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 in the work-room, and what they brought was very poor fare. Octavia suggested that they should club together to buy their food, and that each girl in turn should cook it. The long table was cleared, and a white cloth laid, and the food served nicely. Octavia brought over her own luncheon to eat with the girls, and, after the Grace had been sung, it was a pretty sight to see the sad, careworn faces of the children light up, as they sat round the table while she talked to them. Among other things, she learnt to scrub the floor, in order to teach the children to keep the work-room clean.

"A good many of the girls were older than Octavia and inclined to be insubordinate, but she very soon established order, and that without recourse to punishment. The girls had been accustomed to be fined for offences, and they were quite amazed when they found this was no longer the case. On one occasion they refused to scrub the work-tables, which was part of their daily duty. Immediately Octavia and her two younger sisters set to work to do the scrubbing, and soon the girls gave in. They had been fined for swearing, but the swearing soon ceased, and they sang hymns or nice songs. Octavia was their leader and companion in all that they did, and this sharing in their work, and yet leading the way, won them all to obey as well as to love her. Sometimes, on a Saturday afternoon, she would take her little group of workers for a walk to Hampstead Heath or Bishop's Wood. Her sister Gertrude remembers walking in Highgate Lane on a spring afternoon with Professor Owen, who was quietly explaining something about the mosses on Lord Mansfield's fence—all being very still—when, to her surprise, the hedge was broken open, and, with a burst of joy, who should leap down from the bank with a staff in her hand and a straw hat torn by the thicket but Octavia, followed by a troop of ragged toy-workers, happy and flushed, each with a lap full of blue-bells. Octavia stayed for a minute to speak to her sister and the Professor; then off they all went back into the wood and away towards Finchley.

"Schools were not what they are now, and Octavia was amazed at the ignorance of these girls. They quite believed that wolves and bears might be lurking in the woods; and they did


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284 used to think, with a weariness on my spirits, that I should have been happier and better if I had never seen Miss Havisham's face, and had risen to manhood content to be partners with Joe in the honest old forge. Many a time of an evening, when I sat alone looking at the fire, I thought, after all, there was no fire like the forge fire and the kitchen fire at home.

Yet Estella was so inseparable from all my restlessness and disquiet of mind, that I really fell into confusion as to the limits of my own part in its production. That is to say, supposing I had had no expectations, and yet had had Estella to think of, I could not make out to my satisfaction that I should have done much better. Now, concerning the influence of my position on others, I was in no such difficulty, and so I perceived—though dimly enough perhaps—that it was not beneficial to anybody, and, above all, that it was not beneficial to Herbert. My lavish habits led his easy nature into expenses that he could not afford, corrupted the simplicity of his life, and disturbed his peace with anxieties and regrets. I was not at all remorseful for having unwittingly set those other branches of the Pocket family to the poor arts they practised: because such littlenesses were their natural bent, and would have been evoked by anybody else, if I had left them slumbering. But Herbert's was a very different case, and it often caused me a twinge to think that I had done him evil service in crowding his sparsely-furnished chambers with incongruous upholstery work, and placing the canary-breasted Avenger at his disposal.

So now, as an infallible way of making little ease great ease, I began to contract a quantity of debt. I could hardly begin but Herbert must begin too, so he soon followed. At Startop's suggestion, we put ourselves down for election into a club called the Finches of the Grove: the object of which institution I have never divined, if it were not that the members should dine expensively once a fortnight, to quarrel among themselves as much as possible after dinner, and to cause six waiters to get drunk on the stairs. I know that these gratifying social ends were so

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Rh invariably accomplished, that Herbert and I understood nothing else to be referred to in the first standing toast of the society: which ran, "Gentlemen, may the present promotion of good feeling ever reign predominant among the Finches of the Grove."

The Finches spent their money foolishly (the Hotel we dined at was in Covent Garden), and the first Finch I saw when I had the honour of joining the Grove was Bentley Drummle: at that time floundering about town in a cab of his own, and doing a great deal of damage to the posts at the street corners. Occasionally, he shot himself out of his equipage head-foremost over the apron; and I saw him on one occasion deliver himself at the door of the Grove in this unintentional way—like coals. But here I anticipate a little, for I was not a Finch, and could not be, according to the sacred laws of the society, until I came of age.

In my confidence in my own resources, I would willingly have taken Herbert's expenses on myself; but Herbert was proud, and I could make no such proposal to him. So, he got into difficulties in every direction, and continued to look about him. When we gradually fell into keeping late hours and late company, I noticed that he looked about him with a desponding eye at breakfast-time; that he began to look about him more hopefully about mid-day; that he drooped when he came in to dinner; that he seemed to descry Capital in the distance, rather clearly, after dinner; that he all but realised Capital towards midnight; and that about two o'clock in the morning, he became so deeply despondent again as to talk of buying a rifle and going to America, with a general purpose of compelling buffaloes to make his fortune.

