loving companionship with his fellows does he feel + safe; only in reverently bowing down before the Higher does he feel + himself exalted. + </p> + <p> + "Or what if the character of our so troublous Era lay even in this: that + man had forever cast away Fear, which is the lower; but not yet risen into + perennial Reverence, which is the higher and highest? + </p> + <p> + "Meanwhile, observe with joy, so cunningly has Nature ordered it, that + whatsoever man ought to obey, he cannot but obey. Before no faintest + revelation of the Godlike did he ever stand irreverent; least of all, when + the Godlike showed itself revealed in his fellow-man. Thus is there a true + religious Loyalty forever rooted in his heart; nay in all ages, even in + ours, it manifests itself as a more or less orthodox <i>Hero-worship</i>. + In which fact, that Hero-worship exists, has existed, and will forever + exist, universally among Mankind, mayest thou discern the corner-stone of + living rock, whereon all Polities for the remotest time may stand secure." + </p> + <p> + Do our readers discern any such corner-stone, or even so much as what + Teufelsdrockh, is looking at? He exclaims, "Or hast thou forgotten Paris + and Voltaire? How the aged, withered man, though but a Sceptic, Mocker, + and millinery Court-poet, yet because even he seemed the Wisest, Best, + could drag mankind at his chariot-wheels, so that princes coveted a smile + from him, and the loveliest of France would have laid their hair beneath + his feet! All Paris was one vast Temple of Hero-worship; though their + Divinity, moreover, was of feature too apish. + </p> + <p> + "But if such things," continues he, "were done in the dry tree, what will + be done in the green? If, in the most parched season of Man's History, in + the most parched spot of Europe, when Parisian life was at best but a + scientific <i>Hortus Siccus</i>, bedizened with some Italian Gumflowers, + such virtue could come out of it; what is to be looked for when Life again + waves leafy and bloomy, and your Hero-Divinity shall have nothing apelike, + but be wholly human? Know that there is in man a quite indestructible + Reverence for whatsoever holds of Heaven, or even plausibly counterfeits + such holding. Show the dullest clodpoll, show the haughtiest featherhead, + that a soul higher than himself is actually here; were his knees stiffened + into brass, he must down and worship." + </p> + <p> + Organic filaments, of a more authentic sort, mysteriously spinning + themselves, some will perhaps discover in the following passage:— + </p> + <p> + "There is no Church, sayest thou? The voice of Prophecy has gone dumb? + This is even what I dispute: but in any case, hast thou not still + Preaching enough? A Preaching Friar settles himself in every village; and + builds a pulpit, which he calls Newspaper. Therefrom he preaches what most + momentous doctrine is in him, for man's salvation; and dost not thou + listen, and believe? Look well, thou seest everywhere a new Clergy of the + Mendicant Orders, some barefooted, some almost bare-backed, fashion itself + into shape, and teach and preach, zealously enough, for copper alms and + the love of God. These break in pieces the ancient idols; and, though + themselves too often reprobate, as idol-breakers are wont to be, mark out + the sites of new Churches, where the true God-ordained, that are to + follow, may find audience, and minister. Said I not, Before the old skin + was shed, the new had formed itself beneath it?" + </p> + <p> + Perhaps also in the following; wherewith we now hasten to knit up this + ravelled sleeve:— + </p> + <p> + "But there is no Religion?" reiterates the Professor. "Fool! I tell thee, + there is. Hast thou well considered all that lies in this immeasurable + froth-ocean we name LITERATURE? Fragments of a genuine Church-<i>Homiletic</i> + lie scattered there, which Time will assort: nay fractions even of a <i>Liturgy</i> + could I point out. And knowest thou no Prophet, even in the vesture, + environment, and dialect of this age? None to whom the Godlike had + revealed itself, through all meanest and highest forms of the Common; and + by him been again prophetically revealed: in whose inspired melody, even + in these rag-gathering and rag-burning days, Man's Life again begins, were + it but afar off, to be divine? Knowest thou none such? I know him, and + name him—Goethe. + </p> + <p> + "But thou as yet standest in no Temple; joinest in no Psalm-worship; + feelest well that, where there is no ministering Priest, the people + perish? Be of comfort! Thou art not alone, if thou have Faith. Spake we + not of a Communion of Saints, unseen, yet not unreal, accompanying and + brother-like embracing thee, so thou be worthy? Their heroic Sufferings + rise up melodiously together to Heaven, out of all lands, and out of all + times, as a sacred <i>Miserere</i>; their heroic Actions also, as a + boundless everlasting Psalm of Triumph. Neither say that thou hast now no + Symbol of the Godlike. Is not God's Universe a Symbol of the Godlike; is + not Immensity a Temple; is not Man's History, and Men's History, a + perpetual Evangel? Listen, and for organ-music thou wilt ever, as of old, + hear the Morning Stars sing together." + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0029"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER VIII. NATURAL SUPERNATURALISM. + </h2> + <p> + It is in his stupendous Section, headed <i>Natural Supernaturalism</i>, + that the Professor first becomes a Seer; and, after long effort, such as + we have witnessed, finally subdues under his feet this refractory + Clothes-Philosophy, and takes victorious possession thereof. Phantasms + enough he has had to struggle with; "Cloth-webs and Cob-webs," of Imperial + Mantles, Superannuated Symbols, and what not: yet still did he + courageously pierce through. Nay, worst of all, two quite mysterious, + world-embracing Phantasms, TIME and SPACE, have ever hovered round him, + perplexing and bewildering: but with these also he now resolutely + grapples, these also he victoriously rends asunder. In a word, he has + looked fixedly on Existence, till, one after the other, its earthly hulls + and garnitures have all melted away; and now, to his rapt vision, the + interior celestial Holy-of-Holies lies disclosed. + </p> + <p> + Here, therefore, properly it is that the Philosophy of Clothes attains to + Transcendentalism; this last leap, can we but clear it, takes us safe into + the promised land, where <i>Palingenesia</i>, in all senses, may be + considered as beginning. "Courage, then!" may our Diogenes exclaim, with + better right than Diogenes the First once did. This stupendous Section we, + after long painful meditation, have found not to be unintelligible; but, + on the contrary, to grow clear, nay radiant, and all-illuminating. Let the + reader, turning on it what utmost force of speculative intellect is in + him, do his part; as we, by judicious selection and adjustment, shall + study to do ours:— + </p> + <p> + "Deep has been, and is, the significance of Miracles," thus quietly begins + the Professor; "far deeper perhaps than we imagine. Meanwhile, the + question of questions were: What specially is a Miracle? To that Dutch + King of Siam, an icicle had been a miracle; whoso had carried with him an + air-pump, and vial of vitriolic ether, might have worked a miracle. To my + Horse, again, who unhappily is still more unscientific, do not I work a + miracle, and magical '<i>Open sesame</i>!<i>'</i> every time I please to + pay twopence, and open for him an impassable <i>Schlagbaum</i>, or shut + Turnpike? + </p> + <p> + "'But is not a real Miracle simply a violation of the Laws of Nature?' ask + several. Whom I answer by this new question: What are the Laws of Nature? + To me perhaps the rising of one from the dead were no violation of these + Laws, but a confirmation; were some far deeper Law, now first penetrated + into, and by Spiritual Force, even as the rest have all been, brought to + bear on us with its Material Force. + </p> + <p> + "Here too may some inquire, not without astonishment: On what ground shall + one, that can make Iron swim, come and declare that therefore he can teach + Religion? To us, truly, of the Nineteenth Century, such declaration were + inept enough; which nevertheless to our fathers, of the First Century, was + full of meaning. + </p> + <p> + "'But is it not the deepest Law of Nature that she be constant?' cries an + illuminated class: 'Is not the Machine of the Universe fixed to move by + unalterable rules?' Probable enough, good friends: nay I, too, must + believe that the God, whom ancient inspired men assert to be 'without + variableness or shadow of turning,' does indeed never change; that Nature, + that the Universe, which no one whom it so pleases can be prevented from + calling a Machine, does move by the most unalterable rules. And now of + you, too, I make the old inquiry: What those same unalterable rules, + forming the complete Statute-Book of Nature, may possibly be? + </p> + <p> + "They stand written in our Works of Science, say you; in the accumulated + records of Man's Experience?—Was Man with his Experience present at + the Creation, then, to see how it all went on? Have any deepest scientific + individuals yet dived down to the foundations of the Universe, and gauged + everything there? Did the Maker take them into His counsel; that they read + His ground-plan of the incomprehensible All; and can say, This stands + marked therein, and no more than this? Alas, not in anywise! These + scientific individuals have been nowhere but where we also are; have seen + some hand breadths deeper than we see into the Deep that is infinite, + without bottom as without shore. + </p> + <p> + "Laplace's Book on the Stars, wherein he exhibits that certain Planets, + with their Satellites, gyrate round our worthy Sun, at a rate and in a + course, which, by greatest good fortune, he and the like of him have + succeeded in detecting,—is to me as precious as to another. But is + this what thou namest 'Mechanism of the Heavens,' and 'System of the + World;' this, wherein Sirius and the Pleiades, and all Herschel's Fifteen + thousand Suns per minute, being left out, some paltry handful of Moons, + and inert Balls, had been—looked at, nick-named, and marked in the + Zodiacal Way-bill; so that we can now prate of their Whereabout; their + How, their Why, their What, being hid from us, as in the signless Inane? + </p> + <p> + "System of Nature! To the wisest man, wide as is his vision, Nature + remains of quite <i>infinite</i> depth, of quite infinite expansion; and + all Experience thereof limits itself to some few computed centuries and + measured square-miles. The course of Nature's phases, on this our little + fraction of a Planet, is partially known to us: but who knows what deeper + courses these depend on; what infinitely larger Cycle (of causes) our + little Epicycle revolves on? To the Minnow every cranny and pebble, and + quality and accident, of its little native Creek may have become familiar: + but does the Minnow understand the Ocean Tides and periodic Currents, the + Trade-winds, and Monsoons, and Moon's Eclipses; by all which the condition + of its little Creek is regulated, and may, from time to time + (unmiraculously enough), be quite overset and reversed? Such a minnow is + Man; his Creek this Planet Earth; his Ocean the immeasurable All; his + Monsoons and periodic Currents the mysterious Course of Providence through + AEons of AEons. + </p> + <p> + "We speak of the Volume of Nature: and truly a Volume it is,—whose + Author and Writer is God. To read it! Dost thou, does man, so much