1827.] A Chapter on Dreams. 281 



astralobes, compasses, quadrants, alembics, &c. &c. But there was one 

 quarter more interesting than any other of this mystic chamber. On a 

 few shelves, which were defended by a stout grating, were divers little 

 silver boxes, on each of which were inscribed certain characters, declara- 

 tory of their contents. 



" Here/' said my companion, " are all those great secrets in lite- 

 rature and philosophy, which, like so many ignesfatui, have led learned 

 men into clouds and darkness till, despairing of success, they have sunk 

 into quagmires of doubt and error, or toppled headlong down the preci- 

 pice of presumptuous disbelief. Here are all those magna studii indus- 

 triceque prcemia, which have turned men's heads, from Plato down to 

 David Hume. I know them all ; yet they afford me no pleasure. Verily, 

 to me they seem nothing else than as the gilded toys of an infant. I often 

 sit unseen by the profound and laborious philosopher, and view with pity 

 his fruitless investigations after mysteries* which must ever be occult, 

 till" (and here a strange smile flitted over his ancient features) " till 

 they cease to toil beneath the incumbrance of mortality." 



My curiosity was whetted to agony as the old man, with a somewhat 

 melancholy air, concluded his brief interpretation of that which lay before 

 me. I peered anxiously through the grating, and distinguished a number 

 of small packets, as it were, or small boxes ; one of which bore the 

 letters, " Solution of the Eleusinian Mysteries ;" another, " Transmu- 

 tation of Metals ;" another, " Author of Junius " " Quadrature of the 

 Circle"" Mind and Matter ""Elixir of Life" 



" Now, which of these should you wish to know ?" asked the old 

 man. 



I had lately taken some interest in the controversies respecting the 

 identity of " Junius :" so I answered directly 



" Let me know the author of Junius." 



He opened the grating, and reached down the box which contained 

 the object of my wishes. It felt ponderously heavy, in comparison of its 

 magnitude. I opened it when a great toad leaped out ; and I let fall 

 the box with disgust. 



*' And this suffices, at present, to amuse the curious in your world," 

 said the old man, reaching down a box inscribed, " North- West Pas- 

 sage." I opened it with great curiosity but found only a little smoke ! 

 " I wish Captain Parry knew this!" thought I, as my eye fixed on a 

 small, dingy-hued box, which bore the magical superscription, " Human 

 Happiness /" " Let me know but that, and 1 am content," I asked, in 

 an earnest and imploring tone. He fixed on me an inexplicable, soul- 

 searching glance, and then reached me the wondrous packet ; but he no 

 sooner put it into my hand, than he spit furiously in my face; his 

 countenance was frightfully metamorphosed into the hideous snout of a 

 boar he leaped upon me his tusks crunching over my shoulder ; and 



we both fell down down down 



* * * # * 



Behold, my fire was out, and my candle flickering fitfully in the 



socket, diffusing a disagreeable odour. Q. Q. Q. 



* Ut ait Cicero " Duo vitia vitanda sunt, in cognitionis,'' etc." alterum est vitium, 

 quod quidam nimis magnam operam conferunt, in res obscuras atque difficiles eas de-tu- 

 que non necessarias. " DE OFFICIIS. 





M.M. New SmW.VoUII. No.15. 2 O 



