3 DON JUAN. CANTO THE ELEVENTH. I. WHEN Bishop Berkeley said "there was no matter," (') Too subtle for the airiest human head; (1) [The celebrated and ingenious Bishop of Cloyne, in his " Principles of Human Knowledge," denies, without any ceremony, the existence of every kind of matter whatever; nor does he think this conclusion one that need, in any degree, stagger the incredulous. "Some truths there are," says he," so near and obvious to the mind, that a man need only open his eyes to see them. Such I take this important one to be, that all the choir of heaven, and furniture of earth, -in a word, all those bodies which compose the mighty frame of the world, — have not any subsistence without a mind." This deduction, however singular, was readily made from the theory of our perceptions laid down by Descartes and Mr. Locke, and at that time generally received in the world. According to that theory, we perceive nothing but ideas which are present in the mind, and which have no dependence whatever upon external things; so that we have no evidence of the existence of any thing external to our minds. Berkeley appears to have been altogether in earnest, in maintaining his scepticism concerning the existence of matter; and the more so, as he conceived this system to be highly favourable to the doctrines of religion, since it removed matter from the world, which had already been the strong hold of the atheists.- SIR DAVID BREWSTER.] 11. What a sublime discovery 't was to make the That all's ideal- -all ourselves: I'll stake the World (be it what you will) that that's no schism. Oh Doubt!-if thou be'st Doubt, for which some take thee, But which I doubt extremely-thou sole prism Of the Truth's rays, spoil not my draught of spirit! Heaven's brandy, though our brain can hardly bear it. For ever and anon comes Indigestion, (Not the most" dainty Ariel") (') and perplexes Of beings, stars, and this unriddled wonder, IV. If it be chance; or if it be according To the old text, still better:-lest it should Turn out so, we'll say nothing 'gainst the wording, As several people think such hazards rude. They're right; our days are too brief for affording Space to dispute what no one ever could Decide, and every body one day will (1) ["Prosp. Why, that 's my dainty Ariel: I shall miss thee; But yet thou shalt have freedom."— Tempest.] V. And therefore will I leave off metaphysical Being quite perspicuous and extremely fair; VI. The first attack at once proved the Divinity The fourth at once established the whole Trinity That I devoutly wish'd the three were four, VII. To our theme.-The man who has stood on the Acropolis, And look'd down over Attica; or he Who has sail'd where picturesque Constantinople is appearance - Don Juan had got out on Shooter's Hill;(1) Where London streets ferment in full activity; IX. I say, Don Juan, wrapt in contemplation, Gave way to't, since he could not overcome it. Awaits it, each new meeting or election. X. “ Here are chaste wives, pure lives; here people pay But what they please; and if that things be dear, 'Tis only that they love to throw away Their cash, to show how much they have a-year. Here laws are all inviolate; none lay Traps for the traveller; every highway's clear: Here" he was interrupted by a knife, [life!". With,-"Damn your eyes! your money or your (1) ["From the summit of Shooter's Hill, which is eight miles from London, on the road to Dover, there is a delightful view of the metropolis, and the shipping on the Thames."- Kent Tourist.] |