264 REMARKS ON THE PHILOSOPHY 



light of the world is gone — thus we leave the statue — M but the de- 

 lighted spirit, to bathe in fiery floods — or to reside in thrilling re- 

 gions of thick-ribbed ice," &c. 



Shakspeare here must be half unintelligible to the generality of his 

 readers, who, ignorant of the philosophy and erudition of the pas- 

 sage, will lose half its grandeur. The penalty of fiery floods, of 

 course, is easily understood as taught by the doctrines of the church; 

 but the punishment of cold 



That very elegant scholar, Falconer, in his great work on Cli- 

 mate, remarks how religion is affected by climate : — " The effects of 

 climate are very discernible in the rewards and punishments pro- 

 posed by religion for obedience or disobedience to its precepts. 

 Thus, the promise of a land abounding with milk and honey was a 

 reward properly adapted to a hot climate, and especially to the Is- 

 raelites, who had been accustomed to live in a country where the 

 former of these was particularly esteemed."* What can be more 

 voluptuous than the Mahommedan Paradise ? — a refinement upon 

 the highest sensuality. The luxurious Asiatic promises himself a 

 perpetuity of pleasure, without the satiety of sense ; the Chinese 

 sighs for nothing beyond an eternity of repose. Opposed to such 

 dreams is the religion of the north : Zomalxis the Scythian and 

 the Odin of the Saxons made heaven an illimitable forest, plenti- 

 fully stocked with game ; their happiness was to be found in hunt- 

 ing, military employments, and the joys of wine and company :f 

 the precepts and pleasures of active life constituted their heaven. 

 In moderate climates, where civilization has ever prevailed, more 

 rational and manly enjoyments have been promised as the hereafter 

 rewards of virtue ; consisting of all those pleasures, physical and 

 intellectual, to which the people have been attached on earth. 

 Thus, in the sixth book of the JEneid, line 642 : — 



u Pars in gramineis exercent membra palsestris 

 Contendunt ludo, et fulva luctantur arena ; 

 Pars pedibus plaudunt choreas, et carmina dicunt. 

 Nee non Threicius longa cum veste sacerdos 

 Obloquitur numeris septem discrimina vocum ; 

 Jamque eadem digitis, jam pectine pulsat eburno." 



Again, in the 679 th line — 



" At Pater Anchises penitus convalle virenti 

 Inclusas animas." 



* The worship of the cow in Egyyt was, no doubt, a political law. 

 + Herodt., lib. iv. ; Strabon, lib. vii. 