I was usually at Hammersmith about half the week, and when I was at Hammersmith I haunted Richmond: whereof separately by-and-bye. Herbert would often come to Hammersmith when I was there, and I think at those seasons his father would occasionally have some passing perception that the opening he was looking for had not appeared yet. But in the general tumbling up of the family, his tumbling out in life somewhere, was a thing to transact

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 itself somehow. In the meantime Mr. Pocket grew greyer, and tried oftener to lift himself out of his perplexities by the hair. While Mrs. Pocket tripped up the family with her footstool, read her book of dignities, lost her pocket-handkerchief, told us about her grandpapa, and taught the young idea how to shoot, by shooting it into bed whenever it attracted her notice.

As I am now generalising a period of my life with the object of clearing my way before me, I can scarcely do so better than by at once completing the description of our usual manners and customs at Barnard's Inn.

We spent as much money as we could, and got as little for it as people could make up their minds to give us. We were always more or less miserable, and most of our acquaintance were in the same condition. There was a gay fiction among us that we were constantly enjoying ourselves, and a skeleton truth that we never did. To the best of my belief, our case was in the last aspect a rather common one.

Every morning, with an air ever new, Herbert went into the City to look about him. I often paid him a visit in the dark back-room in which he consorted with an ink-jar, a hat-peg, a coal-box, a string-box, an almanack, a desk and stool, and a ruler; and I do not remember that I ever saw him do anything else but look about him. If we all did what we undertake to do, as faithfully as Herbert did, we might live in a Republic of the Virtues. He had nothing else to do, poor fellow, except at a certain hour of every afternoon to "go to Lloyd's"—in observance of a ceremony of seeing his principal, I think. He never did anything else in connection with Lloyd's that I could find out, except come back again. When he felt his case unusually serious, and that he positively must find an opening, he would go on 'Change at a busy time, and walk in and out, in a kind of gloomy country dance figure, among the assembled magnates. "For," says Herbert to me, coming home to dinner on one of those special occasions, "I find the truth to be, Handel, that an opening won't come to one, but one must go to itso I have been."

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AN ANCIENT RUNE

N the next day I rode on my bicycle to Peterhead, and walked on the pier. It was a bright clear day, and a fresh northern breeze was blowing. The fishing boats were ready to start at the turn of the tide; and as I came up the first of them began to pass out through the harbour mouth. Their movement was beautiful to see; at first slowly, and then getting faster as the sails were hoisted, till at last they swept through the narrow entrance, scuppers under, righting themselves as they swung before the wind in the open sea. Now and again a belated smacksman came hurrying along to catch his boat before she should leave the pier.

The eastern pier of Peterhead is guarded by a massive wall of granite, built in several steps or tiers, which breaks the fury of the gale. When a northern storm is on, it is a wild spot; the waves dash over it in walls of solid green topped with mountainous masses of foam and spray. But at present, with the July sun beating down, it was a vantage post from which to see the whole harbour and the sea without. I climbed up and sat on the top, looking on admiringly, and lazily smoked in quiet enjoyment. Presently I noticed some one very like Gormala come hurrying along the pier, and now and again crouching behind one of the mooring posts. I said nothing but kept an eye on her, for I supposed that she was at her usual game of watching some one.

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Rh If we had been less attached to one another, I think we must have hated one another regularly every morning. I detested the chambers beyond expression at that period of repentance, and could not endure the sight of the Avenger's livery: which had a more expensive and a less remunerative appearance then, than at any other time in the four-and-twenty hours. As we got more and more into debt, breakfast became a hollower and hollower form, and being on one occasion at breakfast-time threatened (by letter) with legal proceedings, "not unwholly unconnected," as my local paper might put it, "with jewellery," I went so far as to seize the Avenger by his blue collar and shake him off his feet—so that he was actually in the air, like a booted Cupid—for presuming to suppose that we wanted a roll.

At certain times—meaning at uncertain times, for they depended on our humour—I would say to Herbert, as if it were a remarkable discovery:

"My dear Herbert, we are getting on badly."

"My dear Handel," Herbert would say to me, in all sincerity, "if you will believe me, those very words were on my lips, by a strange coincidence."

"Then, Herbert," I would respond, "let us look into our affairs."

We always derived profound satisfaction from making an appointment for this purpose. I always thought this was business, this was the way to confront the thing, this was the way to take the foe by the throat. And I know Herbert thought so too.

We ordered something rather special for dinner, with a bottle of something similarly out of the common way, in order that our minds might be fortified for the occasion, and we might come well up to the mark. Dinner over, we produced a bundle of pens, a copious supply of ink, and a goodly show of writing and blotting paper. For, there was something very comfortable in having plenty of stationery.

I would then take a sheet of paper, and write across the top of it, in a neat hand, the heading, "Memorandum of Pip's debts;" with Barnard's Inn and the date very carefully added. Herbert would also take a sheet of paper,

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 not know the names of any of the flowers. It was afterwards arranged that Miranda should give the girls lessons for an hour or so each afternoon."

In 1854 Dr. Southwood Smith left Hillside and moved to Weybridge, where his grandchildren were always welcomed in the same loving way that they had been at Highgate.