as well + know the Alphabet thereof? With its Words, Sentences, and grand + descriptive Pages, poetical and philosophical, spread out through Solar + Systems, and Thousands of Years, we shall not try thee. It is a Volume + written in celestial hieroglyphs, in the true Sacred-writing; of which + even Prophets are happy that they can read here a line and there a line. + As for your Institutes, and Academies of Science, they strive bravely; + and, from amid the thick-crowded, inextricably intertwisted hieroglyphic + writing, pick out, by dexterous combination, some Letters in the vulgar + Character, and therefrom put together this and the other economic Recipe, + of high avail in Practice. That Nature is more than some boundless Volume + of such Recipes, or huge, well-nigh inexhaustible Domestic-Cookery Book, + of which the whole secret will in this manner one day evolve itself, the + fewest dream. + </p> + <p> + "Custom," continues the Professor, "doth make dotards of us all. Consider + well, thou wilt find that Custom is the greatest of Weavers; and weaves + air-raiment for all the Spirits of the Universe; whereby indeed these + dwell with us visibly, as ministering servants, in our houses and + workshops; but their spiritual nature becomes, to the most, forever + hidden. Philosophy complains that Custom has hoodwinked us, from the + first; that we do everything by Custom, even Believe by it; that our very + Axioms, let us boast of Free-thinking as we may, are oftenest simply such + Beliefs as we have never heard questioned. Nay, what is Philosophy + throughout but a continual battle against Custom; an ever-renewed effort + to <i>transcend</i> the sphere of blind Custom, and so become + Transcendental? + </p> + <p> + "Innumerable are the illusions and legerdemain-tricks of Custom: but of + all these, perhaps the cleverest is her knack of persuading us that the + Miraculous, by simple repetition, ceases to be Miraculous. True, it is by + this means we live; for man must work as well as wonder: and herein is + Custom so far a kind nurse, guiding him to his true benefit. But she is a + fond foolish nurse, or rather we are false foolish nurslings, when, in our + resting and reflecting hours, we prolong the same deception. Am I to view + the Stupendous with stupid indifference, because I have seen it twice, or + two hundred, or two million times? There is no reason in Nature or in Art + why I should: unless, indeed, I am a mere Work-Machine, for whom the + divine gift of Thought were no other than the terrestrial gift of Steam is + to the Steam-engine; a power whereby cotton might be spun, and money and + money's worth realized. + </p> + <p> + "Notable enough too, here as elsewhere, wilt thou find the potency of + Names; which indeed are but one kind of such custom-woven, wonder-hiding + Garments. Witchcraft, and all manner of Spectre-work, and Demonology, we + have now named Madness, and Diseases of the Nerves. Seldom reflecting that + still the new question comes upon us: What is Madness, what are Nerves? + Ever, as before, does Madness remain a mysterious-terrific, altogether <i>infernal</i> + boiling-up of the Nether Chaotic Deep, through this fair-painted Vision of + Creation, which swims thereon, which we name the Real. Was Luther's + Picture of the Devil less a Reality, whether it were formed within the + bodily eye, or without it? In every the wisest Soul lies a whole world of + internal Madness, an authentic Demon-Empire; out of which, indeed, his + world of Wisdom has been creatively built together, and now rests there, + as on its dark foundations does a habitable flowery Earth rind. + </p> + <p> + "But deepest of all illusory Appearances, for hiding Wonder, as for many + other ends, are your two grand fundamental world-enveloping Appearances, + SPACE and TIME. These, as spun and woven for us from before Birth itself, + to clothe our celestial ME for dwelling here, and yet to blind it,—lie + all-embracing, as the universal canvas, or warp and woof, whereby all + minor Illusions, in this Phantasm Existence, weave and paint themselves. + In vain, while here on Earth, shall you endeavor to strip them off; you + can, at best, but rend them asunder for moments, and look through. + </p> + <p> + "Fortunatus had a wishing Hat, which when he put on, and wished himself + Anywhere, behold he was There. By this means had Fortunatus triumphed over + Space, he had annihilated Space; for him there was no Where, but all was + Here. Were a Hatter to establish himself, in the Wahngasse of + Weissnichtwo, and make felts of this sort for all mankind, what a world we + should have of it! Still stranger, should, on the opposite side of the + street, another Hatter establish himself; and, as his fellow-craftsman + made Space-annihilating Hats, make Time-annihilating! Of both would I + purchase, were it with my last groschen; but chiefly of this latter. To + clap on your felt, and, simply by wishing that you were Anywhere, + straightway to be <i>There</i>! Next to clap on your other felt, and, + simply by wishing that you were <i>Anywhen</i>, straightway to be <i>Then</i>! + This were indeed the grander: shooting at will from the Fire-Creation of + the World to its Fire-Consummation; here historically present in the First + Century, conversing face to face with Paul and Seneca; there prophetically + in the Thirty-first, conversing also face to face with other Pauls and + Senecas, who as yet stand hidden in the depth of that late Time! + </p> + <p> + "Or thinkest thou it were impossible, unimaginable? Is the Past + annihilated, then, or only past; is the Future non-extant, or only future? + Those mystic faculties of thine, Memory and Hope, already answer: already + through those mystic avenues, thou the Earth-blinded summonest both Past + and Future, and communest with them, though as yet darkly, and with mute + beckonings. The curtains of Yesterday drop down, the curtains of To-morrow + roll up; but Yesterday and To-morrow both <i>are</i>. Pierce through the + Time-element, glance into the Eternal. Believe what thou findest written + in the sanctuaries of Man's Soul, even as all Thinkers, in all ages, have + devoutly read it there: that Time and Space are not God, but creations of + God; that with God as it is a universal HERE, so is it an everlasting Now. + </p> + <p> + "And seest thou therein any glimpse of IMMORTALITY?—O Heaven! Is the + white Tomb of our Loved One, who died from our arms, and had to be left + behind us there, which rises in the distance, like a pale, mournfully + receding Milestone, to tell how many toilsome uncheered miles we have + journeyed on alone,—but a pale spectral Illusion! Is the lost Friend + still mysteriously Here, even as we are Here mysteriously, with God!—know + of a truth that only the Time-shadows have perished, or are perishable; + that the real Being of whatever was, and whatever is, and whatever will + be, is even now and forever. This, should it unhappily seem new, thou + mayest ponder at thy leisure; for the next twenty years, or the next + twenty centuries: believe it thou must; understand it thou canst not. + </p> + <p> + "That the Thought-forms, Space and Time, wherein, once for all, we are + sent into this Earth to live, should condition and determine our whole + Practical reasonings, conceptions, and imagings or imaginings, seems + altogether fit, just, and unavoidable. But that they should, furthermore, + usurp such sway over pure spiritual Meditation, and blind us to the wonder + everywhere lying close on us, seems nowise so. Admit Space and Time to + their due rank as Forms of Thought; nay even, if thou wilt, to their quite + undue rank of Realities: and consider, then, with thyself how their thin + disguises hide from us the brightest God-effulgences! Thus, were it not + miraculous, could I stretch forth my hand and clutch the Sun? Yet thou + seest me daily stretch forth my hand and therewith clutch many a thing, + and swing it hither and thither. Art thou a grown baby, then, to fancy + that the Miracle lies in miles of distance, or in pounds avoirdupois of + weight; and not to see that the true inexplicable God-revealing Miracle + lies in this, that I can stretch forth my hand at all; that I have free + Force to clutch aught therewith? Innumerable other of this sort are the + deceptions, and wonder-hiding stupefactions, which Space practices on us. + </p> + <p> + "Still worse is it with regard to Time. Your grand anti-magician, and + universal wonder-hider, is this same lying Time. Had we but the + Time-annihilating Hat, to put on for once only, we should see ourselves in + a World of Miracles, wherein all fabled or authentic Thaumaturgy, and + feats of Magic, were outdone. But unhappily we have not such a Hat; and + man, poor fool that he is, can seldom and scantily help himself without + one. + </p> + <p> + "Were it not wonderful, for instance, had Orpheus, or Amphion, built the + walls of Thebes by the mere sound of his Lyre? Yet tell me, Who built + these walls of Weissnichtwo; summoning out all the sandstone rocks, to + dance along from the <i>Steinbruch</i> (now a huge Troglodyte Chasm, with + frightful green-mantled pools); and shape themselves into Doric and Ionic + pillars, squared ashlar houses and noble streets? Was it not the still + higher Orpheus, or Orpheuses, who, in past centuries, by the divine Music + of Wisdom, succeeded in civilizing Man? Our highest Orpheus walked in + Judea, eighteen hundred years ago: his sphere-melody, flowing in wild + native tones, took captive the ravished souls of men; and, being of a + truth sphere-melody, still flows and sounds, though now with thousand-fold + accompaniments, and rich symphonies, through all our hearts; and + modulates, and divinely leads them. Is that a wonder, which happens in two + hours; and does it cease to be wonderful if happening in two million? Not + only was Thebes built by the music of an Orpheus; but without the music of + some inspired Orpheus was no city ever built, no work that man glories in + ever done. + </p> + <p> + "Sweep away the Illusion of Time; glance, if thou have eyes, from the near + moving-cause to its far distant Mover: The stroke that came transmitted + through a whole galaxy of elastic balls, was it less a stroke than if the + last ball only had been struck, and sent flying? Oh, could I (with the + Time-annihilating Hat) transport thee direct from the Beginnings, to the + Endings, how were thy eyesight unsealed, and thy heart set flaming in the + Light-sea of celestial wonder! Then sawest thou that this fair Universe, + were it in the meanest province thereof, is in very deed the star-domed + City of God; that through every star, through every grass-blade, and most + through every Living Soul, the glory of a present God still beams. But + Nature, which is the Time-vesture of God, and reveals Him to the wise, + hides Him from the foolish. + </p> + <p> + "Again, could anything be more miraculous than an actual authentic Ghost? + The English Johnson longed, all his life, to see one; but could not, + though he went to Cock Lane, and thence to the church-vaults, and tapped + on coffins. Foolish Doctor! Did he never, with the mind's eye as well as + with the body's, look round him into that full tide of human Life he so + loved; did he never so much as look into Himself? The good Doctor was a + Ghost, as actual and authentic as heart could wish; well-nigh a million of + Ghosts were travelling the streets by his side. Once more I say, sweep + away the illusion of Time; compress the threescore years into three + minutes: what else was he, what else are we? Are we not Spirits, that are + shaped into a body, into an Appearance; and that fade away again into air + and Invisibility? This is no metaphor, it is a simple scientific <i>fact</i>: + we start out of Nothingness, take figure, and are Apparitions; round us, + as round the veriest spectre, is Eternity; and to Eternity minutes are as + years and aeons. Come there not tones of Love and Faith, as from celestial + harp-strings, like the Song of beatified Souls? And again, do not we + squeak and gibber (in our discordant, screech-owlish debatings and + recriminatings); and glide bodeful, and feeble, and fearful; or uproar (<i>poltern</i>), + and revel in our mad Dance of the Dead,—till the scent of the + morning air summons us to our still Home; and dreamy Night becomes awake + and Day? Where now is Alexander of Macedon: does the steel Host, that + yelled in fierce battle-shouts at Issus and Arbela, remain behind him; or + have they all vanished utterly, even as perturbed Goblins must? Napoleon + too, and his Moscow Retreats and Austerlitz Campaigns! Was it all other + than the veriest Spectre-hunt; which has now, with its howling tumult that + made Night hideous, flitted away?