Lect. IX.] WRITTEN ON THE BKAIN. 215 



wliich carried Csesar and his fortunes ; for Man, in the 

 widest sense, may be likened to that notable personage 

 who came, saw, and overcame. The lust of dominion is 

 in the blood of this born ruler ; and the bold poet of the 

 Cosmos — "that chosen shepherd who sang how the 

 earth rose out of Chaos," makes the Divine Inter- 

 locutor say — "Have thou dominion over the fish of 

 the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every 

 living thing that moveth upon the earth." 



He, indeed, was sent here naked, and with all instru- 

 ments of defence and offence taken from him, or so filed 

 down and lessened as to be next to useless, considering 

 the folk he had to fight against and overcome. But in 

 the folded volume of his huge brain, all things were 

 written that were necessary for him in this dread 

 emprise ; he has conquered, because he could learn how to 

 conquer. " Who made you, my child? " asks the solemn, 

 puritanical Miss Phely, of the little negro girl Topsy — 

 two of Mrs Beecher Stowe's charming creations — " Specs 

 I growed " is the quickly given answer. That answer 

 contains as much " good theology " and sound doctrine 

 as the more usual answer to this part of the Puritan 

 catechism. " Whilst this muddy vesture of decay doth 

 grossly close us in," we shall get no nearer to the 

 solution of problems of this sort, as seen from the meta- 

 physical side. 



But on the organic or physical side, we are always 

 gaining fresh territories ; here, strong and brave minds 



