54 PROSERPINA. 



pious, they yet assure you that there is such a thing as 

 piety in the world, and that it is wiser than impiety ; and 

 not themselves pretending to be works of genius, they 

 yet assure you that there is such a thing as genius in the 

 world, and that it is meant for the light and delight of 

 the world. 



8. Into these repetitions of remarks on my work, 

 often made before, I have been led by an unlucky author 

 who has just sent me his book, advising me that it is 

 "neither critical nor sentimental" (he had better have 

 said in plain English " without either judgment or feel- 

 ing"), and in which nearly the first sentence I read is 

 " Solomon with all his acuteness was not wise enough to 

 . . . etc., etc., etc." (' give the Jews the British consti- 

 tution,' I believe the man means.) He is not a whit 

 more conceited than Mr. Herbert Spencer, or Mr. Gold- 

 win Smith, or Professor Tyndall, or any lively London 

 apprentice out on a Sunday ; but this general supercili- 

 ousness with respect to Solomon, his Proverbs, and his 

 politics, characteristic of the modern Cockney, Yankee, 

 and Anglicised Scot, is a difficult thing to deal with for 

 us of the old school, who were well whipped when we 

 were young ; and have been in the habit of occasionally 

 ascertaining our own levels as we grew older, and of 

 recognizing that, here and there, somebody stood higher, 

 and struck harder. 



9. A difficult thing to deal with, I feel more and 

 more, hourly, even to the point of almost ceasing to 



