CHAPTER 6.

De Quincey's Rekolekshonz.-1790-1802.

The "Autobeiografikal Skechez" ov Thomas de Quincey kontain an interesting notis ov Clowes, at the later part ov the sentiuri, hwen he woz between fifti and siksti yearz ov aje, and had been upwardz ov therti yearz in hiz rektori at Manchester. De Quincey woz then a cheild, having been born in 1785. Hiz muther, a veri relijus and orthodoks person, had, bei chans, inveited tu her hous a ladi whoze personal charmz and briliant talents wer, unhapili, kombeind with the most daring and avoud infideliti. Hou she and the peius Clowes kame tugether under the same roof iz thus related:

"Mei muther litel gest hwot sort ov a person she had askt intu her famili. So much, houever, she had understud, that Mrs Lee woz a bold thinker; and that, for a wuman, she had an astonishing komand ov theolojikal lerning. This sujested that klerikal invitashonz wud be leikli tu furnish the most apropriet soseieti. But this led tu a painful rezult. It meit eazili hav hapend that a veri lerned klerjiman shud not speshiali hav kwolifeid himself for a theolojikal turnament: and mei muther'z ranje ov akwaintans woz not veri ekstensiv amungst the klerikal bodi. But ov theze, the two leaderz, az regarded publik konsiderashon, wer Mr H—, mei gardian, and Mr Clowes, the rektor ov St John's Church in Manchester, whoze golden jubilee az pastor woz selebrated meni yearz after, with much demonstrativ ekspreshon ov publik simpathi on the part ov universal Manchester. No men kud hav been found who wer les fited tu akt az championz in a diuel on behalf ov Kristianiti. Mr H— woz dredfuli komonplase; dul, dredfuli dul; and bei the nesesiti ov hiz natiur, inkapabel ov beïng in dedli ernest, hwich hiz splendid antagonist at all teimz woz. Hiz enkounter, therefor, with Mrs Lee prezented the distresing spektakel ov an old, toothles, mumbling mastif, feiting for the houshold tu hwich he owed alejans, agenst a yung lepardes fresh from the forests. Everi tuch from her, everi velveti paw, drew blud. And sumthing komik mingeld with hwot mei muther felt tu be paramount trajedi. Far diferent woz Mr Clowes: holi, vizhonari, apostolik, he kud not be treated disrespektfuli. No man kud denei him a kwolifeid homej. But for eni polemik servis he wonted the taste,

the training, and the partikiular sort ov eriudishon rekweird. Neither wud such advantejez, if he had hapend tu pozés them, hav at all availd him in a kase leik this. Horor, blank horor, seezd him upon seeing a wuman, a yung wuman, a wuman ov kaptivating biuti, whom God had adornd so eminentli with gifts ov person and ov meind, breathing sentiments that tu him seemd fresh from the mintej ov hel. He kud hav apostrofeizd her (az long afterwardz he himself told me,) in the wurdz ov Shakspere's Juliet,

Biutiful teirant! feend anjelikal!

for he woz wun ov thoze who never think ov Kristianiti az the subjekt ov defens. Kud sunshein, kud leit, kud the gloriz ov the dawn, kall for defens? Not az a thing tu be defended, but az a thing tu be interpreted, az a thing tu be iluminated, did Kristianiti ekzist for him. He, therefor, woz even more unservisabel az a champion agenst the deliberet impeacher ov Kristian evidensez than mei reverend gardian.

"Thus it woz that he himself eksplaind hiz own pozishon, in after dayz, hwen ei had reacht mei siksteenth year, and vizited him on termz ov frendship az klose az kan ever hav ekzisted between a boi and a man alredi gray-heded. Him and hiz noizles parsonaje, the pensiv abode ov siksti yearz ov relijus reveri and ankoreitish self-deneial, ei hav deskreibd further on. In sum limited sens he belongz tu our literatiur; for he woz, in fakt, the introdiuser ov Swedenborg tu this kuntri. Tu say thát ov Mr Clowes woz, until lateli, but anuther way ov deskreibing him az a deliriüs dreamer. At prezent (1853), ei preziúm the reader tu be aware that Cambridge haz, within the last four yearz, unseteld and even revolushoneizd our estimate ov Swedenborg az a filosofer. Thát man, indeed, whom Emerson ranks az wun amungst hiz iner konsistori ov intelektual potentates, kanot be the absolute treifler that Kant (who niú him onli bei the most trivial ov hiz pretenshonz) eighti yearz ago, supozed him. Ashuredli, Mr Clowes woz no treifler, but livd habitiuali a leif ov pouer, tho in a wurld ov relijus mistisizm and ov Apokaliptik vizhonz."