But, before he could move, he was seized with a severe illness which necessitated an operation. A few weeks later his granddaughter Emily was attacked by scarlet fever, and her life was despaired of by two doctors. Then her grandfather, in spite of his weak state, came back to London, and saved her life; and when she could be removed, took her to Weybridge to watch over her convalescence. This of course withdrew her from the toy work, and threw more of the burden on Octavia. A year later her youngest sister Florence was also withdrawn from the work by ill-health, and taken to Italy by her aunt, Miss Emily Smith, who gave her loving care for six years. It was in the summer of 1855 that an expedition of the toy-workers into the country led to the formation of some important friendships. Mrs. Harrison, to whose house at Romford they were invited, was the sister of Mrs. Howitt, and she and her family became warm friends of Octavia's. Some of the letters given further on were written to Mary, the eldest daughter, who was very artistic.

But even more important was the friendship then formed with Miss Mary Harris, a member of the Society of Friends, who was a great deal older than Octavia, and whose calm, loving nature was a great rest to her. From the time they first met till 1893, when Miss Harris died, Octavia poured out more of her secret thoughts to her than to anyone else, and when they were away from each other wrote to her constantly.

On the occasion of this visit to Romford another guest was Mr. Ellis Yarnall, the American, whose letters to Lord Coleridge have lately been published. He recorded in his diary the following description of Miranda and Octavia.

"Some young ladies were expected, and with them about


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288 and write across it with similar formalities, "Memorandum of Herbert's debts."

Each of us would then refer to a confused heap of papers at his side, which had been thrown into drawers, worn into holes in pockets, half-burnt in lighting candles, stuck for weeks into the looking-glass, and otherwise damaged. The sound of our pens going refreshed us exceedingly, insomuch that I sometimes found it difficult to distinguish between this edifying business proceeding and actually paying the money. In point of meritorious character, the two things seemed about equal.

When we had written a little while, I would ask Herbert how he got on? Herbert probably would have been scratching his head in a most rueful manner at the sight of his accumulating figures.

"They are mounting up, Handel," Herbert would say; "upon my life they are mounting up."

"Be firm, Herbert," I would retort, plying my own pen with great assiduity. "Look the thing in the face. Look into your affairs. Stare them out of countenance."

"So I would, Handel, only they are staring me out of countenance."

However, my determined manner would have its effect, and Herbert would fall to work again. After a time he would give up once more, on the plea that he had not got Cobbs's bill, or Lobbs's, or Nobbs's, as the case might be.

"Then, Herbert, estimate; estimate it in round numbers, and put it down."

"What a fellow of resource you are!" my friend would reply, with admiration. "Really your business powers are very remarkable."

I thought so too. I established with myself, on these occasions, the reputation of a first-rate man of business—prompt, decisive, energetic, clear, cool-headed. When I had got all my responsibilities down upon my list, I compared each with the bill, and ticked it off. My self -approval when I ticked an entry was quite a luxurious sensation. When I had no more ticks to make, I folded all my bills up uniformly, docketed each on the back, and tied

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Rh Soon a tall man strode leisurely along, and from every movement of the woman I could see that he was the subject of her watching. He came near where I sat, and stood there with that calm unconcerned patience which is a characteristic of the fisherman.

He was a fine-looking fellow, well over six feet high, with a tangled mass of thick red-yellow hair and curly, bushy beard. He had lustrous, far-seeing golden-brown eyes, and massive, finely-cut features. His pilot-cloth trousers spangled all over with silver herring scales, were tucked into great, bucket-boots. He wore a heavy blue jersey and a cap of weazel skin. I had been thinking of the decline of the herring from the action of the trawlers in certain waters, and fancied this would be a good opportunity to get a local opinion. Before long I strolled over and joined this son of the Vikings. He gave it, and it was a decided one, uncompromisingly against the trawlers and the laws which allowed them to do their nefarious work. He spoke in a sort of old-fashioned, biblical language which was moderate and devoid of epithets, but full of apposite illustration. When he had pointed out that certain fishing grounds, formerly most prolific of result to the fishers, were now absolutely worthless he ended his argument:

"And, sure, good master, it stands to rayson. Suppose you be a farmer, and when you have prepared your land and manured it, you sow your seed and plough the ridges and make it all safe from wind and devastatin' storm. If, when the green corn be shootin' frae the airth, you take your harrow and drag it ath'art the springin' seed, where be then the promise of your golden grain?"

For a moment or two the beauty of his voice, the deep, resonant, earnestness of his tone and the magnificent, simple purity of the man took me away from the scene. He seemed as though I had looked him through and

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Rh the whole into a symmetrical bundle. Then I did the same for Herbert (who modestly said he had not my administrative genius), and felt that I had brought his affairs into a focus for him.

My business habits had one other bright feature, which I called "leaving a Margin." For example; supposing Herbert's debts to be one hundred and sixty-four pounds four-and-twopence, I would say, "Leave a margin, and put them down at two hundred." Or, supposing my own to be four times as much, I would leave a margin, and put them down at seven hundred. I had the highest opinion of the wisdom of this same Margin, but I am bound to acknowledge that on looking back, I deem it to have been an expensive device. For, we always ran into new debt immediately, to the full extent of the margin, and sometimes, in the sense of freedom and solvency it imparted, got pretty far on into another margin.

But there was a calm, a rest, a virtuous hush, consequent on these examinations of our affairs, that gave me, for the time, an admirable opinion of myself. Soothed by my exertions, my method, and Herbert's compliments, I would sit with his symmetrical bundle and my own on the table before me among the stationery, and feel like a Bank of some sort, rather than a private individual.