—Ghosts! There are nigh a thousand + million walking the Earth openly at noontide; some half-hundred have + vanished from it, some half-hundred have arisen in it, ere thy watch ticks + once. + </p> + <p> + "O Heaven, it is mysterious, it is awful to consider that we not only + carry each a future Ghost within him; but are, in very deed, Ghosts! These + Limbs, whence had we them; this stormy Force; this life-blood with its + burning Passion? They are dust and shadow; a Shadow-system gathered round + our ME: wherein, through some moments or years, the Divine Essence is to + be revealed in the Flesh. That warrior on his strong war-horse, fire + flashes through his eyes; force dwells in his arm and heart: but warrior + and war-horse are a vision; a revealed Force, nothing more. Stately they + tread the Earth, as if it were a firm substance: fool! the Earth is but a + film; it cracks in twain, and warrior and war-horse sink beyond plummet's + sounding. Plummet's? Fantasy herself will not follow them. A little while + ago, they were not; a little while, and they are not, their very ashes are + not. + </p> + <p> + "So has it been from the beginning, so will it be to the end. Generation + after generation takes to itself the Form of a Body; and forth issuing + from Cimmerian Night, on Heaven's mission APPEARS. What Force and Fire is + in each he expends: one grinding in the mill of Industry; one hunter-like + climbing the giddy Alpine heights of Science; one madly dashed in pieces + on the rocks of Strife, in war with his fellow:—and then the + Heaven-sent is recalled; his earthly Vesture falls away, and soon even to + Sense becomes a vanished Shadow. Thus, like some wild-flaming, + wild-thundering train of Heaven's Artillery, does this mysterious MANKIND + thunder and flame, in long-drawn, quick-succeeding grandeur, through the + unknown Deep. Thus, like a God-created, fire-breathing Spirit-host, we + emerge from the Inane; haste stormfully across the astonished Earth; then + plunge again into the Inane. Earth's mountains are levelled, and her seas + filled up, in our passage: can the Earth, which is but dead and a vision, + resist Spirits which have reality and are alive? On the hardest adamant + some footprint of us is stamped in; the last Rear of the host will read + traces of the earliest Van. But whence?—O Heaven whither? Sense + knows not; Faith knows not; only that it is through Mystery to Mystery, + from God and to God. + </p> +<pre> + 'We <i>are such stuff</i> + As Dreams are made of, and our little Life + Is rounded with a sleep!'" +</pre> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0030"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER IX. CIRCUMSPECTIVE. + </h2> + <p> + Here, then, arises the so momentous question: Have many British Readers + actually arrived with us at the new promised country; is the Philosophy of + Clothes now at last opening around them? Long and adventurous has the + journey been: from those outmost vulgar, palpable Woollen Hulls of Man; + through his wondrous Flesh-Garments, and his wondrous Social Garnitures; + inwards to the Garments of his very Soul's Soul, to Time and Space + themselves! And now does the spiritual, eternal Essence of Man, and of + Mankind, bared of such wrappages, begin in any measure to reveal itself? + Can many readers discern, as through a glass darkly, in huge wavering + outlines, some primeval rudiments of Man's Being, what is changeable + divided from what is unchangeable? Does that Earth-Spirit's speech in <i>Faust</i>,— + </p> +<pre> + "'Tis thus at the roaring Loom of Time I ply, + And weave for God the Garment thou seest Him by; " +</pre> + <p> + or that other thousand-times repeated speech of the Magician, Shakespeare,— + </p> +<pre> + "And like the baseless fabric of this vision, + The cloud-capt Towers, the gorgeous Palaces, + The solemn Temples, the great Globe itself, + And all which it inherit, shall dissolve; + And like this unsubstantial pageant faded, + Leave not a wrack behind;" +</pre> + <p> + begin to have some meaning for us? In a word, do we at length stand safe + in the far region of Poetic Creation and Palingenesia, where that Phoenix + Death-Birth of Human Society, and of all Human Things, appears possible, + is seen to be inevitable? + </p> + <p> + Along this most insufficient, unheard-of Bridge, which the Editor, by + Heaven's blessing, has now seen himself enabled to conclude if not + complete, it cannot be his sober calculation, but only his fond hope, that + many have travelled without accident. No firm arch, overspanning the + Impassable with paved highway, could the Editor construct; only, as was + said, some zigzag series of rafts floating tumultuously thereon. Alas, and + the leaps from raft to raft were too often of a breakneck character; the + darkness, the nature of the element, all was against us! + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, may not here and there one of a thousand, provided with a + discursiveness of intellect rare in our day, have cleared the passage, in + spite of all? Happy few! little band of Friends! be welcome, be of + courage. By degrees, the eye grows accustomed to its new Whereabout; the + hand can stretch itself forth to work there: it is in this grand and + indeed highest work of Palingenesia that ye shall labor, each according to + ability. New laborers will arrive; new Bridges will be built; nay, may not + our own poor rope-and-raft Bridge, in your passings and repassings, be + mended in many a point, till it grow quite firm, passable even for the + halt? + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, of the innumerable multitude that started with us, joyous and + full of hope, where now is the innumerable remainder, whom we see no + longer by our side? The most have recoiled, and stand gazing afar off, in + unsympathetic astonishment, at our career: not a few, pressing forward + with more courage, have missed footing, or leaped short; and now swim + weltering in the Chaos-flood, some towards this shore, some towards that. + To these also a helping hand should be held out; at least some word of + encouragement be said. + </p> + <p> + Or, to speak without metaphor, with which mode of utterance Teufelsdrockh + unhappily has somewhat infected us,—can it be hidden from the Editor + that many a British Reader sits reading quite bewildered in head, and + afflicted rather than instructed by the present Work? Yes, long ago has + many a British Reader been, as now, demanding with something like a snarl: + Whereto does all this lead; or what use is in it? + </p> + <p> + In the way of replenishing thy purse, or otherwise aiding thy digestive + faculty, O British Reader, it leads to nothing, and there is no use in it; + but rather the reverse, for it costs thee somewhat. Nevertheless, if + through this unpromising Horn-gate, Teufelsdrockh, and we by means of him, + have led thee into the true Land of Dreams; and through the + Clothes-Screen, as through a magical <i>Pierre-Pertuis</i>, thou lookest, + even for moments, into the region of the Wonderful, and seest and feelest + that thy daily life is girt with Wonder, and based on Wonder, and thy very + blankets and breeches are Miracles,—then art thou profited beyond + money's worth; and hast a thankfulness towards our Professor; nay, perhaps + in many a literary Tea-circle wilt open thy kind lips, and audibly express + that same. + </p> + <p> + Nay farther, art not thou too perhaps by this time made aware that all + Symbols are properly Clothes; that all Forms whereby Spirit manifests + itself to sense, whether outwardly or in the imagination, are Clothes; and + thus not only the parchment Magna Charta, which a Tailor was nigh cutting + into measures, but the Pomp and Authority of Law, the sacredness of + Majesty, and all inferior Worships (Worth-ships) are properly a Vesture + and Raiment; and the Thirty-nine Articles themselves are articles of + wearing-apparel (for the Religious Idea)? In which case, must it not also + be admitted that this Science of Clothes is a high one, and may with + infinitely deeper study on thy part yield richer fruit: that it takes + scientific rank beside Codification, and Political Economy, and the Theory + of the British Constitution; nay rather, from its prophetic height looks + down on all these, as on so many weaving-shops and spinning-mills, where + the Vestures which <i>it</i> has to fashion, and consecrate, and + distribute, are, too often by haggard hungry operatives who see no farther + than their nose, mechanically woven and spun? + </p> + <p> + But omitting all this, much more all that concerns Natural + Supernaturalism, and indeed whatever has reference to the Ulterior or + Transcendental portion of the Science, or bears never so remotely on that + promised Volume of the <i>Palingenesie der menschlichen Gesellschaft</i> + (Newbirth of Society),—we humbly suggest that no province of + Clothes-Philosophy, even the lowest, is without its direct value, but that + innumerable inferences of a practical nature may be drawn therefrom. To + say nothing of those pregnant considerations, ethical, political, + symbolical, which crowd on the Clothes-Philosopher from the very threshold + of his Science; nothing even of those "architectural ideas," which, as we + have seen, lurk at the bottom of all Modes, and will one day, better + unfolding themselves, lead to important revolutions,—let us glance + for a moment, and with the faintest light of Clothes-Philosophy, on what + may be called the Habilatory Class of our fellow-men. Here too + overlooking, where so much were to be looked on, the million spinners, + weavers, fullers, dyers, washers, and wringers, that puddle and muddle in + their dark recesses, to make us Clothes, and die that we may live,—let + us but turn the reader's attention upon two small divisions of mankind, + who, like moths, may be regarded as Cloth-animals, creatures that live, + move and have their being in Cloth: we mean, Dandies and Tailors. + </p> + <p> + In regard to both which small divisions it may be asserted without + scruple, that the public feeling, unenlightened by Philosophy, is at + fault; and even that the dictates of humanity are violated. As will + perhaps abundantly appear to readers of the two following Chapters. + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0031"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER X. THE DANDIACAL BODY. + </h2> + <p> + First, touching Dandies, let us consider, with some scientific strictness, + what a Dandy specially is. A Dandy is a Clothes-wearing Man, a Man whose + trade, office and existence consists in the wearing of Clothes. Every + faculty of his soul, spirit, purse and person is heroically consecrated to + this one object, the wearing of Clothes wisely and well: so that as others + dress to live, he lives to dress. The all-importance of Clothes, which a + German Professor, of unequalled learning and acumen, writes his enormous + Volume to demonstrate, has sprung up in the intellect of the Dandy without + effort, like an instinct of genius; he is inspired with Cloth, a Poet of + Cloth. What Teufelsdrockh would call a "Divine Idea of Cloth" is born with + him; and this, like other such Ideas, will express itself outwardly, or + wring his heart asunder with unutterable throes. + </p> + <p> + But, like a generous, creative enthusiast, he fearlessly makes his Idea an + Action; shows himself in peculiar guise to mankind; walks forth, a witness + and living Martyr to the eternal worth of Clothes. We called him a Poet: + is not his body the (stuffed) parchment-skin whereon he writes, with + cunning Huddersfield dyes, a Sonnet to his mistress' eyebrow? Say, rather, + an Epos, and <i>Clotha Virumque cano</i>, to the whole world, in Macaronic + verses, which he that runs may read. Nay, if you grant, what seems to be + admissible, that the Dandy has a Thinking-principle in him, and some + notions of Time and Space, is there not in this life-devotedness to Cloth, + in this so willing sacrifice of the Immortal to the Perishable, something + (though in reverse order) of that blending and identification of Eternity + with Time, which, as we have seen, constitutes the Prophetic character? + </p> + <p> + And now, for all this perennial Martyrdom, and Poesy, and even Prophecy, + what is it that the Dandy asks in return? Solely, we may say, that you + would recognize his existence; would admit him to be a living object; or + even failing this, a visual object, or thing that will reflect rays of + light. Your silver or your gold (beyond what the niggardly Law has already + secured him) he solicits not; simply the glance of your eyes. Understand + his mystic significance, or altogether miss and misinterpret it; do but + look at him, and he is contented. May we not well cry shame on an + ungrateful world, which refuses even this poor boon; which will waste its + optic faculty on dried Crocodiles, and Siamese Twins; and over the + domestic wonderful wonder of wonders, a live Dandy, glance with hasty + indifference, and a scarcely concealed contempt! Him no Zoologist classes + among the Mammalia, no Anatomist dissects with care: when did we see any + injected Preparation of the Dandy in our Museums; any specimen of him + preserved in spirits! Lord Herringbone may dress himself in a snuff-brown + suit, with snuff-brown shirt and shoes: it skills not; the undiscerning + public, occupied with grosser wants, passes by regardless on the other + side. + </p> + <p> + The age of Curiosity, like that of Chivalry, is indeed, properly speaking, + gone. Yet perhaps only gone to sleep: for here arises the + Clothes-Philosophy to resuscitate, strangely enough, both the one and the + other! Should sound views of this Science come to prevail, the essential + nature of the British Dandy, and the mystic significance that lies in him, + cannot always remain hidden under laughable and lamentable hallucination. + The following long Extract from Professor Teufelsdrockh may set the + matter, if not in its true light, yet in the way towards such. It is to be + regretted, however, that here, as so often elsewhere, the Professor's keen + philosophic perspicacity is somewhat marred by a certain mixture of almost + owlish purblindness, or else of some perverse, ineffectual, ironic + tendency; our readers shall judge which:— + </p> + <p> + "In these distracted times," writes he, "when the Religious Principle, + driven out of most Churches, either lies unseen in the hearts of good men, + looking and longing and silently working there towards some new + Revelation; or else wanders homeless over the world, like a disembodied + soul seeking its terrestrial organization,—into how many strange + shapes, of Superstition and Fanaticism, does it not tentatively and + errantly cast itself! The higher Enthusiasm of man's nature is for the + while without Exponent; yet does it continue indestructible, unweariedly + active, and work blindly in the great chaotic deep: thus Sect after Sect, + and Church after Church, bodies itself forth, and melts again into new + metamorphosis. + </p> + <p> + "Chiefly is this observable in England, which, as the wealthiest and + worst-instructed of European nations, offers precisely the elements (of + Heat, namely, and of Darkness), in which such moon-calves and + monstrosities are best generated. Among the newer Sects of that country, + one of the most notable, and closely connected with our present subject, + is that of the <i>Dandies</i>; concerning which, what little information I + have been able to procure may fitly stand here. + </p> + <p> + "It is true, certain of the English Journalists, men generally without + sense for the Religious Principle, or judgment for its manifestations, + speak, in their brief enigmatic notices, as if this were perhaps rather a + Secular Sect, and not a Religious one; nevertheless, to the psychologic + eye its devotional and even sacrificial character plainly enough reveals + itself. Whether it belongs to the class of Fetish-worships, or of + Hero-worships or Polytheisms, or to what other class, may in the present + state of our intelligence remain undecided (<i>schweben</i>). A certain + touch of Manicheism, not indeed in the Gnostic shape, is discernible + enough; also (for human Error walks in a cycle, and reappears at + intervals) a not-inconsiderable resemblance to that Superstition of the + Athos Monks, who by fasting from all nourishment, and looking intensely + for a length of time into their own navels, came to discern therein the + true Apocalypse of Nature, and Heaven Unveiled. To my own surmise, it + appears as if this Dandiacal Sect were but a new modification, adapted to + the new time, of that primeval Superstition, <i>Self-worship</i>; which + Zerdusht, Quangfoutchee, Mahomet, and others, strove rather to subordinate + and restrain than to eradicate; and which only in the purer forms of + Religion has been altogether rejected. Wherefore, if any one chooses to + name it revived Ahrimanism, or a new figure of Demon-Worship, I have, so + far as is yet visible, no objection. + </p> + <p> + "For the rest, these people, animated with the zeal of a new Sect, display + courage and perseverance, and what force there is in man's nature, though + never so enslaved. They affect great purity and separatism; distinguish + themselves by a particular costume (whereof some notices were given in the + earlier part of this Volume); likewise, so far as possible, by a + particular speech (apparently some broken <i>Lingua-franca</i>, or + English-French); and, on the whole, strive to maintain a true Nazarene + deportment, and keep themselves unspotted from the world. + </p> + <p> + "They have their Temples, whereof the chief, as the Jewish Temple did, + stands in their metropolis; and is named <i>Almack's</i>, a word of + uncertain etymology. They worship principally by night; and have their + High-priests and High-priestesses, who, however, do not continue for life. + The rites, by some supposed to be of the Menadic sort, or perhaps with an + Eleusinian or Cabiric character, are held strictly secret. Nor are Sacred + Books wanting to the Sect; these they call <i>Fashionable Novels</i>: + however, the Canon is not completed, and some are canonical and others + not. + </p> + <p> + "Of such Sacred Books I, not without expense, procured myself some + samples; and in hope of true insight, and with the zeal which beseems an + Inquirer into Clothes, set to interpret and study them. But wholly to no + purpose: that tough faculty of reading, for which the world will not + refuse me credit, was here for the first time foiled and set at naught. In + vain that I summoned my whole energies (<i>mich weidlich anstrengte</i>), + and did my very utmost; at the end of some short space, I was uniformly + seized with not so much what I can call a drumming in my ears, as a kind + of infinite, unsufferable, Jew's-harping and scrannel-piping there; to + which the frightfullest species of Magnetic Sleep soon supervened. And if + I strove to shake this away, and absolutely would not yield, there came a + hitherto unfelt sensation, as of <i>Delirium Tremens</i>, and a melting + into total deliquium: till at last, by order of the Doctor, dreading ruin + to my whole intellectual and bodily faculties, and a general breaking up + of the constitution, I reluctantly but determinedly forbore. Was there + some miracle at work here; like those Fire-balls, and supernal and + infernal prodigies, which, in the case of the Jewish Mysteries, have also + more than once scared back the Alien? Be this as it may, such failure on + my part, after best efforts, must excuse the imperfection of this sketch; + altogether incomplete, yet the completest I could give of a Sect too + singular to be omitted. + </p> + <p> + "Loving my own life and senses as I do, no power shall induce me, as a + private individual, to open another <i>Fashionable Novel</i>. But luckily, + in this dilemma, comes a hand from the clouds; whereby if not victory, + deliverance is held out to me. Round one of those Book-packages, which the + <i>Stillschweigen'sche Buchhandlung</i> is in the habit of importing from + England, come, as is usual, various waste printed-sheets (<i>Maculatur-blatter</i>), + by way of interior wrappage: into these the Clothes-Philosopher, with a + certain Mahometan reverence even for waste-paper, where curious knowledge + will sometimes hover, disdains not to cast his eye. Readers may judge of + his astonishment when on such a defaced stray-sheet, probably the outcast + fraction of some English Periodical, such as they name <i>Magazine</i>, + appears something like a Dissertation on this very subject of <i>Fashionable + Novels</i>! It sets out, indeed, chiefly from a Secular point of view; + directing itself, not without asperity, against some to me unknown + individual named <i>Pelham</i>, who seems to be a Mystagogue, and leading + Teacher and Preacher of the Sect; so that, what indeed otherwise was not + to be expected in such a fugitive fragmentary sheet, the true secret, the + Religious physiognomy and physiology of the Dandiacal Body, is nowise laid + fully open there. Nevertheless, scattered lights do from time to time + sparkle out, whereby I have endeavored to profit. Nay, in one passage + selected from the Prophecies, or Mythic Theogonies, or whatever they are + (for the style seems very mixed) of this Mystagogue, I find what appears + to be a Confession of Faith, or Whole Duty of Man, according to the tenets + of that Sect. Which Confession or Whole Duty, therefore, as proceeding + from a source so authentic, I shall here arrange under Seven distinct + Articles, and in very abridged shape lay before the German world; + therewith taking leave of this matter. Observe also, that to avoid + possibility of error, I, as far as may be, quote literally from the + Original:— + </p> + <p> + ARTICLES OF FAITH. + </p> + <p> + '1. Coats should have nothing of the triangle about them; at the same + time, wrinkles behind should be carefully avoided. + </p> + <p> + '2. The collar is a very important point: it should be low behind, and + slightly rolled. + </p> + <p> + '3. No license of fashion can allow a man of delicate taste to adopt the + posterial luxuriance of a