Essays on Life 



You will also note that it was only at the 

 moment when he was looking at it and ac- 

 cepting it as a message that it flashed forth 

 from snuff-box-hood into the light and life of 

 living utterance. As soon as it had kindled 

 the butler into sending a single quart of beer, 

 its force was spent until Mrs. Bentley threw 

 her soul into it again and charged it anew 

 by wanting more beer, and sending it down 

 accordingly. 



Again, take the ring which the Earl of Essex 

 sent to Queen Elizabeth, but which the queen 

 did not receive. This was intended as a 

 sentence, but failed to become effectual lan- 

 guage because the sensible material symbol 

 never reached those sentient organs which it 

 was intended to affect. A book, again, how- 

 ever full of excellent words it may be, is not 

 language when it is merely standing on a 

 bookshelf. It speaks to no one, unless 

 when being actually read, or quoted from 

 by an act of memory. It is potential 

 language as a lucifer - match is potential 

 fire, but it is no more language till it is 



in contact with a recipient mind, than a 



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