A leif ov pouer seemz hardli in keeping with the komon noshon ov mistisizm. Clowes woz no more a mistik, in the vulgar sens, than he woz a treifler. He beleevd in the nearnes and influens ov the spiritiual wurld and its inhabitants, but not apart from the aktiv ekzershon ov reazon and komon sens.

Anuther and more partikiular deskripshon ov the rektor and

rektori ov St John's iz given in De Quincey's Literari Reminisensez; hwere Clowes iz thus deskreibd:

"He woz the most spiritiual-luking, the most saintli in outward aspekt, ov all hiuman beingz whom ei hav nón throughout leif. He woz rather tall, pale and thin; the most unfleshli, the most ov a sublimated spirit dweling alredi more than half in sum piurer wurld, that a poet kud hav imajind. He woz alredi ajed hwen ei ferst niú him, a klerjiman ov the Church ov England; hwich may seem stranje in konekshon with hiz Swedenborjianizm; but he woz houever so. He woz rektor ov a larj parish in a larj toun, the more aktiv diutiz ov hwich parish wer discharjd bei hiz kiuret; but much ov the diutiz within the church wer stil discharjd bei himself, and with such eksemplari zeal, that hiz parishonerz afterwardz selebrating the fiftieth aniversari or golden jubilee ov hiz apointment tu the living, went further than iz uzhual in giving a publik ekspreshon and a permanent shape to their sentiments ov luv and venerashon. Ei am surpreizd, on reflekshon, that this venerabel klerjiman shud hav been unvizited bei Episkopal senshur. Houever, mei frend kontiniud unvekst for a gud deal more than fifti yearz, enjoiing thát peas, eksternal az wel az internal, hwich, bei so eminent a teitel, belongd tu a spirit so evanjelikali meek and duv-leik.

"Ei menshon him cheefli for the sake ov deskreibing hiz interesting hous and hous-hold, so diferent from all hwich belong tu this trubeld aje; and hiz impresiv steil ov living. The hous seemd almost monastik, and yet it stud in the senter ov wun ov the larjest, biziest, noiziest tounz in England; and the hole hous-hold seemd tu hav stept out ov their plasez in sum Vandyke, or sum Titian piktiur, from a forgoten sentiuri and anuther kleimet. On noking at the door, hwich ov itself seemd an outraje tu the spirit ov kweietnes hwich brooded over the plase, you wer reseevd bei an anshent man-servant in the sober liveri hwich belongd tradishonali tu Mr Clowes's famili; for he woz ov a jentelman'z desént, and had had the most finisht ediukashon ov a jentelman. An anshent houskeeper woz ekwali venerabel, ekwali jentel in her deportment, kweiet in her moovments, and inaudibel in her tred. Wun or uther ov theze uper domestiks usherd wun intu sum room ekspresing bei its furnitiur, its piktiurz, and its kulord windowz, the solem trankwiliti hwich, for half a sentiuri, had reignd in thát manshon. Amung the piktiurz ther woz more than wun ov St John, the beluved

aposel, bei Italian masterz. Neither the featiurz nor the ekspreshon wer veri weid ov Mr Clowes's own kountenans; and wun meit hav imajind eazili, that the piur, saintli, and cheild-leik evanjelist had been wnns agen rekalld tu this erth, and this most kweiet ov manshonz woz sum sel in the eiland ov Patmos. A krouning ornament tu the leibrari, or prinsipal room, woz, a sweet-toned organ, at hwich mei venerabel frend redili sat doun and performd the miuzik ov anthemz az often az ei askt him, sumteimz akumpaniing it with hiz vois, hwich woz tremiulus from old aje, but neither orijinali unmiuzikal nor (az meit be perseevd) untraind.

"Often from the stormz and uproarz ov this wurld, ei hav lukt bak upon this most kweiet, and ei beleev most inosent abode, (had ei sed saintli, ei shud hardli hav erd,) konekting it in thought with the famus manshon ov the Farrars."