We shut our outer door on these solemn occasions in order that we might not be interrupted. I had fallen into my serene state one evening, when we heard a letter dropped through the slit in the said door, and fall on the ground. "It's for you, Handel," said Herbert, going out and coming back with it, "and I hope there is nothing the matter." This was in allusion to its heavy black seal and border.

The letter was signed, and its contents were simply, that I was an honoured sir, and that they begged to inform me that Mrs. J. Gargery had departed this life on Monday last at twenty minutes past six in the evening, and that my attendance was requested at the interment on Monday next at three o'clock in the afternoon.

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 twenty children, girls to whom they are teaching some decorative arts. The children played in the grounds; the young ladies (Miranda and Octavia) were with us at luncheon; and we had a great deal of talk about Mr. Ruskin, who is a friend of theirs. They described his eloquence as a speaker, his earnestness of manner, his changing countenance, even when he was silent, as though thoughts grave and gay were passing through his mind. It was plain to me that his strong intellect and bright fancy were having their true influence on these young persons, themselves highly gifted and altogether like-minded, eighteen and sixteen or thereabouts—sisters. I was astonished at the strength of intellect which they displayed. The talk of the elder one especially was, I think, more striking than that of any person of her age I ever knew. She reminded me of Corinne and other women of renown. What a pleasure it was to look at her fine face with the glow of enthusiasm upon it, and to wonder whether gifts like hers would not one day produce fruits which the world would value. Her description of the effect which the hearing of Beethoven's music on some late occasion had had upon her was an utterance of passionate feeling showing true poetic susceptibility.

"They are the granddaughters of Dr. Southwood Smith."

Towards the end of 1855 an important event took place, which led to Mrs. Hill's withdrawal from the Ladies' Guild. My father had been interested in Octavia's work for the Toy workers, and offered to take a Bible Class for them. The Theological Essays controversy was just then at burning point; and the ladies who had handed over the business part of the toy work, still considered that they had a right to interfere about the religious instruction of the children. These ladies were very Evangelical (as Evangelicalism went in those days) and they threatened to withdraw all pecuniary help and the support of the Ragged School Union, if my father was allowed to teach the girls. The managers of the business were so much alarmed at this threat that they asked my father to withdraw his offer. Mrs. Hill and her daughters were naturally very indignant at this; and Mrs. Hill's protests led to her losing


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18 through, and had found him to be throughout of golden worth. Possibly it was the imagery of his own speech and the colour which his eyes and hair and cap suggested, but he seemed to me for an instant as a small figure projected against a background of rolling upland clothed in ripe grain. Round his feet were massed the folds of a great white sheet whose edges faded into air. In a moment the image passed, and he stood before me in his full stature.

I almost gasped, for just behind him, where she had silently come, stood Gormala, gazing not at the fisherman but at me, with eyes that positively blazed with a sort of baleful eagerness. She was looking straight into my eyes; I knew it when I caught the look of hers.

The fisherman went on talking. I did not, however, hear what he was saying, for again some mysterious change had come over our surroundings. The blue sea had over it the mystery of the darkness of the night; the high noon sun had lost its fiery vigour and shone with the pale yellow splendour of a full moon. All around me, before and on either hand, was a waste of waters; the very air and earth seemed filmed with moving water, and the sound of falling waters was in my ears. Again, the golden fisherman was before me for an instant, not as a moving speck but in full size now he lay prone; limp and lifeless, with waxen cold cheeks, in the eloquent inaction of death. The white sheet—I could see now that it was a shroud—was around him up to his heart. I seemed to feel Gormala's eyes burning into my brain as I looked. All at once everything seemed to resume its proper proportion, and I was listening calmly to the holding forth of the Viking.

I turned instinctively and looked at Gormala. For an instant her eyes seemed to blaze triumphantly; then she pulled the little shawl which she wore closer round her

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 EDITORS' PREFACE

MANY READERS will find in the pages of Doctor Taylor a revelation in the amazing advance made by Greek Biology and Medicine and in the extent of our indebtedness to Hippocrates, Aristotle and Galen. The subject is one not so well known as some other aspects of the Greek and Roman civilizations. We are apt to think of magic and superstition in the medical practice of the ancients, in spite of our Celsus and the oracular Pliny. The specialist may have followed the expositions of Sir William Osier, Dr. Charles Singer, Sir Clifford Allbutt and Dr. Arthur J. Brock, but this book is addressed to the layman. It is our hope that a wider and deeper interest will result in the achievements of those Greeks who laid the foundations, permanent and secure, for the sciences of Biology and Medicine.

The history of the influence of the Greek biologists and medical men still remains to be written, but it will be a fascinating chapter in

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Rh the history of human culture. When the time arrives, we shall have a record of fanatic devotion, of literal and uninspired acceptance, of forgetfulness, of an inspiring rediscovery with a quickening of scientific interest, of direct observation of Nature's phenomena, with a consequent skepticism toward ancient dogma, and of a final great scientific revival which has resulted in a recognition of the true worth of the ancients. Through the mazes of Arabic civilization, over the collapse of the religious medieval period and the pride of the Renaissance, through the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, the great ancients have come to us. It is largely through their inspiration that we have learned our independent pursuit of Nature's mysteries in the courageous Greek spirit of love of truth, reason and freedom. Doubtless in the field of medicine, this has carried with it a certain emancipation, as Gilbert Murray has said, from the dead hand of the past, but it is an emancipation from the errors of the past alone. The twentieth century is gradually approaching a true appraisal of the values of the ancient medicine and biology, so eloquently expressed years ago in Darwin's gracious phrase.

