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ss; the stony water…worn ascent of which is not to be accomplished on horseback。 Arrived aloft; he finds himself again lifted into the evening sunset light; and cannot but pause; and gaze round him; some moments there。 An upland irregular expanse of wold; where valleys in complex branchings are suddenly or slowly arranging their descent towards every quarter of the sky。 The mountain…ranges are beneath your feet; and folded together: only the loftier summits look down here and there as on a second plain; lakes also lie clear and earnest in their solitude。 No trace of man now visible; unless indeed it were he who fashioned that little visible link of Highway; here; as would seem; scaling the inaccessible; to unite Province with Province。 But sunwards; lo you! how it towers sheer up; a world of Mountains; the diadem and centre of the mountain region! A hundred and a hundred savage peaks; in the last light of Day; all glowing; of gold and amethyst; like giant spirits of the wilderness; there in their silence; in their solitude; even as on the night when Noah's Deluge first dried! Beautiful; nay solemn; was the sudden aspect to our Wanderer。 He gazed over those stupendous masses with wonder; almost with longing desire; never till this hour had he known Nature; that she was One; that she was his Mother and divine。 And as the ruddy glow was fading into clearness in the sky; and the Sun had now departed; a murmur of Eternity and Immensity; of Death and of Life; stole through his soul; and he felt as if Death and Life were one; as if the Earth were not dead; as if the Spirit of the Earth had its throne in that splendor; and his own spirit were therewith holding communion。
〃The spell was broken by a sound of carriage…wheels。 Emerging from the hidden Northward; to sink soon into the hidden Southward; came a gay Barouche…and…four: it was open; servants and postilions wore wedding favors: that happy pair; then; had found each other; it was their marriage evening! Few moments brought them near: _Du Himmel_! It was Herr Towgood andBlumine! With slight unrecognizing salutation they passed me; plunged down amid the neighboring thickets; onwards; to Heaven; and to England; and I; in my friend Richter's words; _I remained alone; behind them; with the Night_。〃
Were it not cruel in these circumstances; here might be the place to insert an observation; gleaned long ago from the great _Clothes…Volume_; where it stands with quite other intent: 〃Some time before Small…pox was extirpated;〃 says the Professor; 〃there came a new malady of the spiritual sort on Europe: I mean the epidemic; now endemical; of View…hunting。 Poets of old date; being privileged with Senses; had also enjoyed external Nature; but chiefly as we enjoy the crystal cup which holds good or bad liquor for us; that is to say; in silence; or with slight incidental commentary: never; as I compute; till after the _Sorrows of Werter_; was there man found who would say: Come let us make a Description! Having drunk the liquor; come let us eat the glass! Of which endemic the Jenner is unhappily still to seek。〃 Too true!
We reckon it more important to remark that the Professor's Wanderings; so far as his stoical and cynical envelopment admits us to clear insight; here first take their permanent character; fatuous or not。 That Basilisk…glance of the Barouche…and…four seems to have withered up what little remnant of a purpose may have still lurked in him: Life has become wholly a dark labyrinth; wherein; through long years; our Friend; flying from spectres; has to stumble about at random; and naturally with more haste than progress。
Foolish were it in us to attempt following him; even from afar; in this extraordinary world…pilgrimage of his; the simplest record of which; were clear record possible; would fill volumes。 Hopeless is the obscurity; unspeakable the confusion。 He glides from country to country; from condition to condition; vanishing and reappearing; no man can calculate how or where。 Through all quarters of the world he wanders; and apparently through all circles of society。 If in any scene; perhaps difficult to fix geographically; he settles for a time; and forms connections; be sure he will snap them abruptly asunder。 Let him sink out of sight as Private Scholar (_Privatsirender_); living by the grace of God in some European capital; you may next find him as Hadjee in the neighborhood of Mecca。 It is an inexplicable Phantasmagoria; capricious; quick…changing; as if our Traveller; instead of limbs and highways; had transported himself by some wishing…carpet; or Fortunatus' Hat。 The whole; too; imparted emblematically; in dim multifarious tokens (as that collection of Street…Advertisements); with only some touch of direct historical notice sparingly interspersed: little light…islets in the world of haze! So that; from this point; the Professor is more of an enigma than ever。 In figurative language; we might say he becomes; not indeed a spirit; yet spiritualized; vaporized。 Fact unparalleled in Biography: The river of his History; which we have traced from its tiniest fountains; and hoped to see flow onward; with increasing current; into the ocean; here dashes itself over that terrific Lover's Leap; and; as a mad…foaming cataract; flies wholly into tumultuous clouds of spray! Low down it indeed collects again into pools and plashes; yet only at a great distance; and with difficulty; if at all; into a general stream。 To cast a glance into certain of those pools and plashes; and trace whither they run; must; for a chapter or two; form the limit of our endeavor。
For which end doubtless those direct historical Notices; where they can be met with; are the best。 Nevertheless; of this sort too there occurs much; which; with our present light; it were questionable to emit。 Teufelsdrockh vibrating everywhere between the highest and the lowest levels; comes into contact with public History itself。 For example; those conversations and relations with illustrious Persons; as Sultan Mahmoud; the Emperor Napoleon; and others; are they not as yet rather of a diplomatic character than of a biographic? The Editor; appreciating the sacredness of crowned heads; nay perhaps suspecting the possible trickeries of a Clothes…Philosopher; will eschew this province for the present; a new time may bring new insight and a different duty。
If we ask now; not indeed with what ulterior Purpose; for there was none; yet with what immediate outlooks; at all events; in what mood of mind; the Professor undertook and prosecuted this world…pilgrimage;the answer is more distinct than favorable。 〃A nameless Unrest;〃 says he; 〃urged me forward; to which the outward motion was some momentary lying solace。 Whither should I go? My Loadstars were blotted out; in that canopy of grim fire shone no star。 Yet forward must I; the ground burnt under me; there was no rest for the sole of my foot。 I was alone; alone! Ever too the strong inward longing shaped Phantasms for itself: towards these; one after the other; must I fruitlessly wander。 A feeling I had; that for my fever…thirst there was and must be somewhere a healing Fountain。 To many fondly imagined Fountains; the Saint