De Quincey iz puzeld with the fakt that "wun so much adornd bei all the akomplishments ov a hei-bred jentelman, and wun so truli peius," shud fall intu hwot he deskreibz az "the grossnes, almost the sensiualiti, hwich apearz tu beseej the vizhonz ov Swedenborg." He imajinz that Clowes led the leif ov a hermit, and in the absens ov eni insident tu releev the monotoni ov hiz daili meditashonz, "he rezorted tu Swedenborgreluktantli, perhaps, at the ferst-az tu a buk ov fairi talez konekted with hiz profeshonal studiz. And wun thing ei am bound tu ad, in kandor, hwich may hav had its weight with him, that more than wuns, on kazhiuali turning over a volium ov Swedenborg, ei hav sertenli found most kiuriüs and felisitus pasejez ov koment-pasejez hwich ekstrakted a briliant meaning from numberz, serkumstansez, or trivial insidents, aparentli without signifikashon or objekt, and gave tu thingz without a plase or a habitashon in the kritik's regard, a valiu az heieroglifiks or kriptikal seiferz hwich struk me az elaboretli injenius. This aknolejment ei make, not so much in praiz ov Swedenborg, whom ei must stil kontiniu to think a madman, az in ekskiús for Mr Clowes."

We hav seen in a previüs paje, that this opinion woz chanjed; but it iz tu be regreted that De Quincey's hei opinion ov the piur meind ov Clowes shud not hav indiúst him tu investigate the supozed "grossnes and sensiualiti" ov a sistem ov hwich he woz the cheef promulgater.

If in "kazhiuali turning over a volium," he found “briliant meaning," hwere least ekspekted, meit not the "

gross and

sensiual" pasejez-hwich ar also found in the Holi Skriptiurz themselvz-be also kapabel ov a beter and piurer interpretashon? St John himself, akording tu a peius reiter, iz open tu the same reproach az Swedenborg. "The Niu Jerusalem," sez Dr Davidson, () "iz a piktiur ov the Old, gorjusli renovated and adornd; showing that the Seer kud not divest himself ov hiz narow and sensiuus eideaz." The defekt is not in the Seerz, but in thoze who see not. Thoze who ar akwainted with Swedenborg's reitingz need not be remeinded that the "vizhonz" form but a veri small part ov them. The prinsipal wurk iz an Ekspozishon ov the hiden spiritiual meaning ov the Buks ov Jenesis and Eksodus-buks in hwich may be found abundans ov grossnes and sensiualiti," if taken mereli in the "plain and obviüs sens," but hwich, he showz, kontain Arcana Cœlestia ov divein wizdom.

Clowes, tho keindli interested in the yung De Quincey, duz not apear tu hav found in him eni relish for heier than erthli seiens. "Never in wun instans did he seek tu beias mei opinionz in this direkshon. Upon everi uther subjekt he trusted me konfidenshiali, and, notwithstanding mei boiish yearz, az hiz ekwal. Hiz regard for me, hwen thrown bei aksident in hiz way, had arizen upon hiz notis ov mei fervent simplisiti and mei uniuzhual thoughtfulnes. Upon theze merits ei had gaind the onorabel distinkshon ov a jeneral invitashon tu hiz hous, without eksepshon as tu dayz and ourz, hwen fiu utherz kud boast ov eni admishon at all. The komon ground on hwich we met woz literatiur-more espeshiali the Greek and Roman literatiur; and much he ekzerted himself, in a spirit ov the piurest kurtesi, tu meet mei animashon upon theze themez. But the interest on hiz part woz too evidentli a sekondari interest in me, for whom he talkt, and not in the subjekt. He spoke much from memori, az it wer, ov thingz that he had wuns felt, and litel from immediet simpathi with the author: and his animashon woz artifishial, tho hiz kurtesi, hwich prompted the efort, woz the truest and most unafekted posibel." Probabli the gud man, so ful ov heier thoughts than ever enterd the meindz ov Greeks and Romanz, and hard prest tu get through the laborz akiumiulating upon him, had tu uze sum self-deneial tu giv hiz atenshon tu this bukish boi.

"The konekshon between us," he kontiniuz, "must hav been interesting tu an obzerver, for, tho ei kanot say with Words(1) "Introdukshon tu the Studi ov the Niu Testament."