Corpus of Modern Scottish Writing (CMSW) - www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk/cmsw/ Document : 247 Title: Scott's review of Southey's Pilgrim's Progress Author(s): Scott, Sir Walter Southey's Pilgrims' Progress The Pilgrims Progress with a life of John Bunyan By Robert Southey Esq LLD Illustrated with engravings &c It has been the boast of our ancestors to improve the constititution of their country by the address with which they have infused a new spirit into the ancient institutions like an able architect who contrives to make the turrets of an ancient castle subservient to the accomodations of modern hospitality that while they retain the external dignity of former ages they furnish the internal means of utility and enjoyment demanded in the present day. Thus many of our institutions inapplicable to the purposes for which they were originally designed are yet with judgement and propriety rel[eas]ed because applicable to useful purposes which have arisen with the increase of general knowledge and with the change of times [¿]. — It is thus that although Gibbon has with good reason stigmatized the nature of the task im =posed on the Poets Laureate during the reign of George IIId as the establishment of a stipendiary poet who in every year and at all events was bound to furnish a measure of praise and verse such as might be sung in presence of the Sovereign the taste of the [prince] and the Talents of the Gentleman who has dignified this office by acceptance have found means, instead of the annual drudgery of securing the labour of the varied talent and unequaled erudition in occasionally illustrat[ing] the antiquities and peculiarities of our literature. For although we are conscious that Mr Southeys natural in clination would have led him voluntarily to the path which he has pur= sued with so much advantage to the public yet the occupation seems pecu liarly fitted to an office of the Kings household bound by duty as well as inclination bestow some attention on the history of national literature. In this view we are much gratified with the present publication in which a critick of so much acuteness and a historian so intimately acquainted with the antiquties of his country has taken a subject of so much interest for surely nothing can be more interesting than to learn from such authority under what circumstances John Bunyan in spite of a clownish and vul =gar rose into a degree of popularity scarce equaled by any English writer. The Life of John Bunyan is a c[urious] [¿]ery piece of biography and may be useful at the present time when many persons overcome by doubts and fears similar to those which in[¿] the author of the Prilgrims Progress have not the advantage to escape from them into the s[ecure] haven of Rational Piety John Bunyan was born at Elstow near Bedford in the year 1628. His parents were the meanest according to his expression of all families in the land. They were workers in Brass or in common parlance Tinkers whose profession bore to that of a a brazier the same degraded relation which a cobbler who only mends shoes bears * or mispent 2 to the shoemaker who makes them. It was not followed however by Bunyans father as an itinerant calling which leads Mr Southey to wonder why the calling should be esteemed so mean. We believe the reason to be that the Tinkers craft is in great Britain commonly practised by the Gipsies or [¿]Egyptians and we surmize the probability that Bunyans own relatives though unclaimed and settled might have been originally of that class for that they were not native English may perhaps account for young John asking his father whether he was not of Jewish a natural enough question if they had any connection with Gipsy blood. In Life of John Bunyan p.VI and p X. Of gypsy descent or otherwise John Bunyan was bred up with the slen der proportion of schooling which is accessible to the children of the poor in England and which he speedily forgot. He was by nature of enthusiastic feelings and g[uided] by those impulses to study the future prospects which [¿] virtue afforded in relation to a future excelence. Yet such was the sobriety of this [¿] that his [mod est] excesses fell far short of that utter reprobation to which he conceived entitled. John Bunyan in the wildest period of his life was never addicted to in =temperance or to unlawful intercourse with women. He seems to have wrought for his family as an honest and industrious man and early became the hus band of a deserving [one]. One or two n[¿] excesses which orhe was disposed to con sider as special pr[¿] inclined him to think seriously on his past bad conduct and though the effect was but transitory yet [¿]ppled the c[au]ses of thinking & acting by which vice becomes ba[¿]. Bunyans t[¿]s notwithstanding the remorse which placed them before him in a darker light seem only to have [been] those which every ignorant and careless young fellow of the lowest ranks falls into and probably profane swearing sabbath-braking and a mind addicted to the games and idle sports of Vanity fair were the most important stains upon the character of his youth. Repentance regards past offences with a microscopic eye nor can we wonder that such an ardent spirit as that of John Bunyan speaking in his own energetick language of his youthful faults should paint them in blacker colours than the actual truth authorized. He had practized none of these debaucheries by which the heart of the Epicurean is hardened against all feelings save those which can tend to his own gratification and if he lost the valuable time for instruc tion afforded by the Christian Sabbath, the hours had been employed in folly ra ther than in vice. When a considerable part of his youth had been spent in ignorance and idleness it pleased Heaven to awaken this remarkable man to a sense of his own iniquities and to conduct him to the paths of Devotion by the pain ful passage of religious doubts and religious remorse. “The land was at this Of John Bunyans politics we know nothing of his religious doubts and lessons he has left an ample record. 3 at this time burning” the nation was divided respecting best form of government for their protection on this side and the surest means by which they might obtain eternal felicity for hereafter. This com[¿] was that of a [¿] in which ardent wishes were mixed with doubts with hopes and no small portion of mysterious fears. A few religious persons with whom he became acquainted were of the sect called Baptists and were esteemed by the new convert who heard them talk of the mysteries of our religion with joy hope and comfort, a species of saints was peaceful confidence and serenity argued the security of their calling and election. Such doubts natural to an ardent and enthusiastic mind were yet terrify ing from their coincidence with the strict rules of Calvinistic predestination which were foundation of the creed which he had adopted. That those alone could share in the benefits of a Redemption for whom had adopted from the beginning of the world as the Heirs of Salvation gave rise to the dreadful doubt whether he was him self one of them who sh[ared] this b[lessed] election since were it not so he could not venture to account himself other than a predestined Reprobate whose future doom must be the more terrible that his latter faults must be e[¿]ed against the light of an awakened conscience. He has described at length in his memoirs the wild tumult of his mind when endeavouring to determine a point which all the schoolmen on earth must be inadequate to solve and in the course this fear =ful state of mind Mr Southey traces the germ of the Pilgrims Progress. In a species of vision or waking dream he compared his own state of mind with the sanctified condition of the poor persons of the little Baptist Congregation which he had joined and whom he regarded as happily secure on the important question which agitated his own mind [Take in from line 13 p.XIX Life of John Bunyan “I saw he says &c to p. XX end of ∫ “ Soul & sin.”] Doubts qualms fears returned upon him notwithstanding the metaphorical assurance which this vision had conveyed to his mind. Whatever wild and wayward thought streamed across the restless region of his thoughts