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Rh shoulders and, with a gesture full of modesty and deference turned away. She climbed up the ridges of the harbour wall and sat looking across as at the sea beyond, now studded with a myriad of brown sails.

A little later the stolid indifference as to time slipped all at once from the fisherman. He was instinct with life and action, and with a touch of his cap and a "Farewell good Master!" stood poised on the very edge of the pier ready to spring on a trim, weather-beaten smack which came rushing along almost grazing the rough stone work. It made our hearts jump as he sprang on board and taking the tiller from the hand of the steersman turned the boat's head to the open sea. As she rushed out through the harbour mouth we heard behind us the voice of an old fisherman who had hobbled up to us:

"He'll do that once too often! Lauchlane Macleod is like all these men from Uist and the rest of the Out Islanders. They don't care 'naught about naught.

Lauchlane Macleod! The very man of whom Gormala had prophesied! The very mention of his name seemed to turn me cold.

After lunch at the hotel I played golf on the links till evening drew near. Then I got on my bicycle to return home. I had laboured slowly up the long hill to the Stirling quarry when I saw Gormala sitting on the roadside on a great boulder of red granite. She was evidently looking out for me, for when I came near she rose up and deliberately stood in the roadway in my path. I jumped off my wheel and asked her point blank what she wanted with me so much that she stopped me on the road.

Gormala was naturally an impressive figure, but at present she looked weird and almost unearthly. Her tall, gaunt form lit by the afterglow in a soft mysterious light was projected against the grey of the darkening

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Rh Dr. Taylor's volume on "Greek Biology and Medicine" is the third to appear in the new Library, "Our Debt to Greece and Rome." The author has drawn his sketch in such a way as to make clear the influence of ancient biological and medical theories and of the ancient medical practice upon our intellectual life, to-day, giving frequent allusions to that influence as it affected distinguished biologists and men of medicine during the intervening centuries. This is part of the larger plan of the Library as a whole to show in some detail the vitality of the ancient thought and to make more articulate the significance it possesses for us. We all too unconsciously accept a heritage — scientific, intellectual, spiritual — which lies at the very core of our being and is the real hope of an orderly future.

This book takes no formal account of the famous Pompeian medical instruments, and only further study of the Ebers papyrus and in particular of the Edwin Smith papyrus may lead to a new estimate of the progress of medicine in ancient Egypt; but we are not yet in a position to estimate the truth contained in these venerable documents. And, for us, Greece still stands as the pioneer in a science

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Rh which will progress to its greatest victories as it is quickened with the nobility of spirit that touched the heart and mind of Hippocrates. His words find an eloquent echo in the lines of Goethe:

 * Ach Gott! die Kunst ist lang
 * Und kurz ist unser Leben,

which are an immortal commentary on the inner essence of the Greek's aspiration.

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20 sea, whose sombreness was emphasised by the brilliant emerald green of the sward which fell from where we stood to the jagged cliff-line.

The loneliness of the spot was profound. From where we stood not a house was to be seen, and the darkening sea was desert of sails. It seemed as if we two were the only living things in nature's vast expanse. To me it was a little awesome. Gormala's first mysterious greeting when I had seen the mourning for the child, and her persistent following of me ever since, had begun to get on my nerves. She had become a sort of enforced condition to me, and whether she was present in the flesh or not, the expectation or the apprehension of her coming—I hardly knew which it was—kept my thoughts perpetually interested in her. Now, her weird, statuesque attitude and the scene around us finished my intellectual subjugation. The weather had changed to an almost inconceivable degree. The bright clear sky of the morning had become darkly mysterious, and the wind had died away to an ominous calm. Nature seemed altogether sentient, and willing to speak directly to a man in my own receptive mood. The Seer-woman evidently knew this, for she gave fully a minute of silence for the natural charm to work before she spoke. Then in a solemn warning voice she said:

"Time is flying by us; Lammas-tide is nigh." The words impressed me, why I know not; for though I had heard of Lammas-tide I had not the smallest idea of what was meant by it. Gormala was certainly quick with her eyes—she had that gypsy quality in remarkable degree—and she seemed to read my face like an open book. There was a suppressed impatience in her manner, as of one who must stop in the midst of some important matter to explain to a child whose aid is immediately necessary:

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 PREFACE

THE OBJECT of this little monograph is to indicate the debt of the modern world to the ancient biology and medicine. One might as well say simply Greek biology and medicine, since whether pursued or practiced in Ionia, in Attica, or in Rome, the biology and medicine worthy of our attention were Greek in their origin and progress, and owed little to the Romans. The scientific spirit was an endowment of Hellas, and alien from the genius of Rome; nor did the Romans capture much of it from the gifted race whom they subdued politically, and by whose art and literature they were captivated in turn.