Hottentot. + </p> + <p> + '4. There is safety in a swallow-tail. + </p> + <p> + '5. The good sense of a gentleman is nowhere more finely developed than in + his rings. + </p> + <p> + '6. It is permitted to mankind, under certain restrictions, to wear white + waistcoats. + </p> + <p> + '7. The trousers must be exceedingly tight across the hips.' + </p> + <p> + "All which Propositions I, for the present, content myself with modestly + but peremptorily and irrevocably denying. + </p> + <p> + "In strange contrast with this Dandiacal Body stands another British Sect, + originally, as I understand, of Ireland, where its chief seat still is; + but known also in the main Island, and indeed everywhere rapidly + spreading. As this Sect has hitherto emitted no Canonical Books, it + remains to me in the same state of obscurity as the Dandiacal, which has + published Books that the unassisted human faculties are inadequate to + read. The members appear to be designated by a considerable diversity of + names, according to their various places of establishment: in England they + are generally called the <i>Drudge</i> Sect; also, unphilosophically + enough, the <i>White Negroes</i>; and, chiefly in scorn by those of other + communions, the <i>Ragged-Beggar</i> Sect. In Scotland, again, I find them + entitled <i>Hallanshakers</i>, or the <i>Stook of Duds</i> Sect; any + individual communicant is named <i>Stook of Duds</i> (that is, Shock of + Rags), in allusion, doubtless, to their professional Costume. While in + Ireland, which, as mentioned, is their grand parent hive, they go by a + perplexing multiplicity of designations, such as <i>Bogtrotters, + Redshanks, Ribbonmen, Cottiers, Peep-of-Day Boys, Babes of the Wood, + Rockites, Poor-Slaves</i>: which last, however, seems to be the primary + and generic name; whereto, probably enough, the others are only subsidiary + species, or slight varieties; or, at most, propagated offsets from the + parent stem, whose minute subdivisions, and shades of difference, it were + here loss of time to dwell on. Enough for us to understand, what seems + indubitable, that the original Sect is that of the <i>Poor-Slaves</i>; + whose doctrines, practices, and fundamental characteristics pervade and + animate the whole Body, howsoever denominated or outwardly diversified. + </p> + <p> + "The precise speculative tenets of this Brotherhood: how the Universe, and + Man, and Man's Life, picture themselves to the mind of an Irish + Poor-Slave; with what feelings and opinions he looks forward on the + Future, round on the Present, back on the Past, it were extremely + difficult to specify. Something Monastic there appears to be in their + Constitution: we find them bound by the two Monastic Vows, of Poverty and + Obedience; which vows, especially the former, it is said, they observe + with great strictness; nay, as I have understood it, they are pledged, and + be it by any solemn Nazarene ordination or not, irrevocably consecrated + thereto, even <i>before</i> birth. That the third Monastic Vow, of + Chastity, is rigidly enforced among them, I find no ground to conjecture. + </p> + <p> + "Furthermore, they appear to imitate the Dandiacal Sect in their grand + principle of wearing a peculiar Costume. Of which Irish Poor-Slave Costume + no description will indeed be found in the present Volume; for this + reason, that by the imperfect organ of Language it did not seem + describable. Their raiment consists of innumerable skirts, lappets and + irregular wings, of all cloths and of all colors; through the labyrinthic + intricacies of which their bodies are introduced by some unknown process. + It is fastened together by a multiplex combination of buttons, thrums and + skewers; to which frequently is added a girdle of leather, of hempen or + even of straw rope, round the loins. To straw rope, indeed, they seem + partial, and often wear it by way of sandals. In head-dress they affect a + certain freedom: hats with partial brim, without crown, or with only a + loose, hinged, or valve crown; in the former case, they sometimes invert + the hat, and wear it brim uppermost, like a university-cap, with what view + is unknown. + </p> + <p> + "The name Poor-Slaves seems to indicate a Slavonic, Polish, or Russian + origin: not so, however, the interior essence and spirit of their + Superstition, which rather displays a Teutonic or Druidical character. One + might fancy them worshippers of Hertha, or the Earth: for they dig and + affectionately work continually in her bosom; or else, shut up in private + Oratories, meditate and manipulate the substances derived from her; seldom + looking up towards the Heavenly Luminaries, and then with comparative + indifference. Like the Druids, on the other hand, they live in dark + dwellings; often even breaking their glass windows, where they find such, + and stuffing them up with pieces of raiment, or other opaque substances, + till the fit obscurity is restored. Again, like all followers of + Nature-Worship, they are liable to out-breakings of an enthusiasm rising + to ferocity; and burn men, if not in wicker idols, yet in sod cottages. + </p> + <p> + "In respect of diet, they have also their observances. All Poor-Slaves are + Rhizophagous (or Root-eaters); a few are Ichthyophagous, and use Salted + Herrings: other animal food they abstain from; except indeed, with perhaps + some strange inverted fragment of a Brahminical feeling, such animals as + die a natural death. Their universal sustenance is the root named Potato, + cooked by fire alone; and generally without condiment or relish of any + kind, save an unknown condiment named <i>Point</i>, into the meaning of + which I have vainly inquired; the victual <i>Potatoes-and-Point</i> not + appearing, at least not with specific accuracy of description, in any + European Cookery-Book whatever. For drink, they use, with an almost + epigrammatic counterpoise of taste, Milk, which is the mildest of liquors, + and <i>Potheen</i>, which is the fiercest. This latter I have tasted, as + well as the English <i>Blue-Ruin</i>, and the Scotch <i>Whiskey</i>, + analogous fluids used by the Sect in those countries: it evidently + contains some form of alcohol, in the highest state of concentration, + though disguised with acrid oils; and is, on the whole, the most pungent + substance known to me,—indeed, a perfect liquid fire. In all their + Religious Solemnities, Potheen is said to be an indispensable requisite, + and largely consumed. + </p> + <p> + "An Irish Traveller, of perhaps common veracity, who presents himself + under the to me unmeaning title of <i>The late John Bernard</i>, offers + the following sketch of a domestic establishment, the inmates whereof, + though such is not stated expressly, appear to have been of that Faith. + Thereby shall my German readers now behold an Irish Poor-Slave, as it were + with their own eyes; and even see him at meat. Moreover, in the so + precious waste-paper sheet above mentioned, I have found some + corresponding picture of a Dandiacal Household, painted by that same + Dandiacal Mystagogue, or Theogonist: this also, by way of counterpart and + contrast, the world shall look into. + </p> + <p> + "First, therefore, of the Poor-Slave, who appears likewise to have been a + species of Innkeeper. I quote from the original: + </p> + <p> + POOR-SLAVE HOUSEHOLD. + </p> + <p> + "'The furniture of this Caravansera consisted of a large iron Pot, two + oaken Tables, two Benches, two Chairs, and a Potheen Noggin. There was a + Loft above (attainable by a ladder), upon which the inmates slept; and the + space below was divided by a hurdle into two Apartments; the one for their + cow and pig, the other for themselves and guests. On entering the house we + discovered the family, eleven in number, at dinner: the father sitting at + the top, the mother at the bottom, the children on each side, of a large + oaken Board, which was scooped out in the middle, like a trough, to + receive the contents of their Pot of Potatoes. Little holes were cut at + equal distances to contain Salt; and a bowl of Milk stood on the table: + all the luxuries of meat and beer, bread, knives and dishes were dispensed + with.' The Poor-Slave himself our Traveller found, as he says, + broad-backed, black-browed, of great personal strength, and mouth from ear + to ear. His Wife was a sun-browned but well-featured woman; and his young + ones, bare and chubby, had the appetite of ravens. Of their Philosophical + or Religious tenets or observances, no notice or hint. + </p> + <p> + "But now, secondly, of the Dandiacal Household; in which, truly, that + often-mentioned Mystagogue and inspired Penman himself has his abode:— + </p> + <p> + DANDIACAL HOUSEHOLD. + </p> + <p> + "'A Dressing-room splendidly furnished; violet-colored curtains, chairs + and ottomans of the same hue. Two full-length Mirrors are placed, one on + each side of a table, which supports the luxuries of the Toilet. Several + Bottles of Perfumes, arranged in a peculiar fashion, stand upon a smaller + table of mother-of-pearl: opposite to these are placed the appurtenances + of Lavation richly wrought in frosted silver. A Wardrobe of Buhl is on the + left; the doors of which, being partly open, discover a profusion of + Clothes; Shoes of a singularly small size monopolize the lower shelves. + Fronting the wardrobe a door ajar gives some slight glimpse of a + Bath-room. Folding-doors in the background.—Enter the Author,' our + Theogonist in person, 'obsequiously preceded by a French Valet, in white + silk Jacket and cambric Apron.' + </p> + <p> + "Such are the two Sects which, at this moment, divide the more unsettled + portion of the British People; and agitate that ever-vexed country. To the + eye of the political Seer, their mutual relation, pregnant with the + elements of discord and hostility, is far from consoling. These two + principles of Dandiacal Self-worship or Demon-worship, and Poor-Slavish or + Drudgical Earth-worship, or whatever that same Drudgism may be, do as yet + indeed manifest themselves under distant and nowise considerable shapes: + nevertheless, in their roots and subterranean ramifications, they extend + through the entire structure of Society, and work unweariedly in the + secret depths of English national Existence; striving to separate and + isolate it into two contradictory, uncommunicating masses. + </p> + <p> + "In numbers, and even individual strength, the Poor-Slaves or Drudges, it + would seem, are hourly increasing. The Dandiacal, again, is by nature no + proselytizing Sect; but it boasts of great hereditary resources, and is + strong by union; whereas the Drudges, split into parties, have as yet no + rallying-point; or at best only co-operate by means of partial secret + affiliations. If, indeed, there were to arise a <i>Communion of Drudges</i>, + as there is already a Communion of Saints, what strangest effects would + follow therefrom! Dandyism as yet affects to look down on Drudgism: but + perhaps the hour of trial, when it will be practically seen which ought to + look down, and which up, is not so distant. + </p> + <p> + "To me it seems probable that the two Sects will one day part England + between them; each recruiting itself from the intermediate ranks, till + there be none left to enlist on either side. Those Dandiacal Manicheans, + with the host of Dandyizing Christians, will form one body: the Drudges, + gathering round them whosoever is Drudgical, be he Christian or Infidel + Pagan; sweeping up likewise all manner of Utilitarians, Radicals, + refractory Pot-wallopers, and so forth, into their general mass, will form + another. I could liken Dandyism and Drudgism to two bottomless boiling + Whirlpools that had broken out on opposite quarters of the firm land: as + yet they appear only disquieted, foolishly bubbling wells, which man's art + might cover in; yet mark them, their diameter is daily widening: they are + hollow Cones that boil up from the infinite Deep, over which your firm + land is but a thin crust or rind! Thus daily is the intermediate land + crumbling in, daily the empire of the two Buchan-Bullers extending; till + now there is but a foot-plank, a mere film of Land between them; this too + is washed away: and then—we have the true Hell of Waters, and Noah's + Deluge is out-deluged! + </p> + <p> + "Or better, I might call them two boundless, and indeed unexampled + Electric Machines (turned by the 'Machinery of Society'), with batteries + of opposite quality; Drudgism the Negative, Dandyism the Positive; one + attracts hourly towards it and appropriates all the Positive Electricity + of the nation (namely, the Money thereof); the other is equally busy with + the Negative (that is to say the Hunger), which is equally potent. + Hitherto you see only partial transient sparkles and sputters: but wait a + little, till the entire nation is in an electric state: till your whole + vital Electricity, no longer healthfully Neutral, is cut into two isolated + portions of Positive and Negative (of Money and of Hunger); and stands + there bottled up in two World-Batteries! The stirring of a child's finger + brings the two together; and then—What then? The Earth is but + shivered into impalpable smoke by that Doom's thunder-peal; the Sun misses + one of his Planets in Space, and thenceforth there are no eclipses of the + Moon.