was arrested like a suspicious looking person in a besieged city brought to account for itself treated with an attention which it did not deserve being the suggestion of casual and involuntary intrusion far rather than of deliberate and calm reason. It is perhaps in this sense that the human is said in scripture to be abomi= nable wicked since not only without our will but in positive contradictions with our best exertions wicked suggestions profane the thoughts of the good and foul emotions pollute the heart of the most pure. The wise & well informed shrink with horror from the phantoms of h[¿] and of vice which thus intrude themselves on their fancy and pray to Heaven for strength to ena ble them to reject such pollution from their thoughts and for power to fix them upon — But these thoughts of his possible exclusion from the pale of the righteous rushed 4 rushed with such vivid force on the mind of the unfortunate Bunyan as com pelled him to admit as good arguments the doubts and suspicions which were the coinage of his own mind and to spend his unhappy days now in discussing imaginary reasons why he could not be [¿]ed among the people of God and even suspecting that by doing so he was guilty of great crime in doubting the efficacy of Grace purchased at such a rate [¿] for the cl[ass] of sin ners “In an evil hour” says Mr Southey with his usual good and just f[eeling] “were the doctrines of the Gospel &c [Life as before XXI line 7. to end of ∫ than Bunyan” In a state of anxiety and agony with all the ingenuity which enabled him to attack the comfort which he secured from some texts of scripture with the grounds of doubt and terror which he gathered from others the doubt that he was forsaken of God that was he was predestined to eternal reprobation that the scriptures the source of joy and comfort to others were to him only as a roll like that seen by Ezekiel full of cares and denunciations he was length induced to lay his case open to the teacher of the anabaptist congrega tion. It was then the unfortunate man was [driven] [¿] to experience though but in a degree the damages incurred by those who disown subscription to an established ministry qualified by education and study to be [¿] to those who are in distress of mind on religious grounds. For this some thing more is necessary than good intentions some thing more even than good principles a long and familiar acquaintance with the scripture and with the opinions of the best commentators upon known points of controversy among Christians an acquain tance with the [¿] they made use of and the manner in which they might be included is essential in such a case to the adviser who is to speak the words of comfort to a [disordered] sufferer. Gifford, Bunyan's anabaptist preacher, was not the less a good man. But his youth had been far differently occupied than with theological studies. He had been an officer of the Royalists, and, like too many of that party, had led a profligate life, as if in very opposition to the Puritans to whom the Cavaliers were opposed as well in manner as in a[¿]. Misfortune and imprisonment gave him a more just view of religion than he had [¿]. He changed the tenor of his life and became the leader of the Baptist congregation of Bed ford into which Bunyan joined himself. But however respectable a person in many respects his advice to Bunyan was that of one enthusiast to another He advised him to receive no religious doctrine as indisputable, which had not been confirmed to his individual self by evidence from Heaven. This dangerous doctrine was of a nature like enough to have entirely distracted the unfortunate Bunyan. He had now formed to himself a hypothesis accounting for the blasphemous evil thoughts and suggestions of expects enthusiastic 5 guilt which distracted his mind imputing them to the immediate suggestion which no doubt greatly relieved his mind from the apprehension that they had been the voluntarily produce of his own wicked heart. And so strongly has he expressed the same idea in Christians progress through the valley of the Shadow of Death. “One thing I would not let slip &c. Taken in Pilgrims progress p.83. line 7th to line 10 from b[¿] “blasphemies came”. Furnished thus with a theory to account for the source of these evil things blasphemes and suggestions of unbelief which in recording the history of his religious experience he dared not to utter either with word or pen he was now taught by his mistaken pastor Gifford to look for a conter balance to these decrees of hell by the suggestions which Heaven itself in fused into his thoughts as an antidote to these promptings of the devil. So strong is the power of the human imagination that he who seriously to see miracles especially if a [man] of fancy like Bunyan does not long expect them in vain Mr Southey thus des cribes his condition while engaged in balancing the support and comfort which he received from heaven with the discountenance and criminal suggestions inspired by the enemy of mankind. Life of Bunyan p XXV “Shaken thus continually line 5 &c down end of ∫ he had met with before. The s[¿]erious feelings of despair and misery the same hideous apprehensions of unpardonable crimes committed and eternal judgement incured were from time to time dispelled by the texts and promises of scripture born in upon the mind of the sufferer with a force so totally irresistible as to him at least had the appear =ance of undoubted inspiration, occupied a space of nearly three years of Bun =yans life during which the humble fits of despair with which he was occasional ly overwhelmed bore a frightful proportion to the comparative intervals of peace and tranquility. He attained a more generally calm and tranquil state of spirit from the practice which he generally adopted of reading over his bible with the utmost care and attention observing how the different passages bore upon and explained each other and to use his own experience ”with careful heart and watchful eye with great fearfullness to turn over every leaf and with much diligence mixed with trembling to consider every sentence with its natural force and latitude.” The result of this minute and systematic investigation of the scriptures could not but have had a tranquillizing & composing effect on the mind of a man whose crimes consisted rather in thoughts unwilling ly entertained than in the break of any known laws whose [¿]ful sins of ignorance had been long renounced He looked upon the gospel system with the comprehensive views which he had learned from [¿] Saw “that it was good” and although [¿] he retained the opinions concerning the earlier current distinguished 6 current of his religious career the same species of doubts and difficulties do not seem to have disturbed his middle and his closing life. Mr W. Scott a former editor of the Pilgrims progress thought it not advisable to dwell upon fanaticism which characterizes the earlier part of his religious life Mr Southey on the contrary is of opinion that “Bunyan's character &c p XIV middle of page to line 9 from bottom valley of the shadow of death” We are much of the opinion expressed by Mr Southey. The history of a man so by natural powers as Bunyan is connected with history of his age nor can we so well express the dangers of Fanaticism as when we behold the struggles of so pure and so powerful a spirit involved in its toils. It may be ea sily supposed that there were many falling into the same toils who strug gled with them in vain and in that respect the doctrine which required men who had naturally no sound understanding to boast of, who were influenced more than the temperate and self denying Bunyan by the lust of worldly pleasure to exercise of the private judgement as it was called [¿] the wildest most blasphemous and most culpable excesses. It was like the bal sam [¿]ted by the lunatick h[ero] of Cervantes which operating upon one set of patients agreed with their constitution and though by a severe operation condu[ted] finally to their recovery whereas applied to them of a grosser and [¿] ser h[ealth] conducted them to deaths door. Of this Southey gives one instance in the person of a poor man who had the merit of being amongst the first whose conversation