The task before us might make the labor of a lifetime for any writer, and the resulting volume would inevitably lead the reader into long winding avenues. I offer but a sketch, a slight sketch as it were, of Greek biology and medicine. I have endeavored to draw it in such a way as to make clear the nature of their influence upon our intellectual life today. So

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Rh we gain a useful point of view from which to consider the pregnant thoughts and researches of the Greeks regarding the nature of animals and plants, and their wise practice of the healing art. We may profit by the spirit in which they made their investigations and applied a system of therapeutics, scientifically based.

Our correlated modern sciences which are called biological because they treat of living organisms, have pushed their researches and discoveries far beyond the achievements of the Greeks. They are not a graft upon a Greek stem: they have arisen through the direct study of nature, not from the old Greek books. Thus they have shown a Greek spirit. It is in this modern renewal of a scientific mind, rather than in any specific borrowings from the ancient stock, that we should seek to recognize what Greece has been and still may be for us.

So with medicine. The reign of Galen ended some centuries ago. But modern medicine, in spite of its vastly increased knowledge, has never ceased to hark back, and often very consciously, to the principles of Hippocrates. With a larger knowledge than his own, it rightly reverences the great Greek, and treads

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Rh Still in his footsteps. Therefore in considering our debt to Greek medicine I shall look to the Hippocratic method, rather than to specific points of practice, referring to these more by way of illustration.

I have to thank my friend, Dr. Frederic S. Lee, Research Professor of Physiology in Columbia University, for his valuable suggestions upon reading my manuscript; also the New York Academy of Medicine for the privileges of its great medical library courteously extended. My friend, Professor Heidel of Wesleyan University has aided me throughout my work with books and counsel, and has had the kindness to read my proof and advise with me regarding it. His eminence in the field of Hippocratic studies and early Greek philosophy is known to all scholars. The italics in the text are due to Professor Hadzsits, one of the Editors in this series, who is also responsible for the "Outline, briefly showing the influence of Greek Biology and Medicine," printed as an Appendix to this volume.

October, 1922.

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Page:Greek Biology and Medicine.djvu/25

 GREEK BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE

I. THE EARLY BIOLOGY

BEYOND all other ancient people, the better sort of men among the dwellers in the Ionian cities on the west coast of Asia Minor and the neighboring islands were blessed with lively intellectual curiosity. They were also free, and meant to keep their freedom. Their cities might for a time be brought within the sway of a Lydian monarch or the Great King of Persia; but such intermittent pressure from without did not hamper the commerce of these coast and island towns, or restrict the free thinking of their citizens. Religion was tolerant or uncertain; there was no constraining caste of priests. Men might think as they saw fit upon the origin and order of the world, and freely express their opinions. And it came to pass that the gifted thought-leaders of Ionian Greece devised conceptions of

title: Page:Greek Biology and Medicine.djvu/25


text:
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Rh "Ye no ken why? Is it that ye dinna heed o' Lammas-tide, or that ye no ken o' the prophecy of the Mystery of the Sea and the treasures that lie hid therein." I felt more than ever abashed, and that I should have known long ago those things of which the gaunt woman spoke, towering above me as I leaned on my wheel. She went on:

"An' ye no ken, then listen and learn!" and she spoke the following rune in a strange, staccato cadence which seemed to suit our surroundings and to sink into my heart and memory so deep that to forget would be impossible:

There was a long pause of silence between us, and I felt very strangely. The sea before me took odd, indefinite shape. It seemed as though it was of crystal clearness, and that from where I gazed I could see all its mysteries. That is, I could see so as to know there were mysteries, though what they were individually I could not even dream. The past and the present and the future seemed to be mingled in one wild, chaotic, whirling dream, from the mass of which thoughts and ideas seemed now and again to fly out unexpectedly on all sides as do sparks from hot iron under the hammer. Within my heart grew vague indefinite yearnings, aspirations, possibilities. There came a sense of power so paramount that instinctively I drew myself up to my full height and became conscious of the physical vigour within

title: Page:The Mystery of the Sea.djvu/35


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Rh the world, the impress of which has never been expunged from human thinking.

The old Ionian speculation upon Nature or was curious as to the material of the world, and considered how its visible component rocks and earth and waters came to be. This speculation, supplemented by investigation, was directed also to the origins of plants and animals, to the manner of their growth and to their living structure. Accordingly, the, which is to say the natural history or philosophy, of these physicists, included the beginnings of biology, which is the science of all living things, if we use this comparatively modern word in its most comprehensive sense.

There is no need to re-state the physical theories of the early Ionian philosophers and of their compeers who were Greeks even when not so evidently lonians. It is more to our purpose to remark that for us Greek biology begins in some extraordinary fragments ascribed to the great Milesian Anaximander, who was a younger friend of Thales and lived through the first half of the sixth century before Christ. They are as follows:

"Living creatures arose from the moist

title: Page:Greek Biology and Medicine.djvu/26


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22 me. As I did so I looked around and seemed to wake from a dream.

Naught around me but the drifting clouds, the silent darkening land and the brooding sea. Gormala was nowhere to be seen.

title: Page:The Mystery of the Sea.djvu/36


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 as it was evaporated by the sun. Man was like another animal, namely, a fish, in the beginning.

"The first animals were produced in the moisture, each enclosed in a prickly bark. As they advanced in age, they came out upon the drier part. When the bark broke off, they survived for a short time.

"Further, he says that originally man was born from animals of another species. His reason is that while other animals quickly find food by themselves, man alone requires a lengthy period of suckling. Hence, had he been originally as he is now, he would never have survived.

"He declares that at first human beings arose in the inside of fishes, and after having been reared like sharks, and become capable of protecting themselves, they were finally cast ashore and took to land." 1

We may puzzle ourselves and find much or little in these syncopated fragments. They do not disclose the manner of Anaximander's investigations, but represent his conclusions, which were drawn from his study of nature. They stand for his explanations of the visible facts, his accounting for phenomena. This

title: Page:Greek Biology and Medicine.djvu/27


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Rh dawning biology, like the cosmological physics of which it appears as part, was free from superstitious fear; it admitted no magic, recognized no supernatural; it had little religious awe. Such unembarrassed observation of nature, such free and rational conclusions, were unique in the world; and unique the consequent endeavor to build up a systematic body of natural knowledge, with accordant hypotheses, or explanations, which should rationally account for the world in which man lived. Even with the Greeks these intellectual aims were not to become common. And as such an observation of nature was then utterly unknown in Babylonia or Egypt or anywhere else on earth, so outside of the elect of the Greek race and a very few others who imbibed their spirit, it was never accepted by the ancient world.

And here at once be it said that, taking full account of the admirable Greek achievements in biology and medicine, our modern indebtedness is less for their substance than for the clear spirit of scientific investigation which was one of the immortal legacies of Greece, however few the men or periods that could accept it. In medicine, in surgery, in every field of science, modern investigation has advanced

title: Page:Greek Biology and Medicine.djvu/28


text: The Mystery of the Sea/Chapter 4

title: The Mystery of the Sea/Chapter 4


text:
Page:Wiltshire, Extracted from Domesday Book.djvu/151

[ 103 ] could not be alienated from the church. The whole manor is valued at 10 pounds and 10 hillings. The abbot of Glastonbury gave T.R.E. 6 acres of meadow in Stantone to Brictric. Obern Gifart holds them now. He likewie gave 4 acres of meadow in Liteltone to Alward. Bihop Geoffry holds them now. Thee 10 acres of meadow ought to be conidered as part of Critemeleforde.

5. The ame church holds Badeberie which was aeed T.R.E. at 20 hides. Here are 10 ploughlands. Thirteen hides and a half are in demene, where are 3 ploughlands and ervants. Eleven villagers and 10 borderers occupy 3 ploughlands. The mill pays 40 pence, and here are 100 acres of meadow. The pature is a mile and a half long, and 3 furlongs broad. A burgage in Crichelade pays 5 pence. It was valued at 8 pounds; now at 10. 6. The


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Page:Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son.djvu/254

Rh on his breakfast plate isn't one of them. When you become a packer you may go on 'Change as a trader; until then you can go there only as a sucker. Your affectionate father, 4em


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Rh quarter in his till and couldn't remember who had passed it on him.

"Yes," Bill went on, "and I'm ashamed of it, for you've made me see things in a new light. Of course, after what you've said, I know it would be an insult to offer you the money. And I feel now that it wouldn't be right to keep it myself. I must sleep on it and try to find the straight thing to do."

I guess it really didn't interfere with Bill's sleep, but the Deacon sat up with the corpse of that two hundred dollars, you bet. In the morning at breakfast he asked Brother Bill to explain all about this speculating business, what made the market go up and down, and whether real corn or wheat or pork figured in any stage of a deal. Bill looked sort of sad and dreamy-eyed, as if his conscience hadn't digested that two hundred yet, but he was mighty obliging about explaining everything to Zeke. He


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Rh had changed his face for the one which he wore when he sold an easy customer ground peas and chicory for O. G. Java, and every now and then he gulped as if he was going to start a hymn. When Bill told him how good and bad weather sent the market up and down, he nodded and said that that part of it was all right, because the weather was of the Lord.

"Not on the Board of Trade it isn't," Bill answered back; "at least, not to any marked extent; it's from the weather man or some liar in the corn belt, and, as the weather man usually guesses wrong, I reckon there isn't any special inspiration about it. The game is to guess what's going to happen, not what has happened, and by the time the real weather comes along everybody has guessed wrong and knocked the market off a cent or two."

That made the Deacon's chin whiskers droop a little, but he began to ask questions


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Rh again, and by and by he discovered that away behind—about a hundred miles behind, but that was close enough for the Deacon—a deal in futures there were real wheat and pork. Said then that he'd been misinformed and misled; that speculation was a legitimate business, involving skill and sagacity; that his last scruple was removed, and that he would accept the two hundred.

Bill brightened right up at that and thanked him for putting it so clear and removing the doubts that had been worrying him. Said that he could speculate with a clear conscience after listening to the Deacon's able exposition of the subject. Was only sorry he hadn't seen him to talk it over before breakfast, as the two hundred had been lying so heavy on his mind all night that he'd got up early and mailed a check for it to the Deacon's pastor and told him to spend it on his poor.


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Rh Zeke took the evening train home in order to pry that check out of the elder, but old Doc. Hoover was a pretty quick stepper himself and he'd blown the whole two hundred as soon as he got it, buying winter coal for poor people.