—Or better still, I might liken"— + </p> + <p> + Oh, enough, enough of likenings and similitudes; in excess of which, + truly, it is hard to say whether Teufelsdrockh or ourselves sin the more. + </p> + <p> + We have often blamed him for a habit of wire-drawing and over-refining; + from of old we have been familiar with his tendency to Mysticism and + Religiosity, whereby in everything he was still scenting out Religion: but + never perhaps did these amaurosis-suffusions so cloud and distort his + otherwise most piercing vision, as in this of the <i>Dandiacal Body</i>! + Or was there something of intended satire; is the Professor and Seer not + quite the blinkard he affects to be? Of an ordinary mortal we should have + decisively answered in the affirmative; but with a Teufelsdrockh there + ever hovers some shade of doubt. In the mean while, if satire were + actually intended, the case is little better. There are not wanting men + who will answer: Does your Professor take us for simpletons? His irony has + overshot itself; we see through it, and perhaps through him. + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0032"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XI. TAILORS. + </h2> + <p> + Thus, however, has our first Practical Inference from the + Clothes-Philosophy, that which respects Dandies, been sufficiently drawn; + and we come now to the second, concerning Tailors. On this latter our + opinion happily quite coincides with that of Teufelsdrockh himself, as + expressed in the concluding page of his Volume, to whom, therefore, we + willingly give place. Let him speak his own last words, in his own way:— + </p> + <p> + "Upwards of a century," says he, "must elapse, and still the bleeding + fight of Freedom be fought, whoso is noblest perishing in the van, and + thrones be hurled on altars like Pelion on Ossa, and the Moloch of + Iniquity have his victims, and the Michael of Justice his martyrs, before + Tailors can be admitted to their true prerogatives of manhood, and this + last wound of suffering Humanity be closed. + </p> + <p> + "If aught in the history of the world's blindness could surprise us, here + might we indeed pause and wonder. An idea has gone abroad, and fixed + itself down into a wide-spreading rooted error, that Tailors are a + distinct species in Physiology, not Men, but fractional Parts of a Man. + Call any one a <i>Schneider</i> (Cutter, Tailor), is it not, in our + dislocated, hoodwinked, and indeed delirious condition of Society, + equivalent to defying his perpetual fellest enmity? The epithet <i>schneidermassig</i> + (tailor-like) betokens an otherwise unapproachable degree of + pusillanimity; we introduce a <i>Tailor's-Melancholy</i>, more opprobrious + than any Leprosy, into our Books of Medicine; and fable I know not what of + his generating it by living on Cabbage. Why should I speak of Hans Sachs + (himself a Shoemaker, or kind of Leather-Tailor), with his <i>Schneider + mit dem Panier</i>? Why of Shakspeare, in his <i>Taming of the Shrew</i>, + and elsewhere? Does it not stand on record that the English Queen + Elizabeth, receiving a deputation of Eighteen Tailors, addressed them with + a 'Good morning, gentlemen both!' Did not the same virago boast that she + had a Cavalry Regiment, whereof neither horse nor man could be injured; + her Regiment, namely, of Tailors on Mares? Thus everywhere is the + falsehood taken for granted, and acted on as an indisputable fact. + </p> + <p> + "Nevertheless, need I put the question to any Physiologist, whether it is + disputable or not? Seems it not at least presumable, that, under his + Clothes, the Tailor has bones and viscera, and other muscles than the + sartorius? Which function of manhood is the Tailor not conjectured to + perform? Can he not arrest for debt? Is he not in most countries a + taxpaying animal? + </p> + <p> + "To no reader of this Volume can it be doubtful which conviction is mine. + Nay if the fruit of these long vigils, and almost preternatural Inquiries, + is not to perish utterly, the world will have approximated towards a + higher Truth; and the doctrine, which Swift, with the keen forecast of + genius, dimly anticipated, will stand revealed in clear light: that the + Tailor is not only a Man, but something of a Creator or Divinity. Of + Franklin it was said, that 'he snatched the Thunder from Heaven and the + Sceptre from Kings:' but which is greater, I would ask, he that lends, or + he that snatches? For, looking away from individual cases, and how a Man + is by the Tailor new-created into a Nobleman, and clothed not only with + Wool but with Dignity and a Mystic Dominion,—is not the fair fabric + of Society itself, with all its royal mantles and pontifical stoles, + whereby, from nakedness and dismemberment, we are organized into Polities, + into nations, and a whole co-operating Mankind, the creation, as has here + been often irrefragably evinced, of the Tailor alone?—What too are + all Poets and moral Teachers, but a species of Metaphorical Tailors? + Touching which high Guild the greatest living Guild-brother has + triumphantly asked us: 'Nay if thou wilt have it, who but the Poet first + made Gods for men; brought them down to us; and raised us up to them?' + </p> + <p> + "And this is he, whom sitting downcast, on the hard basis of his + Shopboard, the world treats with contumely, as the ninth part of a man! + Look up, thou much-injured one, look up with the kindling eye of hope, and + prophetic bodings of a noble better time. Too long hast thou sat there, on + crossed legs, wearing thy ankle-joints to horn; like some sacred + Anchorite, or Catholic Fakir, doing penance, drawing down Heaven's richest + blessings, for a world that scoffed at thee. Be of hope! Already streaks + of blue peer through our clouds; the thick gloom of Ignorance is rolling + asunder, and it will be Day. Mankind will repay with interest their + long-accumulated debt: the Anchorite that was scoffed at will be + worshipped; the Fraction will become not an Integer only, but a Square and + Cube. With astonishment the world will recognize that the Tailor is its + Hierophant and Hierarch, or even its God. + </p> + <p> + "As I stood in the Mosque of St. Sophia, and looked upon these + Four-and-Twenty Tailors, sewing and embroidering that rich Cloth, which + the Sultan sends yearly for the Caaba of Mecca, I thought within myself: + How many other Unholies has your covering Art made holy, besides this + Arabian Whinstone! + </p> + <p> + "Still more touching was it when, turning the corner of a lane, in the + Scottish Town of Edinburgh, I came upon a Signpost, whereon stood written + that such and such a one was 'Breeches-Maker to his Majesty;' and stood + painted the Effigies of a Pair of Leather Breeches, and between the knees + these memorable words, SIC ITUR AD ASTRA. Was not this the martyr + prison-speech of a Tailor sighing indeed in bonds, yet sighing towards + deliverance, and prophetically appealing to a better day? A day of + justice, when the worth of Breeches would be revealed to man, and the + Scissors become forever venerable. + </p> + <p> + "Neither, perhaps, may I now say, has his appeal been altogether in vain. + It was in this high moment, when the soul, rent, as it were, and shed + asunder, is open to inspiring influence, that I first conceived this Work + on Clothes: the greatest I can ever hope to do; which has already, after + long retardations, occupied, and will yet occupy, so large a section of my + Life; and of which the Primary and simpler Portion may here find its + conclusion." + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2HCH0033"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + CHAPTER XII. FAREWELL. + </h2> + <p> + So have we endeavored, from the enormous, amorphous Plum-pudding, more + like a Scottish Haggis, which Herr Teufelsdrockh had kneaded for his + fellow-mortals, to pick out the choicest Plums, and present them + separately on a cover of our own. A laborious, perhaps a thankless + enterprise; in which, however, something of hope has occasionally cheered + us, and of which we can now wash our hands not altogether without + satisfaction. If hereby, though in barbaric wise, some morsel of spiritual + nourishment have been added to the scanty ration of our beloved British + world, what nobler recompense could the Editor desire? If it prove + otherwise, why should he murmur? Was not this a Task which Destiny, in any + case, had appointed him; which having now done with, he sees his general + Day's-work so much the lighter, so much the shorter? + </p> + <p> + Of Professor Teufelsdrockh, it seems impossible to take leave without a + mingled feeling of astonishment, gratitude, and disapproval. Who will not + regret that talents, which might have profited in the higher walks of + Philosophy, or in Art itself, have been so much devoted to a rummaging + among lumber-rooms; nay too often to a scraping in kennels, where lost + rings and diamond-necklaces are nowise the sole conquests? Regret is + unavoidable; yet censure were loss of time. To cure him of his mad humors + British Criticism would essay in vain: enough for her if she can, by + vigilance, prevent the spreading of such among ourselves. What a result, + should this piebald, entangled, hyper-metaphorical style of writing, not + to say of thinking, become general among our Literary men! As it might so + easily do. Thus has not the Editor himself, working over Teufelsdrockh's + German, lost much of his own English purity? Even as the smaller whirlpool + is sucked into the larger, and made to whirl along with it, so has the + lesser mind, in this instance, been forced to become portion of the + greater, and, like it, see all things figuratively: which habit time and + assiduous effort will be needed to eradicate. + </p> + <p> + Nevertheless, wayward as our Professor shows himself, is there any reader + that can part with him in declared enmity? Let us confess, there is that + in the wild, much-suffering, much-inflicting man, which almost attaches + us. His attitude, we will hope and believe, is that of a man who had said + to Cant, Begone; and to Dilettantism, Here thou canst not be; and to + Truth, Be thou in place of all to me: a man who had manfully defied the + "Time-Prince," or Devil, to his face; nay perhaps, Hannibal-like, was + mysteriously consecrated from birth to that warfare, and now stood minded + to wage the same, by all weapons, in all places, at all times. In such a + cause, any soldier, were he but a Polack Scythe-man, shall be welcome. + </p> + <p> + Still the question returns on us: How could a man occasionally of keen + insight, not without keen sense of propriety, who had real Thoughts to + communicate, resolve to emit them in a shape bordering so closely on the + absurd? Which question he were wiser than the present Editor who should + satisfactorily answer. Our conjecture has sometimes been, that perhaps + Necessity as well as Choice was concerned in it. Seems it not conceivable + that, in a Life like our Professor's, where so much bountifully given by + Nature had in Practice failed and misgone, Literature also would never + rightly prosper: that striving with his characteristic vehemence to paint + this and the other Picture, and ever without success, he at last + desperately dashes his sponge, full of all colors, against the canvas, to + try whether it will paint Foam? With all his stillness, there were perhaps + in Teufelsdrockh desperation enough for this. + </p> + <p> + A second conjecture we hazard with even less warranty. It is, that + Teufelsdrockh, is not without some touch of the universal feeling, a wish + to proselytize. How often already have we paused, uncertain whether the + basis of this so enigmatic nature were really Stoicism and Despair, or + Love and Hope only seared into the figure of these! Remarkable, moreover, + is this saying of his: "How were Friendship possible? In mutual + devotedness to the Good and True: otherwise impossible; except as Armed + Neutrality, or hollow Commercial League. A man, be the Heavens ever + praised, is sufficient for himself; yet were ten men, united in Love, + capable of being and of doing what ten thousand singly would fail in. + Infinite is the help man can yield to man." And now in conjunction + therewith consider this other: "It is the Night of the World, and still + long till it be Day: we wander amid the glimmer of smoking ruins, and the + Sun and the Stars of Heaven are as if blotted out for a season; and two + immeasurable Phantoms, HYPOCRISY and ATHEISM, with the Ghoul, SENSUALITY, + stalk abroad over the Earth, and call it theirs: well at ease are the + Sleepers for whom Existence is a shallow Dream." + </p> + <p> + But what of the awe-struck Wakeful who find it a Reality? Should not these + unite; since even an authentic Spectre is not visible to Two?—In + which case were this Enormous Clothes-Volume properly an enormous + Pitch-pan, which our Teufelsdrockh in his lone watch-tower had kindled, + that it might flame far and wide through the Night, and many a + disconsolately wandering spirit be guided thither to a Brother's bosom!—We + say as before, with all his malign Indifference, who knows what mad Hopes + this man may harbor? + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile there is one fact to be stated here, which harmonizes ill with + such conjecture; and, indeed, were Teufelsdrockh made like other men, + might as good as altogether subvert it. Namely, that while the Beacon-fire + blazed its brightest, the Watchman had quitted it; that no pilgrim could + now ask him: Watchman, what of the Night? Professor Teufelsdrockh, be it + known, is no longer visibly present at Weissnichtwo, but again to all + appearance lost in space! Some time ago, the Hofrath Heuschrecke was + pleased to favor us with another copious Epistle; wherein much is said + about the "Population-Institute;" much repeated in praise of the Paper-bag + Documents, the hieroglyphic nature of which our Hofrath still seems not to + have surmised; and, lastly, the strangest occurrence communicated, to us + for the first time, in the following paragraph:— + </p> + <p> + "<i>Ew. Wohlgeboren</i> will have seen from the Public Prints, with what + affectionate and hitherto fruitless solicitude Weissnichtwo regards the + disappearance of her Sage. Might but the united voice of Germany prevail + on him to return; nay could we but so much as elucidate for ourselves by + what mystery he went away! But, alas, old Lieschen experiences or affects + the profoundest deafness, the profoundest ignorance: in the Wahngasse all + lies swept, silent, sealed up; the Privy Council itself can hitherto + elicit no answer. + </p> + <p> + "It had been remarked that while the agitating news of those Parisian + Three Days flew from mouth to month, and dinned every ear in Weissnichtwo, + Herr Teufelsdrockh was not known, at the <i>Gans</i> or elsewhere, to have + spoken, for a whole week, any syllable except once these three: <i>Es geht + an</i> (It is beginning). Shortly after, as <i>Ew. Wohlgeboren</i> knows, + was the public tranquillity here, as in Berlin, threatened by a Sedition + of the Tailors. Nor did there want Evil-wishers, or perhaps mere desperate + Alarmists, who asserted that the closing Chapter of the Clothes-Volume was + to blame. In this appalling crisis, the serenity of our Philosopher was + indescribable: nay, perhaps through one humble individual, something + thereof might pass into the <i>Rath</i> (Council) itself, and so + contribute to the country's deliverance. The Tailors are now entirely + pacificated.— + </p> + <p> + "To neither of these two incidents can I attribute our loss: yet still + comes there the shadow of a suspicion out of Paris and its Politics. For + example, when the <i>Saint-Simonian Society</i> transmitted its + Propositions hither, and the whole <i>Gans</i> was one vast cackle of + laughter, lamentation and astonishment, our Sage sat mute; and at the end + of the third evening said merely: 'Here also are men who have discovered, + not without amazement, that Man is still Man; of which high, + long-forgotten Truth you already see them make a false application.' Since + then, as has been ascertained by examination of the Post-Director, there + passed at least one Letter with its Answer between the Messieurs + Bazard-Enfantin and our Professor himself; of what tenor can now only be + conjectured. On the fifth night following, he was seen for the last time! + </p> + <p> + "Has this invaluable man, so obnoxious to most of the hostile Sects that + convulse our Era, been spirited away by certain of their emissaries; or + did he go forth voluntarily to their head-quarters to confer with them, + and confront them? Reason we have, at least of a negative sort, to believe + the Lost still living; our widowed heart also whispers that ere long he + will himself give a sign. Otherwise, indeed, his archives must, one day, + be opened by Authority; where much, perhaps the <i>Palingenesie</i> + itself, is thought to be reposited." + </p> + <p> + Thus far the Hofrath; who vanishes, as is his wont, too like an Ignis + Fatuus, leaving the dark still darker. + </p> + <p> + So that Teufelsdrockh's public History were not done, then, or reduced to + an even, unromantic tenor; nay, perhaps the better part thereof were only + beginning? We stand in a region of conjectures, where substance has melted + into shadow, and one cannot be distinguished from the other. May Time, + which solves or suppresses all problems, throw glad light on this also! + Our own private conjecture, now amounting almost to certainty, is that, + safe-moored in some stillest obscurity, not to lie always still, + Teufelsdrockh, is actually in London! + </p> + <p> + Here, however, can the present Editor, with an ambrosial joy as of + over-weariness falling into sleep, lay down his pen. Well does he know, if + human testimony be worth aught, that to innumerable British readers + likewise, this is a satisfying consummation; that innumerable British + readers consider him, during these current months, but as an uneasy + interruption to their ways of thought and digestion; and indicate so much, + not without a certain irritancy and even spoken invective. For which, as + for other mercies, ought not he to thank the Upper Powers? To one and all + of you, O irritated readers, he, with outstretched arms and open heart, + will wave a kind farewell. Thou too, miraculous Entity, who namest thyself + YORKE and OLIVER, and with thy vivacities and genialities, with thy all + too Irish mirth and madness, and odor of palled punch, makest such strange + work, farewell; long as thou canst, <i>fare-well</i>! Have we not, in the + course of Eternity, travelled some months of our Life-journey in partial + sight of one another; have we not existed together, though in a state of + quarrel? + </p> + <p> + <a id="link2H_APPE"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br ><br ><br ><br > + </div> + <h2> + APPENDIX. + </h2> + <p> + This questionable little Book was undoubtedly written among the mountain + solitudes, in 1831; but, owing to impediments natural and accidental, + could not, for seven years more, appear as a Volume in England;—and + had at last to clip itself in pieces, and be content to struggle out, bit + by bit, in some courageous <i>Magazine</i> that offered. Whereby now, to + certain idly curious readers, and even to myself till I make study, the + insignificant but at last irritating question, What its real history and + chronology are, is, if not insoluble, considerably involved in haze. + </p> + <p> + To the first English Edition, 1838, which an American, or two American had + now opened the way for, there was slightingly prefixed, under the title, "<i>Testimonies + of Authors</i>," some straggle of real documents, which, now that I find + it again, sets the matter into clear light and sequence:—and shall + here, for removal of idle stumbling-blocks and nugatory guessings from the + path of every reader, be reprinted as it stood. (<i>Author's Note, of</i> + 1868.) + </p> + <p> + TESTIMONIES OF AUTHORS. I. HIGHEST CLASS, BOOKSELLER'S TASTER. + </p> + <p> + <i>Taster to Bookseller</i>.—"The Author of <i>Teufelsdrockh</i> is + a person of talent; his work displays here and there some felicity of + thought and expression, considerable fancy and knowledge: but whether or + not it would take with the public seems doubtful. For a <i>jeu d'esprit</i> + of that kind it is too long; it would have suited better as an essay or + article than as a volume. The Author has no great tact; his wit is + frequently heavy; and reminds one of the German Baron who took to leaping + on tables and answered that he was learning to be lively. <i>Is</i> the + work a translation?" + </p> + <p> + <i>Bookseller to Editor</i>.—"Allow me to say that such a writer + requires only a little more tact to produce a popular as well as an able + work. Directly on receiving your permission, I sent your MS. to a + gentleman in the highest class of men of letters, and an accomplished + German scholar: I now enclose you his opinion, which, you may rely upon + it, is a just one; and I have too high an opinion of your good sense to" + &c. &c.