called Bunyan to a sense of religion was himself so unable to endure the illumination of which he conveyed the first spark to so notable a person that he became a Ranter and wallowed in the foulest vice as one who was secure in the Election of his his calling and whom the grossest sin could not debar from the happiness which was predestined to him the unfortunate man loved to tell Bunyan that he had run through all religions and in his persuasion had fallen upon the the right way at last a way namely which in assuring to him an unalien able right to Heaven freed him from all limits to the indulgence of his animal passions during the time he remained on earth. Another instance of the danger in indulging such reveries as wrecked the peace and endangered the reason of Bunyan for three years though fortunately it was unable either to [¿] his heart or to corrupt his reason was seen in one his contemporaries Lawrence Claxton by name whose rare treatise containing the impudent avowal of his profligacy lies now before us and is so apposite to the subject as to claim some notice. This man who we may [¿] hope was mad enough to excuse his profligacy was prevailed upon so late as 1660 at the instigation he says of no mean parts or parentage in this Reasons Kingdom who had much importuned him to that effect published the various Leadings Note * This rare tract is termed at length “The lost sheep Found, Or, The prodigal return to his Fathers house after many a sad and weary journey through many religi countrys where now notwithstanding all his former transgressions and breach of h fathers command he is received in all eternal favours and all the righteous and wicked sons that he hath left behind reserved for Eternal mercy As also every Church or dispensation may read in his travels their porti after this life. By Lawrence Claxton the only true converted Messenger of Jesus Christ Creator of heaven and earth London printed for the Author 1660. 7 leadings forth of my spirit through each dispensation from the year 1630 to the year 1660 — in order that as Mr Claxton expresses it* Our limits as well as our inclinations render it impossible for us to give more than a very general analysis Some of Claxtons analyses are [two] [two] gross some of his debaucheries too coarse and indecent to permit them being more than indicated. Yet it may not be useless to trace the career of a man who started under a vague apprehension of extreme tenderness of consci ence and ascended from one flight to another till he became in principle a matererialist almost an Atheist and in practize a coarse and debauchd latitudinarian. His reformation commenced in an abhorrence to railed altars and an [aver sion] to the prayers which the devotion of his father compelld him and in the Common Prayer Book and the practice of [Pi]etry together with an envy of those of his own sentiments who had [¿] exercized a gift of extempor prayer. He wrote down a form of words to assist him in his desire to shew his gifts before these but when he came to the exhibition [¿] [¿] [¿] [¿] [¿] he lost his form of written words and with them the composure of mind that sustaind him him in his task and was only convinced by constant practice that the Gift of expressing himself in publick was one which perseverance could ob tain. Secondly Claxton began too quarrell with the f[¿] of the presbyterians whose doctrine he found differed only from the Episcopal in a few insignificant rites and ceremonies. He also was or affected to be displeased with their eagerness in pressing on the civil war. Thirdly therefore he left them and travelld to the Independents and attachd himself particularly to one Dr Crisp and became an Antinomian or express Disciple of those who protested against being still [¿] as men under the law of Moses. Fourthly Lawrence Claxton discoverd that as he phrases it he was still burning bricks in Egypt and did not approach nearer to that uncircum= s[¿]d liberty of conscience which it was his desire to obtain And future extrava gances [¿] [¿] at A[¿] to [¿] that which he affected to [¿] for a [¿] liberal in[¿] of religious myster[¿] his real hope was to find li cence for a g[¿] [¿] of pr[¿] than these s[ects] had [¿] v[¿]d upon. But he then took to the pulpit and was not if his own word can be ta ken inferior to any preacher of that time. So that he was put in possession of a parish named Pulem with a pension of forty shillings weekly So that as he expresses himself he thought himself very gallantly provided for “so that says he I thought that I was in heaven upon earth judging the priests had a brave time in [¿] if [¿] Lawrence Claxton 8 in this world to have a house built for them and means provided for them to tell the people stories of other men's works” But from this paradise he was removed in about half an hour by the envy of the neighbouring clergy as he insinuates who called him sheep stealer as he expresses it for robbing their flocks by his superior gifts and doctrines. His character probably overtook him for his parish and he parted with contempt on both sides Lawrence Claxton continued a rambling unsettled life in the course of which he commenced Dipper or Anabap tist. He resided in Robert Marchants who had four daughters of which he seems to have had the handsomest for his wife or concubine. Claxton was now apprehended by Parliament. After remaining in custody six months it appears he formally renounced the practice of Dipping as it was called and by the sacrifice of his opinions procured his liberty. Sixthly he joined a Society of people called Seekers who worshiped only by prayer and preaching. In this new character he put out a book having something in the title analogous to the celebrated work of John Bunyan with whom we are con =trasting him. It was called The Pilgrimage of Saints by Church cast out in Christ found seeking truth. “This being” he says “a suitable piece of work in these days wounded the churchers which book Randall owned and sold many for me.” [In] this doctrine & in the most infamous [¿] of debauchery this unhappy man continued untill he came the length of affirming that it was thought and not the action which constituted sin and therefore he who practized any unlawful act under the belief that it was no sin to such it became pure and lawful. He was now what was called a Ranter and Chief of a company who professed and prac tized the most abominable debauchery they had attained they thought in this out rageous licence the true privelege of enlightened saints The ground of Claxtons faith was that all things being created originally good nothing was evil but as the opi nion of men made it so under which belief he apprehended there was no such such thing as a theft a cheat or a lie and (murder excepted) he broke with out scruple the law in every other respect. If the least doubt entered his mind he washed it away he tells us by a cup of wine. In London with his female associates he spent his time in feasting and drinking “so that taverns I called the House of God the drawers Ministers and sack divinity.” This extravagant and dissolute con duct scandalized and offended Claxton was again taken into custody when he was formally banished from the British islands. Ha[w]es He next endeavoured to conceal himself under another species of im posture and aspired to the art of Magic and having found as he says “some of Dr Wards and Woolerds manuscripts I improved my genius to fetch back goods that were stolen yea to raise spirits and fetch treasure out of the earth. However miseries I gained and was up and down looked upon as a dangerous man — And therefore have several times in vain attempted to raise the devil that I might see what like he was but all in vain so that I judged all was a lie and that there was no devil at all nor indeed no God neither save one Nature. He found [out] that the Scriptures were contradictory that the world was eternal and believed in neither Revelation 9 Redemption Resurrection or religious principles of any kind. To this dreadful result was Lawrence Claxton conducted by his bewildered principles of his meta physical theology though he does not stop there any more than at any former stage of his deluded journey. A stronger contrast between the effect of secular researches on e[mpassion]ed and profligate Claxton and the selfd[¿]d and blameless author of the pilgrim Progress can scarce be presented to the mind The course of study which almost drove the good man into religious despair hurried into profligacy and atheism the truly fanatick hypocrite Claxton. We return to John Bunyans life from our sketch of his [¿]ed contemporary and [¿] as is illustrated in the Pilgrims Progress that the same path which pa[¿] [¿] through the valley of the shadow of death may conduct one [¿] to the Celestial City may lead another to the infernal regions. The Religious terrors of Bunyan had been considerably checked by that con stant course of scriptural study in which he had finally occupied himself and the effect of which was to communicate vigour and steadiness to his faith. But there can be no doubt that an occupation of doing exten[sive] good to his fellow ven tures fixed his attention upon the mind of others instead of permitting him to indulge in his own reveries. Bunyans habitual serious habits and undenied purity of life had not escaped the observation of the congregation of which he was a member passed a resolution after the death of their pastor Gifford some of the bre= thren (one at a time as is not unjudiciously provided) to whom the Lord may have given a gift be called forth to speak a word or two in the church for mutual edi fication. Full of scriptural thoughts and language and having the scriptures themselves at command the Author of the Pilgrims progress was never theless totally void of that [rash] confidence which made so many at that peri od rush without consideration on the task of the preacher and instructor of their brethern His attention to his new duties in some degree to have relieved his own dubious state of mind. Yet he flinched not from the task of preaching the severe doctrine under the strictness of which he himself groaned internally. The following are his own remarkable expressions “This part of my work” &c p. XLVIII line 11 Life to line 14 “take me off my work.” Besides his preaching in which he acted as a kind of volunteer auxiliary to one John Burton the principle Anabaptist teacher of Bedford He was also engaged in religious controversy and that with the Quakers who though they have now thanks to time and toleration settled down into the gentlest and mild of religions had originally e[¿]d a conside rable degree of enthusiasm in [these lands]. The controversy continued for some time and was not conducted without acrimony. Bunyan accused the Qua kers of denying some of the most essential doctrines of Christianity and Edward Burroughs his antagonist objected to our author his taking reward for his services and going shares with his principal Burton in £150 which he charges surrender sustained to 10 affirms was received as his yearly salary. To this charge Bunyan returned an explicit denial alleging that he wrought with his hands for his daily living and for that of his family and solemnly affirming that he distributed the knowledge which God had given him freely not for filthy lucres sake. The Quakers and other antagonists could only attack his principles and his character but the persecuting spirit which had not unnaturally taken possession for a time of the [¿]tick government imposed direct personal conse quences Considerable efforts were made after the Restoration of Charles IId for su[¿] pression of these sectaries who were held as the principle cause of the late civil war and of the death of Charles IId. John Bunyan was cited before the justice as a person in the habit of going about preaching although the charge does not ap pear to have mingled with any specifick charge as to his political opinion He refused to find security to abstain from his itinerant ministry and he was of course sent to prison resigned and contented with his captivity providing that it might be the awakening of the saints in the country or otherwise serve what he est[¿] the cause of vital religion.” The fruit of his submission to the will of God was probably a state of peace of mind and contentment such as in his lifetime he had not hitherto enjoyed. This persecution was no sudden storm which was to pour forth its vio: ence and then be hushed to rest. Bunyan dwelt no less than twelve years in Bedford Jail rather than the christian preach[¿] which he considered as his birth right. The manner in which he employed his leisure during his retreat from the world constitutes his great distinction as a benefactor to the world of Christianity This he has expressed himself in the first sentence of his memorable work “As I walked through the wilderness of this world I lighted on a certain place where there was a den where I laid me down to sleep and as I slept I dreamed a dream.” The allegorical den is on the margin explained to be the prison where the author so many years' imprisonment. [¿] It is true Bunyans captivity was neither rigorous nor continued. He was indeed deprived of the power of working at his usual occupation of a tinker “he was as effectually taken away from his pots and kettles” says one of his former biographers “as the Apostles were from mending their nets But he learned to make tagged thread laces and thus supported his family by the labour of his hands. The jailer of Bedford was a “gentle provost” and indul ged his respected prisoner with all and more than all the liberty which he could grant with safety to himself. He was suffered to abroad at pleasure visited the congregations of his sect and was actually chosen pastor of the congrega tion of Anabaptists He accepted the office and being thus only a prisoner on parole he appears to have been able to exercise its duties [¿] all as is well expressed by Mr Southey Life LXXII page 2d line “The fever of his enthusiasm &c to line 8 7 to its close. About 16 years before his death that is about 1674 he was at length 6 enlarged from a confinement which for at least five years [¿] been 4 great 6 Beale LXXIV 2 11 degree unusual After this his life past smoothly. His reputation as a preacher stood very high even in the metropolis where the chapels were crowded to overflowing when his ministry was expected. A chapel was built for him near Bedford and he often frequented another at a place called Bentick. The pulpit which he used is still preserved with pious care. We cannot see in the sermons which Bunyan had left any strong mark of the genius which he really possessed but the fashion of them is strange to the present day His elocution must have been warm and fervent and he himself even distrusted the degree of applause which his eloquence courteously allowed p. Life line 13 from bottom “One day when he had preached & line 7th from bo[¿] authenticates itself” He died at no very late period of life from the consequences of a labour of friendship He had undertaken a journey to prevail upon a friend not to disinherit his son caught cold in returning to London & was carried off by a fever. His epitaph is in these words p LXXXI life line 6th from bottom “Mr John Bunyan &c to line 3d from b[¿] “earthly bed” Of the first appearance of this celebrated Parable Mr Southeys diligence has preserved the following notices p.LXXXIV life line 3d from bottom to LXXXV End of ∫ large impressions When the astonishing and almost [¿]d success of the Pilgrims Progress had raised a swarm of imitators the author according to the frequent spleen of the world was accused of plagiarism himself to which he made an indignant reply in what he considered as verse, prefixed to another of his works termed the Holy War p. LXXXIX line 9 Some say the Pilgrims progress is not mine down to Dribble it daintily line 11 from bottom. Mr Southey has carefully examined the charge of supposed imitation which so much rests upon the simplicity of the conception of the story and has suc cessfully shown that Bunyan could not have known or profited by one or two allego ries in the French and the Flemish languages works which the Tinker of Elstow was unlikely to meet with and which thrown in his way he could not have read and finally which could if he had read them scarce have supplied him with. Mr Southey however has not mentioned a work in English, of Bunyans own time and from which certainly [the] general kind of the allegory may have been taken and [¿]ed as both works were published nearly about the same it is at least very possible that the one n[¿]y have suggested the f[¿]h The work alluded to is now before us entitled the Parable of the Pilgrim written to a friend by Symon Patrick D.D. Dean of Peterborough This excellent D[ivine] and worthy man inscribes his pilgrim to the friend for whom [¿] was all[ud]ed so early 14 December 1672 and Mr Southeys earliest conjecture does not allow an earlier date for Bunyans pilgrim 1672 being the very in which he was en larged from prison. The language of Dr Patrick in addressing his friend excludes the possibility of his having seen John Bunyans celebrated work He apologizes for sending to his acquaintance one in the old fashioned dress of a pilgrim and says he found [Bulmers] [¿] [¿]hia 12 found among the works of a late writer a short discourse under the name of A Parable of a pilgrim and it was so agreeable to the portion of fancy he was endowed with that he presently thought that a work of this nature would be very grate ful to his friend also. It appears that the “Parable of a Pilgrim” so sketched by Dr Patrick remained in the possession of the private friend for whom it was sketched when it being supposed by others that the work might be of more general uti lity it was at length published in 1668. Before that year the first Edition[¿] of the Pilgrims Progress of Bunyan unquestionably made its appearance in print But we equally acquit the prelate of Peterborough and the Tinker of Elstow from copying a thought or idea from each other although it is a singular circumstance that two works with nearly the same title each certainly the same general turn of allegory should have been circulating at the same time. If Dr Patrick had seen the Pilgrims Progress of Bunyan which certainly is a possibility he would in the pride of Academick learning have probably scorned to adopt it as a model. As a man of worth and respectability he would never have denied the obligation which he had incured and his total silence on the subject convin ces us there was none to suppress. John Bunyan would have equally scorned “with his very heels” to have borrowed an unacknowledged from a Dean and and an Episcepalian and we are satisfied that he would have cut hand off rather than written the Introductory verses we have quoted had not the pilgrim been entirely his own. Indeed whosoever will take the trouble of comparing two works which open the subject of nearly the same allegory and bearing a very similar title came into existence at nearly the same time will plainly see their total dissi milarity Dr Patricks book is as different from that of Bunyan as can well be The latter is a close and continued allegory in which the metaphorical fic tion is continued with all the minuteness of a real story. In Dr Patricks work the same plan is generally announced as arising from the earnest longing of a traveller whom he calls Philotheus or Theophilus who desires are fixed on journeying to Jerusalem as a pilgrim. After much distressing uncertainty caused by the contentions of pretended guides who recommend different routes he is at length recommended to a safe and intelligent Having at length heard of a safe and intelligent guide to the blessed city Theophilus hastens to put himself under his pilotage and the Good man delivers his in structions for the way which are given at full length so that the dangers of error and indifferent company on the way may be securely avoided and from these de[¿] instructions in which very little care is taken even to pre the appearance of Allegory which he himself has ap[¿]ed. You have almost in plain terms the moral and religious precepts necessary to be observed in a devotional course through life. Foot Note x Parable of the Pilgrim chapter XXX X2 Ibidem, chapter XXXIV 13 The pilgrim indeed sets out upon his journey but it is only in order again to meet with his Guide who launches further into whole chapters of instructions with scarce a reply from his passive pupil It is easy to conceive the extreme difference between the strain of continual instruction rather encumbered than enlivened by the metaphor which being forgotten the author recollects every now and then as if by accident and and the lively manner in which John Bunyan puts the adventures of his Pilgrim before which every now and then surprize you into the belief the [anecdotes] told with such [persuasion] are allegorical and not real. Two circumstances alone strike us as [¿] somewhat in the manner of Him of Elstow The one is where the Guide awakens some sluggish pilgrims whom he finds sleeping by the way. The other is where their way is crossed by two horsemen who insist upon assuming the office of Guide. The one indicating the Catholic church is a pleasing talker excellent company by reason of his pleasant humour and of a carriage very pleasant and inviting “But they observed he had a sword by his side and a pair of pistols before him together with another instrument hanging at his belt which was formed for pulling out of eyes”. x2 The pilgrims suspect this well armed cavalier to be one of that brood who will force others into their own path and put out their eyes in case they should forsake They have not got rid of their Dangerous companion by whom the Catholick Church is indicated than they are accosted by a man of a quite different shape & humour more sad and melancho ly more rude and of a heavier wit also who crossed their way on the right hand” He also representing doubtless the Presbyterians pressed them with eagerness to accept his guidance and did little less than menace them with total destruction if they reject his guidance.. A dagger and a pocket pistol though less openly and ostentatiously disposed as the arms of the first cavalier seem ready the same compulsory and persecuting principles and he therefore is repulsed as well as his conf[eder]ate — These are the only passages in which the Church of England dignitary has caught for a moment the spirit of the Tinker of Bed ford. Th[rough] the rest of his Parable which is a long quarto volume he is quite respectable — evinces considerable classical learning & compared to Bunyan may rank with the dullest of all possible Doctors “a worthy neighbour indeed and a marvellous good bowler — But for Alexander you see how 'tis — ” Yet Dr Patrick had the applause of his own time. The first edition of his Parable of the Pilgrim was in 1678 and the sixth edition which lies before us was published in 1687. Mr Southeys remarks on Bunyan's simplicity contain just and powerful Eulogism on this Classic of the Common people “Bun= yan was confident in his own powers of expression to 3d line p LXXXIX ima ginative powers” It may be added to these good and powerful remarks that the most pleasing occupation of the fine arts being to awaken not to [grati] fy [¿] the imagination sketches in drawing simple melodies in musick a bold decisive but light touched strain of poetry or narrative are more like to diametrically 14 to general popularity than an attempt to gratify the imagination of the specta tor or audience by a highly wrought piece of composition leaving their own fancy nothing to do but to admire which pretends at once to excite general curiosity by the outline and to satiate it by the distinct accurate and circumstantial detail, which shall no wish un[grateful]. To understand this we need only remember having been the visiter of some celebrated scene of natural beauty under the close guardian ship of a pragmatical guide who will let you find out nothing independent of him and is so anxious that you should learn nothing unseen he makes you al most wish yourself both deaf and blind that you may neither hear his instructions nor profit by them. The rare talent of description and narrative is the Ne quid nimis of the d[¿] a limit which genius often neglects in its profusion but seldom fails to pay the penalty in popular opinion. C[hristie] It is not however the words and manner of the Pilgrims Progress which have raised that singular allegory to so high a rank among our general readers The form and stile of composition of the popular allegory is safely referred to the highest authority Who spake in Parables I dare not say But sure he knew it was a pleasing way. And without dwelling on the precedent suggested by the poet we may observe how often the allegory or parable has gained without suspicion those passes of the human heart which were vigilantly guarded against the real [¿] by self interest prejudice or pride. When the prophet approached the sinful monarch with the intention of reproving his crimes of murder and adultery [an] a direct annunci ation of his purpose might have awakened the king to wrath instead of that penitence to which it was the will of heaven that he should be invited. But he listened unsuspectingly to the parable of the ewe-lamb and it was not till the awful denunciation Thou art the man that he found the crime which he readily condemned in the supposed wealthy oppresser was in fact that which he had himself committed. In this respect the comparing the parable with the real facts which it intimates is like the practice of the artists to examine the reflection of their paintings in a mirror that they may get clear of false lights and sha= dows and judge of their compositions more accurately by seeing them presented under a change of lights and circumstances But besides the moral uses of this species of composition it has much in it to exercise those faculties of the human mind which it is most agreeable to keep in motion. Our judgment is engaged in weighing and measuring the points of similarity between the reality and the metaphor as these evolve themselves and fancy is no less amused by the unexpected surprizing and we may even say the witty turns of thought by which the most unusual associations are produced between things which in themselves seemed opposed and irreconcilable but which the Allegorist has contrived should nevertheless illustrate each other. In some cases the parable possesses the interest of the riddle itself the examination and solution of which are so interesting to the human intellect that the history & religious doctrines of ancient nations was often at once preserved and disguised 15 in the form of such ænigmata. In such a stile of composition rendered [most] venerable by the purposes to which it has been applied John Bunyan however uneducated was a distinguished Master. It is said by Mr D'Israeli with the warm approbation of Mr Southey that he was the Spe[aker] of the common people and our part we are inclined to allow him in the simplicity of his story and his very shrewdness and if the reader pleases vulgarity of stile and when advantages of no [¿] [weight] which considering both writers as allegorists may in some respect counter balanced the advantages of a mind fraught with education a head full of poetick flight and talent in a word the various unutterable difference between the friend of Sidney and of Raleigh the fascinating poet of fairy Land and the obscure n of Elstow the self erected holder forth to the ana: baptists of Bedford. Each told a tale expressive of the progress of Religion and morality under the guize in the case of Spenser of a romance of chivalry while that of Bunyan resembles the outline of a popular fairy tale with its ma chinery of giants dwarfs and and enchanters So far they resembled each other and as the s[¿]y must allow the scholar the advantage of a richer imagi nation and a taste incalculably more cultivated then he may in re turn claim over him the superiority due to a more simple and better concocted plan from which he suffered no tempting opportunity to lead him astray. This will appear more evident if we observe that Spencer the first book perhaps excepted in which he has traced in the adventures of the Redcross Knight with considerable accuracy the history and changes in the Christian has in other cantos suffered his story to lead him astray from his moral and engages his Knights by whom we are to understand the abstract virtues in tilts and tournaments not to be easily reconciled with the explanation of the allegory What are we to understand by Britomart overthrowing Arthegal if we regard the Lady as the representative of chastity and the Knight as that of justice and many [ri]ddles of the same would be most easily poin: ted out & readers will sometimes feel that those passages of the poem are some times are not the least amusing in which Spenser forgets his allegory and becomes a romancer like Ariosto But besides the Allegory by which Spenser designs to present the pageant of the Moral virtues assigning a Knight as the representative of each virtue by whom should be curbed and overthrown the vices and appetites which oppose themselves to the same, Spenser embodied in his story a second and political allegory. Not only is Gloriana the imaginary concentration of the Glory sought by every true Kinght she is also Queen Elizabeth not only does King Arthur present the spirit and Essence of pure Chivalry he is also Spenser's (unworthy) patron the Earl of Leicester and and many of the adventures which describe encounters between the Knights and the vices also shadow forth anecdotes and intrigues of the English court invisible to those as Spencer himself insinuates Who n'ote without a hound fine footing trace This complication of meanings may render the Fairy Queen valuable to captivity and Transfer to the back of p 17 PLXXXVIII Note “The vulgarism alluded to” says the Laureate &c to line 3d of [¿]“a been smothered”. Under Mr Southeys favour however this is a fault in orthography rather than as one in grammar. A in the case quoted is simply a mode of spelling the auxiliary [Have] and the Author meant it as if he had written “might have made [¿] like had” or like to have been smothered” His mode of speaking and writing was allowed by a simple process. The word have owing At the House of Gaius for example the wine as red as blood the milk “well-crumb'd” the apples and nuts but the carving of the table and or dering of the salt and trenchers have each their especial and typical meaning & while the reader hears of the entertainment of Dr Patrick he seems to feed at that which Bunyan so naturally describes and to hear the instructions of the worthy Host footnote Pilgrims Progress p. 344 16 antiquary who can discern the real or double meaning of his allegory But it must always be an objection to Spencers plan with the common reader that an attempt at too much ingenuity has marred the simplicity of his allegory & deprived in a great degree of consistency and coherence. In this essential point the poet is greatly inferior to the prose allegorist Indeed they write with a different idea of the importance of the subject Spencer desired no doubt to aid the cause of Virtue but it was in the character of a cold and unimpassioned moralist easily seduced from that part of his task by the desire to pay a compliment to some courtier or some lady or the mere wish to give a wider scope to his own fancy. Bunyan on the contrary in recommending to his readers those religious opinions which he thought essential to salvation was d[¿]ing to turn the most sacred task which [life] could the task for which he had lived through poverty and was we are convinced prepared to have died. To gain the favour of Charles and all his court he would not we are confident have guided Christian one foot off the narrow and strait path, and lies his excellence above Spencers that his powerful thoughts are all directed to one solemn end and his fertile imagination taxed for everything which could life and vivacity to his narrative vigour and consistency to his allegory. His every thought is turned to strengthen and confirm the reasoning on which his argument depends. And nothing is more admirable than the acuteness of that fancy with which still keeping eye on his principal purpose Bunyan contrives to extract from the slightest particulars the means of kee ping in view and fortifying his meaning. Let us for example compare Bunyan to a good man but a common [¿] author Dr Patrick the author of the rival work. His Pilgrim in the 32n Chap ter falls in with a company of “select friends who were met [¿] at a frugal 9 but handsome dinner This incident suggests to the worthy guide the praises of sociable mirth restrained by temperance and sobriety. Bun yan has occasion to mention an entertainment and instead of the gene: rality of Patrick every dish which he places on the table is in itself a scrip tural parable and the precise nature of the refreshment while described with the vivacious seeming accuracy of Le Sage or Cervantes is found on referring to the texts of scripture indicated to have an explicit connection with the sacred text to which they contain a typical allusion Unquestionably this desire to keep to k[¿] [too] close to the metaphor and hunt it as were down sometimes may be held trifling and tedious But it is a better fault than a degree of negligence which should neglect the plan so as to render the allegory confused and doubtful The Parable of the Pilgrims Progress is of course tinged with the tenets of the author who might be called a Calvinist in every respect save his aversion to the Institution of a regular and ordained clergy. To these tenets he has of course adap the pilgrimage of Christian in the events told and opinions expressed, but the work is by no means of a controversial turn. the final condemnati=on Take in passage in circumflex on back of p. 16. We must not here omit to mention the valuable restorations of the [original text by which Mr Southey has restored so much of the masculine language and idiomatical English which had been gradually dropped out of successive impressions by careless or unfaithfull correctors of the press.] 17 nation of Igorance who is consigned to the infernal regions when asking admittance to the Celestial City though unable to produce a certificate of his calling expresses the same severe doctrines respecting fatality which had been for a time the torment of Bunyan himself. This is indeed in [¿]y s[ense] a theology the Serb[i]nian Bog where armies whole have sunk and which a human [reader] is unable to fathom its mystery we cannot think a safe a prudent study for human wisdom. But the work is not of a controversial character might be perused without offence by sober-minded christians of all persuasions and in consequence it is read universally and has been transla ted into many languages. It indeed appears from many passages in Bunyans works that there was nothing which he dreaded so much as divisions amongst sincere Christians and he has left his testimony against those names by which Even when engaged in controversy he expressed this sentiment Life p LXXVII line 13 “Since you would know &c till end of ∫ know them by their fruits.” Mr Southey notices with what general accuracy this Apostle of the people writes the English language notwithstanding all the disadvantages which which his youth must h[¿] Mr Southey only notices one gross and repeated error Have owing to the frequent conversion of the v into the u pronounced haue or Ha as Hu' done for Have [done] or the like. When to this desire we add c[onfusion] of the aspirate a very frequent change we pro nounce I a done instead of I ha' done or I h[un] done This is inaccurate [mode] of pronouncing and spelling the word, inconvenient also because it leads to confusion between A the article and the same letter used for Have the auxiliary with which to form the preterperfect. But the mode of writing is not ungrammatical. The speedy popularity of the Pilgrims Progress while it grati fied Bunyans feeling as an author had the effect of inducing him again to indulge the vein of allegory in which his warm imagination and clear and forcible ex pression had procured him such success. Under this impression Bunyan produced the Second party of his pilgrims and well says Mr Southey that none but those who have acquired the ill habit of always reading critically can feel it as a clog upon the first. The first part is indeed one of those delight fully simple and interesting tales which when finished we are not unwilling to begin again Even the adult becomes himself like the child who cannot be satisfied [¿] the repetition of a favourite tale but harasses the story-telling aunt or nurse to know more of the incidents and characters and ruminates over the original tale with more delight when he can ex[tend] an account of further incidents or further characters added to the [scene]. In this respect Bunyan has contrived a contrast which far from exhausting his “There is a pleasure” says the learned Editor “in travelling with a nother companyon the same ground — a pleasure Reminiscence neither inferior in kind or degree from that which is derived from a first impression. The characters are judiciously marked. [Had a] Bunyan however added another work to those by which he was already distinguished. This was the “Holy war made by King Shaddai upon Diabolus for the regaining of the Metropolis of the World; Or the losing and reta= taking of Mansoul.” In this allegory the Fall of Man is intimated un der the type of a flourishing city reduced under the tyranny of the Giant Diabolus or the Prince of Evil and recovered after a tedious Siege by Imma= nuel the Son of L[ord] Shaddai founder and true lord the city. A late reverend Editor of this has said that Mr Bunyan was better qualified than most ministers to treat this subject with propriety having been himself a soldier and knowing by experience the evils and hardships of war. He displ throughout his accurate knowledge of the Bible and its distinguishing doctrines, his deep acquaintance with the human heart and its desperate wickedness his knowledge of the devices of Satan and of the prejudices of the carnal mind against the gospel * To this panegyric we * Burder's Edition of entirely subscribe except that we do not see that Mr Bun the Holy War 18[2] =yan has made much use of any military know: lege which he possessed Mansoul is attackd by mounts slings and battering rams weapons out of date at the time of our civil wars and we can only trace the authors warlike occupations from his referring to the Points of war then performed as Boot and saddle horse and away & so forth. Indeed not having the folio edition of his works we know not how long he was a sol: dier of the parliament The greatest risk which he incured in his milita capacity was one somewhat resembling the escape of Sir Roger de Coverleys ancestor at Worcester who was saved from the slaughter of that action by having been absent from the field. In like manner Bunyan having been appointed to attend at the siege of Lancaster a fellow soldier volunteered to perform the service in his stead and was there slain. Mr Burder calls upon us the singular propriety of the names assigned to the characters introduced an art in which Bunyan exceeded all other authors Upon the whole though the Holy war be a work of great ingenuity it wants the simplicity and interest which is the charm of the Pilgrims Progress. 18. ) his subject opens new sources of interest and adds to the original impression. The pilgrimage of Christiana her friend Mercy and her children are at least as interest ing as those of Christian himself and it material adds to the interest which we have taken in the progress of the husband to trace the effects produced by events similar to those we meet with when women and children are subjected to the same contingencies. of Mercy is particularly [¿] with an ad mirable grace and simplicity nor do we read of any with equal interest excepting [the] of Ruth in scripture — A modest humility regarding her own [¿] and a [¿] veneration for the matron Christiana which display themselves with much grace on every occasion. The distinctions which form a contrast between the first and second part of the Pilgrims Progress are such as circumstances render appropri ate and John Bunyans strong mother wit enabled him to seize upon correctly Christian for example a man and a bold one is represented as enduring his fatigues trials and combats by his own stout courage under the blessing of Heaven [¿] but to express that species of inspired valour by which women are supported in the path of duty notwithstanding the natural feebleness and timidity of Man Christiana and Mercy obtain from the Interpreter their guide called Great Heart by whose d strength and valour their lack of both is supplied and the dangers and dis tresses of the way repelled and overcome. The author hints at the end of the second part as if “it might be his lot to go this way again nor was his that light species of talent which could be ex: hausted by two crops. But he left to another and very inferior hand the task of composing a third part containing the adventures of one Tender Conscience but far unworthy to be bound up as it sometimes is with John Bunyans matchless Parable + In these observations we have never touched upon Bunyans poetry an omission for which the Good man had he been alive would scarce have thanked us for he had a considerable opinion of his gift that way though his present Editor himself a distinguished poet is of opinion that John modelled his verses upon those of Robert Wisdom a degree more prosaic than the effusions of Sternhold and Hopkins. His mechanical education and original [¿] prevented his access to better models & of verse he knew nothing but the necessity of tagging verses of a certain length with very slovenly [rhimes]. Mr Southey has revived some specimens of verses written by Bunyan with great self approbat tion doubtless upon the leaves of Foxs Book of Martyrs These “Tinkers tetrastics as Southey calls them may rank in idea & expression with the basest doggrel. The author has soard beyond Robert Wisdom when he was able to express thus in recommendation of the Pilgrims Progress. [Authors Apology p.9. line 9 Wouldst thou divert thyself to end of [verse] head and heart together”. In these lines which lies open in a critical age like the present [6] 19 though carelessly and roughly formed there are both ideas and powers of ex pression. Another little sonnet taken in connect[¿]ion with the scene of Repose in the prose narrative has a simplicity which approaches ele= gance with the exquisite piece of [¿]n occurring in the entrance of the Pilgrim into the valley of Humiliation. [pilgrims progress p. 211 Now as they were going along &c down to p. 212 six lines from bottom “silk and velvet” We must not omit to mention that this scene of Humili ation is illustrated by one of the very clever wooden cuts by which as by a branch of Cut peculiarly suited to ornament letter press than a new edition of Pilgrims progress is adorned. Thus decorated and recommended by the taste and criticism of Mr Southey there is little doubt that this established favourite of the Public should be well in its new garb. As however it contains many passages eminently faulty in point of taste as indeed from the origin and situation of the author was naturally to be expected we should not be surprized that it should be more coldly received A dead fly can corrupt a precious elixir an obvious fault against taste especially if it be of a kind to lively ridicule will cancel the merit of wit beauty and sublimity and so we would not be surprized should the Pilgrims Progress be considered as out of fa: shion vulgar and unworthy of regard Still John Bunyans parable must be dear to many as to us from the recollection that in youth we were endued with permission to peruse it in at times when all studies of a nature merely entertaining were prohibited. We re= member with interest the passages where we stumble betwixt the literal story metaphorical explanation and can even remember a more simple and ear =ly period when Grim and Slaygood and even he whose castle's Doubting and whose names despair were to us as literal as those destroyed by Giant Killing Jack. Those who can recollect the early development of their own ideas on such subjects will many of them at the same time remember the reading of this work as the first task which gave exercize to the mind before their taste grown too fastidious for enjoyment taught them to be more disgusted with a single error than delighted with one hundred beauties. End. 32 IV Phaedon — 31/34 (6) In like manner, the question being asked, What is that, which, being in the body, will give it life? — we must answer — It is the soul. The soul when it lays hold of any body, always arrives bringing with it life. Now death is the contrary of life. Accordingly the soul which always brings with it life, will never receive the contrary of life. In other words, it is deathless or immortal.(a) O 35 (8) Such is the ground upon which Sokrates rests his belief in the immortality of the soul. The doctrine reposes, in Plato's view, upon the assumption of eternal, self-existent, unchangeable, Ideas or Forms(b) —r & upon the congeniality of nature, & inherent correlation, between these Ideas & the Soul — upon the fact, that the soul knows these Ideas, which knowledge must have been acquired in a prior state of existence — & upon the essential participation of the soul in the Idea of Life, so that it cannot be conceived as without life, or as dead.q (c) The immortality of the soul is conceived as necessary & entire, including not merely post-existence but also pre-existence. In fact the reference to an anterior time is more essential to Plato's theory than that to a posterior time; because it is employed to explain the cognitions of the mind, and the identity of learning with reminiscences: while Simmias, who even at the close is not without reserve on the subject of the post-existence, proclaims an emphatic adhesion on that of the preexistence.v (d) The proof moreover, being founded in great part on the Idea of Life, embraces every thing living, & is common to animals(e) s (if not to plants) as well as to men: and the metempsychosis, or transition of souls not merely from one human body to another but also from the human to the animal body & vice versâ, is a portion of the Platonic creed. 36 (8) Having completed his demonstration of the immortality of the soul, Sokrates proceeds to give a sketch MS 42543 (a)o Plato Phaedon. p. 105 C. [¿] [¿] [¿] [¿] [¿] [¿] [¿] [¿] [¿] [¿] [¿] Nemesius, the Christian Bishop of Emesa, declares that the proofs given by Plato of the immortality of the soul are knotty & difficult to understand, such as even adepts in philosophical study can hardly follow. His own belief in it he rests upon the inspiration of the Christian Scriptures (Nemesius de Nat. Homin. c. 2. p. 55. ed 1505).This written about 1862-1863. H. G. (b)r Plato Phaedon p 76 — D — E. p. 100 B.C. It is remarkable that in the Republic also, Sokrates undertakes to demonstrate the immortality of the soul: & that in doing so, he does not make any reference or allusion to the arguments used in the Phaedon but produces another argument totally distinct & novel: an argument which Meiners remarks truly to be quite peculiar to Plato — Republic. XX. 609 [¿] 611C. meiners — Geschichte der Wissenschaften — vol. II p. 780. (e)S See what Sokrates says about the swans — Phaedon p. 85 A-B. (c) Zeller — Geschichte der Griech. Philos. Part II. p. 267. V “Die Seele ist ihrem Begriffe nach dasjenige, zu dessen Wesen “es gehört, zu leben — sie kann also in keinem Augenblicke als “nichtlebend gedacht werden: In diesen ontologischen Beweis “für die Unsterblichkeit, laufen nicht bloss alle die einzelnen “Beweise des Phaedon zusammen, sondern derselbe wird auch shon in Phaedrus vorgetragen &c compare Phaedrus. p. 245 Hegel, in his Geschichte der Philosophie (Part II. p.186-87) — 189. ed. 2) maintains that Plato did not conceive the soul as a separate thing or reality — that he did not mean to affirm, in the literal sense of the words, its separate existence either before or after the present life — that he did not descend to so crude a conception (zu dieser Rohheit herabzusinken) (d) r Plato Phaedon. p. 92 D. p. 107 B as to represent to himself the soul as a thing, or to enquire into its duration or continuance, after the manner of a thing — that Plato understood the soul to exist essentially as the Universal Notion or Idea, the comprehensive aggregate of all other Ideas, in which sense he affirmed it to be immortal — that the descriptions which Plato gives of its conditions either before life or after death are to be treated only as poetical metaphors. — There is ingenuity in this view of Hegel & many separate expressions of Plato receive light from it: but it appears to me to refine away too much Plato had in his own mind & belief both the soul as a particular thing & the soul as an universal. His language implies sometimesthe one, sometimes the other.