1028.] The Elder's Journey. 169 



travelled by land, in the fallible vehicles of human construction and 

 those who went down to the sea in ships, and did their business in the 

 great waters. Whether it was owing to the copiness of his wrappings, 

 or to the lulling motion of the carriage, or to Mrs. Me Sneeshin's noyau, 

 is not known ; but, as the darkness increased, his cogitations, as if in 

 moral harmony with the laws of external nature, became more dim, and 

 indistinct, and confused ; and, when the last rays of daylight departed, 

 and the night closed definitively in, he fell fast asleep. His thoughts, 

 however, only seemed to acquire new vividness, when they were left at 

 freedom from the interruption of the external senses ; and the Apostle 

 Paul, the round bottle, and the elder of Skreigh floated before him like 

 the actors of a drama. At one time he imagined himself to be the very 

 man of Tarsus himself, addressing his opponent ex cathedra, in the words 

 transmitted from Laodicea to the Timothy of old, the first bishop of the 

 Ephesian church : " O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy 

 trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and appositions of science, 

 falsely so called !" and again, repeating with fresh emphasis, as Paul 

 wrote a second time from Rome, " Shun profane and vain babblings, O 

 Timothy i" he was awakened from this vision by the stopping of the 

 coach. 



With some difficulty he opened a vista for one eye through the shawls 

 and the collars of his three coats ; but no house was in view, at least from 

 the window, through which he passed ; and, w r hether or not, it was 

 morally impossible that they could have reached the inn of Shotts 

 already. He could hear, however, by the voices on the road, that 

 the driver and guard had dismounted ; and concluding, of course, that 

 their business, in this lonely and uninhabited part of the route, could only 

 be to fasten some part of the harness that had given way, he waited in 

 anxiety till one of them should approach the door, that he might inquire 

 into the extent of the damage. But, in the mean time, he was himself 

 seized with a desire to dismount caused, no doubt, by his wishing to 

 inspect the harness in person ; although this supposition does not appear 

 to be borne out by the fact of his making his way to the side of the road, 

 as soon as he was able to extricate himself from the vehicle. His back 

 was to the coach, and his face directed towards what he imagined, through 

 the darkness, to be either an ocean, or a new chaos, when he heard a loud 

 crack of the whip behind : the horses struck their feet simultaneously 

 into the ground, and a cracking, rushing noise proclaimed that the car- 

 riage was in motion. Ebenezer turned round in fury and dismay like 

 an elephant attacked in the rear. In vain he tore the manifold coverings 

 from his face it was pitch dark ; in vain he ran after the coach, as 

 FalstafF followed his annoy ers, " like a church ;" in vain he inquired of 

 the son of " Belial," at the extent of his voice, wherefore he was left 

 behind, and then implored him piteously, saying, " Tarry, good man, 

 I pray thee tarry yet a season!" He stood still, and wrung his hands 

 in despair as the rushing became more swift and more distant. " Woe 

 is me !" cried he, with a deep groan; " his driving is like the driving of 

 Jehu, the son of Nimshi ; for he driveth furiously." 



He was alone ; he was bound hand and foot by his garments ; and even 

 had he been at liberty, he was ignorant of the road ; and even had he 

 known every inch of the way, he was in all probability many miles 

 from a human habitation. In a case like this, a pious man would put in 

 practice the duty of resignation ; and a fat man would adopt the alterna- 



M.M. New Series VoL.V. No. 26. Z 



