PREFACE. XXlll 



the scoffer to his knees. In that affecting moment, genius and 

 devotion are twin-born. But no demonstration of Vulcan, even 

 though approved by bishops and clergy, has any effect of this kind. 



Many of the thoughts in the present work may seem new : yet 

 the larger portion of them is not our own. We believe implicitly 

 that " the stone which the builders rejected" will be " the head of 

 the corner." It has become therefore a scientific canon with us, to 

 look out for this stone in all quarters. Hence we have been led to 

 many discredited sources of information; and if borrowing good 

 things be plagiarism, we are guilty of it to the utmost of our 

 powers. Wherever it can be shown that we are not original, so 

 much the better : we desire for ourselves and others to enter the 

 circle of the great dependence of things, secure that there is no in- 

 dependence of heart or mind upon any other terms. 



And now our task is done. The style of it differs somewhat from 

 the common, because our creed differs ; and we disbelieve for the 

 most part in what is called the severity, strictness and dryness of 

 science. We hold that nature is the drapery of spirit, and that 

 analogy is the cement of things, and the high-road of influences. 

 We are therefore afraid of nothing, however fanciful, on this ground : 

 nature is more fanciful than any of her children. Besides which, 

 we have found practically that metaphor is a sword of the spirit, and 

 that whenever a great truth is fixed, it is by some happy metaphor 

 that it is willing to inhabit for a time : and again, that whenever a 

 long controversy is ended, it is by one of the parties getting hand on 

 a metaphor whose blade burns with the runes of truth. For these 

 reasons we dare speak in parables. 



Yet is it fearful to disagree so widely with our friends and fellows. 

 We love them, but crave space to breathe where they are not. 

 Difference makes the world larger ; and without a quarrel with the 

 old modes, we have emigrated to another country, where we hope for 

 peace ; particularly as we trust not again to come forth with the 

 pen. 



