12th. Daily reading Italian, Carlyle (French Revolution), and Music with Ferdinand. A Letter from the Provost of Oriel. 14th. Feb. 7th. Reading, daily, Guingené and Tasso, with Leo, and Marcus Antoninus. March 3rd. Anniversary of my arrival in England. March 10th, Sunday. As dull as any Sabbatarian could wish. 19th. Very ill.-Began correcting a printed copy of "Heresy and Orthodoxy," for a second edition. 22nd. Alas! Ferdinand left me this morning for London. Shall I see him again? If I do, how short will that last meeting be! But θαρρώ τῷ διοικοῦντι. April 2nd. Sent the copy for the second edition of "Heresy and Orthodoxy" to Mr. Thom. 9th. Note Book.*—I have neglected this Book for a long time. The chief cause of this has been the presence of my son, whose company has had more interest for me than any thoughts of my own. He has been away three weeks, and it is uncertain how long I may have him again with me; or even whether I may see him at all-though it is probable I shall. But, at all events, I shall resume my practice of writing down any of my thoughts that may seem worth while to remember. Most of them are most melancholy forebodings, which I cannot entirely dispel, but am obliged to let them pass like dark clouds over my mind. The two following notes had been written down in the Appendix to the Students' Journal. The thoughts therein expressed occurred to me early in the morning of two preceding days, during the hour and a half which I pass sitting on the edge of my bed, before I am wheeled into my dressing-room. They are both entered under one date, April 7th. God would not employ human language to say what, according to his laws, human language cannot express. This appears to me an unanswerable objection to the doctrines of the Trinity. But I am [* The preceding extracts in this chapter were taken from occasional entries in a small journal.] sure that few will understand it, for the simple reason that there are few among us who know any thing about the philosophy of language. Geometrical figures are not symbols of the thing upon which we reason by their means; they are the thing itself-Space. Their imperfection arises from the limits we employ, which, being also space, cannot properly limit. 17th. A letter from Ferdinand, acquainting me with the intention of the Commander-in-Chief, to appoint him to command some soldiers going next June to Bombay. 20th. Employed the morning in writing a good-natured squib, which amused me.* [* To show all sides of his mind, we give such passages of this clever piece of humour, as are not directly personal.] UNITARIAN CONTROVERSY. To the Editor of the Liverpool Albion. SIR,-I am an old practitioner of medicine, who have the misfortune of being established on so healthy a spot of the principality of Wales, that I hardly have anything to do in the way of my profession. The people among whom I live are so obstinately-I might say, rudelywell, that, for a time, I could not help taking their vivacious looks as a personal insult. But habit has reconciled me to this impudence of health, and I do no longer complain of their total disregard of my 29th. Though groaning at every breath, I still feel strongly moved to write a Review of the Unitarian Controversy, or rather the Unitarian Quarrel, which is going on in this town. That it is not a rational own. interests. I have, however, a little pittance of my own, and, being naturally contentus parvo, i. e. not ambitious, my time is entirely devoted to the establishment and development of a medical system of my Having very, very few near me who want my advice, I have, for some time, been in the practice of making out medical cases for myself, entirely for the love of science; for I seldom trouble the patients with my opinion, and never, of course, either was offered, or accepted, a fee. But, "How," you will ask, "do you proceed? Do you procure a view of the persons for whose health you are so disinterestedly concerned?" No, my dear sir, not at all; for, besides that I could not afford to travel at my own cost, I should fear to be very uncivilly sent about my business when I had fully stated the object of my errand. Now, Mr. Editor, I beg your particular attention, for I am about to lay open the delicate and, I might say, ethereal principle of my system. You know how many attempts have been made to discover the internal state of the microcosm, man: by the lines of the hand, cheiromancy; by the features, physiognomy; and, lastly, by the bumps and dimensions of his head, phrenology. Nor have "speculatists been wanting who wished to discover the state and peculiar structure of the mind, through the shape of individual handwriting. I have gone deeper into the mystery of man, and am, at length, in possession of a key which opens at once the moral and physical state of certain individuals to my observant eyes. The moral part of the discovery, however, I leave to the clerical profession, reserving to myself that which properly belongs to the science of medicine. My guides (to come at once to the discovery) are the literary compositions of the various patients who, in absolute ignorance of their internal diseases, betray them completely through their writings. This science I have named BIBLIOPATHOLOGY. At present, there is but one adept of this miraculous science, that is, your humble servant, myself; but I am ready to receive pupils, and if, by means of your valuable paper However, I will say no more, lest you should charge me for an advertisement. To return to my method: I procure as many of the inquiry, is not the fault of the able men who have been assailed by the conceit of the Orthodox. These men fell upon my friends pugnis et unguibus, and being thus attacked they could not but defend themselves, in the old way of quarrelling controversy. publications of living authors as my scanty means and the kindness of my friends allow me. I study these productions medically, and such is the efficacy of my scientific principle, that, if there is any morbid tendency in the author, I can instantly discover it. Oh, sir! how many a young poet and poetess have I cautioned,-alas! in vain,-against an approaching consumption! How many cases of inanition have I predicted! How many members of parliament (for I can form my diagnosis from their speeches) might secure themselves from the various dangers of epilepsy, water in the head, and the writhings of the cholic, if they would believe my prognosis of their cases! But the largest field for my science I have always found among the clergy. There is not, my good sir, an Episcopal charge but discloses to me a most wretched state of the internal system. As in Parliament most of the indications are spasmodic, those of the clergy are mostly biliary. There is much plethora among them, with its natural consequences of somnolency, constipation, &c. &c. But of bile! The true atra bilis, which the ancients used to send to Anticyra, as we do to Cheltenham, I frequently find the most appalling symptoms. One of these cases has lately occupied my attention, which, as the patient (patient, of course, without his being conscious of it) lives in or very near your town, I have resolved to state to you at full length, that you may be good enough to make inquiries, and compare actual realities with my scientific conjectures, which, as you will easily believe, are more than realities to myself. You are well aware that theological controversy is raging in your town of Liverpool. A theological controversy! Oh! if medicine had generally been carried to the acme of perfection to which I have brought it, that name would be more formidable than the influenza three years ago. Well, then, I have attentively examined the internal state of various individuals, as it is deducible from their printed productions on this occasion. I will not give you all my observations, for fear of tiring you; but I must beg your particular attention to the case of the Rev. Mr. Rev. Mr. -, as clearly indicated in a letter addressed to the I never met with a more dangerous superabundance |