Sept. 26, 1884.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



257 



" I will not," replied I, " be bo unmannerly as to con- 

 tradict a fair lady ; but the' we cannot learn the art here, 

 I hope you will allow they may fly better in the moon : 'tis 

 no great matter whether we go to them, or they come to 

 us ; we shall then be like the Americans who knew nothing 

 of navigation, and yet there were very good ships at t'other 

 end of the world." 



" Were it so/' said she, " the people in the moon would 

 have been here before now." 



" All in good time," said I; "the Europeans were not 

 in America, 'till at the end of some thousand of years ; so 

 Jong were they in improving navigation to the point of 

 crossLng the ocean. The people in the moon have already 

 made some short voyages in the air ; they are exercising 

 continually, and by degrees will be more expert ; and 

 when we see 'em, God knows bow we shall be surpriz'd." 



" It is unsufferable," said she, " you should banter me at 

 this rate, and justify your ridiculous fancy by such false 

 reasoning." 



" I am going to demonstrate," said I, "that you reproach 

 tne very unjustly. Consider, madam, that the world is 

 unfolded by degrees ; for the antients were very positive 

 that the torrid and frigid zones were not inhabitable by 

 reason of their excessive heat and cold, and in the time of 

 the Romans the general map of the world was but very 

 little extended beyond that of their own Empire, which, 

 tho' in one sense expressed much grandeur, in another 

 sense was a sign of as great ignorance. However, there 

 were men found both in very hot and in very cold 

 countries, so that you see the world is already increased. 

 After that, it was thought that the ocean covered the 

 whole earth, except what was then discovered. There was 

 no talk then of the antipodes, not so much as a thought of 

 'em ; for who could fancy their heels at top and their heads 

 at bottom 1 And yet, after all their fine reasoning, the 

 antipodes were discovered. Here 'a now another half of 

 the world starts up, and a new reformation of the map. 

 Methinks this, madam, should restrain us, and teach us 

 not to be so positive in our opinions. The world will 

 unfold itself more to us hereafter ; then we shall know the 

 people in the moon as well as we do now the antipodes, 

 but all things must be done in order. The whole earth 

 must be first discovered, and till we are perfectly acquainted 

 with our own habitation, we shall never know that of our 

 neighbours." 



" "Without fooling," said the Marchioness, looking 

 earnestly upon me, " you are so very profound in this 

 point that I begin to think you are in earnest, and believe 

 what you say." 



"Not so, neither," said I, "but I would show you how 

 easy it is to maintain a chimerical notion, that may perplex 

 a man of understanding, but never convince him. There 

 is not any argument so persuasive as truth, which has no 

 need to exert all its proofs, but enters naturally into our 

 understanding ; and when once we have learned it we do 

 nothing but think of it." 



" I thank you, then," said she, " for imposing on me no 

 longer, for I confess your false reasoning disturbed me ; 

 but now 1 shall sleep very quietly, if you think fit to go 

 home." 



{To he continued.) 



The Amsteedam Exhibition. — Messrs. Kansomes, Sims, & 

 Jefferies, have been remarkably successful in this exhibition, having 

 won the first prize, a prize of honour, value £40, for the best steam 

 thrashing machine ; four first prize gold medals and two silver 

 medals for ploughs, and the gold medal for the best haymaker, and 

 the gold medal for the best horse-rake. They have thus achieved 

 the highest honours at the above exhibition. 



DICKENS'S STORY LEFT HALF TOLD. 



A QUASI SCIENTIFIC INqCIKY INTO 



THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD. 

 By Thomas Foster 



{Continued from page 23G.) 



NEXT let us notice again the singular delay in the 

 appearance of Mr. Grewgious on the scene. At the 

 latest he would hear of the supposed murder on Christmas 

 Day about noon. He would be deeply moved on Drood's 

 account. The disappear.ance of the light-hearted but 

 withal generous boy whom he had so easily persuaded to be 

 thoughtful and considerate, would have horrified such a 

 man as we know Grewgious was. But the horror would 

 have been intensified, and accompanied by deep sorrow and 

 earnest sympathy for the fair young girl whom he loved 

 both for her own sake and for her mother's. Recollecting 

 that already once in her young life she had had a terrible 

 and sudden loss, he would have felt how fearful a trial and 

 how great a sorrow the death of young Drood would be to 

 her, and how much more overwhelming even than his death 

 the mysterious disappearance which seemed to tell of some 

 terrible tragedy. We can understand that Grewgious 

 would at first be scarcely able to leave the poor girl, — if he 

 knew no more than the rest of Cloisterham about the dis- 

 appearance of Edwin. All that Christmas Day he might 

 have stayed with her, though even that would have seemed 

 strange when it was so clearly his duty to make inquiries, 

 and therefore to appear upon the scene where Jasper was 

 so active. That he should have stayed all the 26th and 

 the greater part of the 27th, neglecting for nearly three 

 days so manifest a duty — he who was duty personified — is 

 out of all likelihood, nay utterly imjiossible. 



Jasper, of course, would not be apt to notice this. He 

 was away most of the time. He thought nothing of 

 Grewgious, or if he thought of him at all regarded him with 

 something of the contempt felt by Jonas Chuzzlewit for the 

 man who eventually brought him to justice. (There are 

 in fact some marked points of resemblance between Nadgett 

 and Grewgious.) When Grewgious did meet Jasper, his 

 first thought would have been to inquire what news there 

 might be about the disappearance. But he comes to tell 

 Jasper about Drood's separation from Rosa. So little is he 

 an adept at deception that he does not express the horror 

 he would naturally have felt, had he only heard of Drood's 

 disappearance, but simply says, " This is strange news." It 

 is Jasper who, being ever on the watch to seem the thing 

 he is not, says, " Strange and fearful news," to which Mr. 

 Grewgious answers nothing, but stood smoothing his head 

 and looking at the fire. lie is not at all anxious to hear 

 news from Jasper. After a time, the latter asks, " How is 

 your ward 1 ' surely a question to move Grewgious deeply. 

 But he simply answers, " Poor little thing ; You can 

 imagine her condition,"- — an evasive reply utterly unlike 

 Grewgious's natural manner. Again it is Jasper who 

 resumes the conversation. " Have you seen his sister ? " 

 " Whose 1 " asks Grewgious, with a curtness, and a cool 

 slow manner, as he moves his eyes from the fire to his 

 companion's face, which "might at any other time have been 

 exasperating." Jasper answers, " The suspected young 

 man's." Grewgious asks, "Do you suspect himV "I 

 don't know what to think. I cannot make up my mind." 

 " Nor I," says Mr. Grewgious. 



Now, supposing Mr. Grewgious to know no more than 

 he is supposed to know, but that Eca had communicated 

 to him her suspicions of Jasper, — and (what is more) had 

 persuaded him that those suspicions were well founded — 