—<i>Ms. (penes nos), London, 17th September</i>, + 1831. + </p> + <p> + II. CRITIC OF THE SUN. + </p> + <p> + "<i>Fraser's Magazine</i> exhibits the usual brilliancy, and also the" + &c. + </p> + <p> + "<i>Sartor Resartus</i> is what old Dennis used to call 'a heap of clotted + nonsense,' mixed however, here and there, with passages marked by thought + and striking poetic vigor. But what does the writer mean by 'Baphometic + fire-baptism'? Why cannot he lay aside his pedantry, and write so as to + make himself generally intelligible? We quote by way of curiosity a + sentence from the <i>Sartor Resartus</i>; which may be read either + backwards or forwards, for it is equally intelligible either way: indeed, + by beginning at the tail, and so working up to the head, we think the + reader will stand the fairest chance of getting at its meaning: 'The + fire-baptized soul, long so scathed and thunder-riven, here feels its own + freedom; which feeling is its Baphometic baptism: the citadel of its whole + kingdom it has thus gained by assault, and will keep inexpugnable; + outwards from which the remaining dominions, not indeed without hard + battering, will doubtless by degrees be conquered and pacificated.' Here + is a"...—<i>Sun Newspaper, 1st April</i>, 1834. + </p> + <p> + III. NORTH—AMERICAN REVIEWER. + </p> + <p> + ... "After a careful survey of the whole ground, our belief is that no + such persons as Professors Teufelsdrockh or Counsellor Heuschrecke ever + existed; that the six Paper-bags, with their China-ink inscriptions and + multifarious contents, are a mere figment of the brain; that the 'present + Editor' is the only person who has ever written upon the Philosophy of + Clothes; and that the <i>Sartor Resartus</i> is the only treatise that has + yet appeared upon that subject;—in short, that the whole account of + the origin of the work before us, which the supposed Editor relates with + so much gravity, and of which we have given a brief abstract, is, in plain + English, a <i>hum</i>. + </p> + <p> + "Without troubling our readers at any great length with our reasons for + entertaining these suspicions, we may remark, that the absence of all + other information on the subject, except what is contained in the work, is + itself a fact of a most significant character. The whole German press, as + well as the particular one where the work purports to have been printed, + seems to be under the control of <i>Stillschweigen and Co. </i>—Silence + and Company. If the Clothes-Philosophy and its author are making so great + a sensation throughout Germany as is pretended, how happens it that the + only notice we have of the fact is contained in a few numbers of a monthly + Magazine published at London! How happens it that no intelligence about + the matter has come out directly to this country? We pique ourselves here + in New England upon knowing at least as much of what is going on in the + literary way in the old Dutch Mother-land as our brethren of the + fast-anchored Isle; but thus far we have no tidings whatever of the + 'extensive close-printed, close-meditated volume,' which forms the subject + of this pretended commentary. Again, we would respectfully inquire of the + 'present Editor' upon what part of the map of Germany we are to look for + the city of <i>Weissnichtwo</i>—'Know-not-where'—at which + place the work is supposed to have been printed, and the Author to have + resided. It has been our fortune to visit several portions of the German + territory, and to examine pretty carefully, at different times and for + various purposes, maps of the whole; but we have no recollection of any + such place. We suspect that the city of <i>Know-not-where</i> might be + called, with at least as much propriety, <i>Nobody-knows-where</i>, and is + to be found in the kingdom of <i>Nowhere</i>. Again, the village of <i>Entepfuhl</i>—'Duck-pond'—where + the supposed Author of the work is said to have passed his youth, and that + of <i>Hinterschlag</i>, where he had his education, are equally foreign to + our geography. Duck-ponds enough there undoubtedly are in almost every + village in Germany, as the traveller in that country knows too well to his + cost, but any particular village denominated Duck-pond is to us altogether + <i>terra incognita</i>. The names of the personages are not less singular + than those of the places. Who can refrain from a smile at the yoking + together of such a pair of appellatives as Diogenes Teufelsdrockh? The + supposed bearer of this strange title is represented as admitting, in his + pretended autobiography, that 'he had searched to no purpose through all + the Heralds' books in and without the German empire, and through all + manner of Subscribers'-lists, Militia-rolls, and other Name-catalogues,' + but had nowhere been able to find 'the name Teufelsdrockh, except as + appended to his own person.' We can readily believe this, and we doubt + very much whether any Christian parent would think of condemning a son to + carry through life the burden of so unpleasant a title. That of Counsellor + Heuschrecke—'Grasshopper'—though not offensive, looks much + more like a piece of fancy-work than a 'fair business transaction.' The + same may be said of <i>Blumine</i>—'Flower-Goddess'—the + heroine of the fable; and so of the rest. + </p> + <p> + "In short, our private opinion is, as we have remarked, that the whole + story of a correspondence with Germany, a university of + Nobody-knows-where, a Professor of Things in General, a Counsellor + Grasshopper, a Flower-Goddess Blumine, and so forth, has about as much + foundation in truth as the late entertaining account of Sir John + Herschel's discoveries in the moon. Fictions of this kind are, however, + not uncommon, and ought not, perhaps, to be condemned with too much + severity; but we are not sure that we can exercise the same indulgence in + regard to the attempt, which seems to be made to mislead the public as to + the substance of the work before us, and its pretended German original. + Both purport, as we have seen, to be upon the subject of Clothes, or + dress. <i>Clothes, their Origin and Influence</i>, is the title of the + supposed German treatise of Professor Teufelsdrockh and the rather odd + name of <i>Sartor Resartus</i>—the Tailor Patched—which the + present Editor has affixed to his pretended commentary, seems to look the + same way. But though there is a good deal of remark throughout the work in + a half-serious, half-comic style upon dress, it seems to be in reality a + treatise upon the great science of Things in General, which Teufelsdrockh, + is supposed to have professed at the university of Nobody-knows-where. + Now, without intending to adopt a too rigid standard of morals, we own + that we doubt a little the propriety of offering to the public a treatise + on Things in General, under the name and in the form of an Essay on Dress. + For ourselves, advanced as we unfortunately are in the journey of life, + far beyond the period when dress is practically a matter of interest, we + have no hesitation in saying, that the real subject of the work is to us + more attractive than the ostensible one. But this is probably not the case + with the mass of readers. To the younger portion of the community, which + constitutes everywhere the very great majority, the subject of dress is + one of intense and paramount importance. An author who treats it appeals, + like the poet, to the young men end maddens—<i>virginibus puerisque</i>—and + calls upon them, by all the motives which habitually operate most strongly + upon their feelings, to buy his book. When, after opening their purses for + this purpose, they have carried home the work in triumph, expecting to + find in it some particular instruction in regard to the tying of their + neckcloths, or the cut of their corsets, and meet with nothing better than + a dissertation on Things in General, they will—to use the mildest + term—not be in very good humor. If the last improvements in + legislation, which we have made in this country, should have found their + way to England, the author, we think, would stand some chance of being <i>Lynched</i>. + Whether his object in this piece of <i>supercherie</i> be merely pecuniary + profit, or whether he takes a malicious pleasure in quizzing the Dandies, + we shall not undertake to say. In the latter part of the work, he devotes + a separate chapter to this class of persons, from the tenor of which we + should be disposed to conclude, that he would consider any mode of + divesting them of their property very much in the nature of a spoiling of + the Egyptians. + </p> + <p> + "The only thing about the work, tending to prove that it is what it + purports to be, a commentary on a real German treatise, is the style, + which is a sort of Babylonish dialect, not destitute, it is true, of + richness, vigor, and at times a sort of singular felicity of expression, + but very strongly tinged throughout with the peculiar idiom of the German + language. This quality in the style, however, may be a mere result of a + great familiarity with German literature; and we cannot, therefore, look + upon it as in itself decisive, still less as outweighing so much evidence + of an opposite character."—<i>North-American Review, No. 89, October</i>, + 1835. + </p> + <p> + IV. NEW ENGLAND EDITORS. + </p> + <p> + "The Editors have been induced, by the expressed desire of many persons, + to collect the following sheets out of the ephemeral pamphlets [*] in + which they first appeared, under the conviction that they contain in + themselves the assurance of a longer date. + </p> +<pre> + * <i>Fraser's</i> (London) <i>Magazine</i>, 1833-34. +</pre> + <p> + "The Editors have no expectation that this little Work will have a sudden + and general popularity. They will not undertake, as there is no need, to + justify the gay costume in which the Author delights to dress his + thoughts, or the German idioms with which he has sportively sprinkled his + pages. It is his humor to advance the gravest speculations upon the + gravest topics in a quaint and burlesque style. If his masquerade offend + any of his audience, to that degree that they will not hear what he has to + say, it may chance to draw others to listen to his wisdom; and what work + of imagination can hope to please all! But we will venture to remark that + the distaste excited by these peculiarities in some readers is greatest at + first, and is soon forgotten; and that the foreign dress and aspect of the + Work are quite superficial, and cover a genuine Saxon heart. We believe, + no book has been published for many years, written in a more sincere style + of idiomatic English, or which discovers an equal mastery over all the + riches of the language. The Author makes ample amends for the occasional + eccentricity of his genius, not only by frequent bursts of pure splendor, + but by the wit and sense which never fail him. + </p> + <p> + "But what will chiefly commend the Book to the discerning reader is the + manifest design of the work, which is, a Criticism upon the Spirit of the + Age—we had almost said, of the hour—in which we live; + exhibiting in the most just and novel light the present aspects of + Religion, Politics, Literature, Arts, and Social Life. Under all his + gayety the Writer has an earnest meaning, and discovers an insight into + the manifold wants and tendencies of human nature, which is very rare + among our popular authors. The philanthropy and the purity of moral + sentiment, which inspire the work, will find their way to the heart of + every lover of virtue."—<i>Preface to Sartor Resartus: Boston</i>, + 1835, 1837. + </p> + <p> + SUNT, FUERUNT VEL FUERE. + </p> + <p> + LONDON, 30th June, 1838. + </p> + <p> + <br > <br > + </p> + <p> + Transcriber's Note: All spelling and punctuation was kept as in the + printed text. Italicized phrases are delimited by <i>underscores</i>. + Footnotes (there are only four) have been placed at the ends of the + paragraphs referencing them. + </p> + <p> + <br ><br > + </p> + <div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 1051 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + |