THOREA U. 139 



there was nothing so simple that uncial letters and the 

 style of Diphilus the Labyrinth could not turn into a riddle. 

 Many foreign revolutionists out of work added to the 

 general misunderstanding their contribution of broken 

 English in every most ingenious form of fracture. All 

 stood ready at a moment s notice to reform everything but 

 themselves. The general motto was : 



&quot;And we ll talk with them, too, 

 And take upon s the mystery of things 

 As if we were God s spies.&quot; 



Nature is always kind enough to give even her clouds a 

 humorous lining. We have barely hinted at the comic side 

 of the affair, for the material was endless. This was the 

 whistle and trailing fuse of the shell, but there was a very 

 solid and serious kernel, full of the most deadly explosive- 

 ness. Thoughtful men divined it, but the generality 

 suspected nothing. The word &quot; transcendental,&quot; then, was 

 the maid-of-all-work for those who could not think, as 

 &quot; Pre-Raphaelite &quot; has been more recently for people of the 

 same limited housekeeping. The truth is, that there was a 

 much nearer metaphysical relation and a much more distant 

 aesthetic and literary relation between Carlyle and the 

 Apostles of the Newness, as they were called in New 

 England, than has commonly been supposed. Both repre 

 sented the reaction and revolt against Pkilisterei, a renewal 

 of the old battle begun in modern times by Erasmus and 

 Ileuchlin, and continued by Lessing, Goethe, and, in a far 

 narrower sense, by Heine in Germany, and of which Field 

 ing, Sterne, and Wordsworth in different ways have been 

 the leaders in England. It was simply a struggle for fresh 

 air, in which, if the windows could not be opened, there 

 was danger that panes would be broken, though painted 

 with images of saints and martyrs. Light coloured by 

 these reverend effigies was none the more respirable for 

 being picturesque. There is only one thing better than 

 tradition, and that is the original and eternal life out of 

 which all tradition takes its rise. It was this life which 