I simply mention the Deacon in passing as an example of the fact that it's easy for a man who thinks he's all right to go all wrong when he sees a couple of hundred dollars lying around loose a little to one side of the straight and narrow path; and that when he reaches down to pick up the money there's usually a string tied to it and a small boy in the bushes to give it a yank. Easy-come money never draws interest; easy-borrowed dollars pay usury.

Of course, the Board of Trade and every other commercial exchange have their legitimate uses, but all you need to know just now is that speculation by a fellow who never owns more pork at a time than he sees


text: Letters from a Self-Made Merchant to His Son/Letter 14


text:
Page:The White Peacock, Lawrence, 1911.djvu/57

set in, and the red dahlias which kept the warm light alive in their bosoms so late into the evening died in the night, and the morning had nothing but brown balls of rottenness to show.

They called me as I passed the post-office door in Eberwich one evening, and they gave me a letter for my mother. The distorted, sprawling handwriting perplexed me with a dim uneasiness; I put the letter away, and forgot it. I remembered it later in the evening, when I wished to recall something to interest my mother. She looked at the handwriting, and began hastily and nervously to tear open the envelope; she held it away from her in the light of the lamp, and with eyes drawn half closed, tried to scan it. So I found her spectacles, but she did not speak her thanks, and her hand trembled. She read the short letter quickly; then she sat down, and read it again, and continued to look at it.

“What is it mother?” I asked.

She did not answer, but continued staring at the letter. I went up to her, and put my hand on her shoulder, feeling very uncomfortable. She took no notice of me, beginning to murmur: “Poor Frank—Poor Frank.” That was my father’s name.

“But what is it mother?—tell me what’s the matter!”


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50 She turned and looked at me as if I were a stranger; she got up, and began to walk about the room; then she left the room, and I heard her go out of the house.

The letter had fallen on to the floor. I picked it up. The handwriting was very broken. The address gave a village some few miles away; the date was three days before.

“My Dear Lettice:

“You will want to know I am gone. I can hardly last a day or two—my kidneys are nearly gone.

“I came over one day. I didn’t see you, but I saw the girl by the window, and I had a few words with the lad. He never knew, and he felt nothing. I think the girl might have done. If you knew how awfully lonely I am, Lettice—how awfully I have been, you might feel sorry.

“I have saved what I could, to pay you back. I have had the worst of it Lettice, and I’m glad the end has come. I have had the worst of it.

“Good-bye—for ever—your husband, “”

I was numbed by this letter of my father’s. With almost agonised effort I strove to recall him, but I knew that my image of a tall, handsome, dark man with pale grey eyes was made up from my mother’s few words, and from a portrait I had once seen.

The marriage had been unhappy. My father was of frivolous, rather vulgar character, but plausible, having a good deal of charm. He was a liar, without notion of honesty, and he had deceived my mother


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Rh thoroughly. One after another she discovered his mean dishonesties and deceits, and her soul revolted from him, and because the illusion of him had broken into a thousand vulgar fragments, she turned away with the scorn of a woman who finds her romance has been a trumpery tale. When he left her for other pleasures—Lettie being a baby of three years, while I was five—she rejoiced bitterly. She had heard of him indirectly—and of him nothing good, although he prospered—but he had never come to see her or written to her in all the eighteen years.

In a while my mother came in. She sat down, pleating up the hem of her black apron, and smoothing it out again.

“You know,” she said, “he had a right to the children, and I’ve kept them all the time.”

“He could have come,” said I.

“I set them against him, I have kept them from him, and he wanted them. I ought to be by him now—I ought to have taken you to him long ago.”

“But how could you, when you knew nothing of him?”

“He would have come—he wanted to come—I have felt it for years. But I kept him away. I know I have kept him away. I have felt it, and he has. Poor Frank—he’ll see his mistakes now. He would not have been as cruel as I have been——”

“Nay, mother, it is only the shock that makes you say so.”

“This makes me know. I have felt in myself a long time that he was suffering; I have had the feeling of him in me. I knew, yes, I did know he wanted me, and you, I felt it. I have had the feeling of him


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52 upon me this last three months especially. . . I have been cruel to him.”

“Well—we’ll go to him now, shall we?” I said.

“To-morrow—to-morrow,” she replied, noticing me really for the first time. “I go in the morning.”

“And I’ll go with you.”

“Yes—in the morning. Lettie has her party to Chatsworth—don’t tell her—we won’t tell her.”

“No,” said I.

Shortly after, my mother went upstairs. Lettie came in rather late from Highclose; Leslie did not come in. In the morning they were going with a motor party into Matloch and Chatsworth, and she was excited, and did not observe anything.

After all, mother and I could not set out until the warm, tempered afternoon. The air was full of a soft yellowness when we stepped down from the train at Cossethay. My mother insisted on walking the long two miles to the village. We went slowly along the road, lingering over the little red flowers in the high hedge-bottom up the hillside. We were reluctant to come to our destination. As we came in sight of the little grey tower of the church, we heard the sound of braying, brassy music. Before us, filling a little croft, the Wakes was in full swing.

Some wooden horses careered gaily round, and the swingboats leaped into the mild blue sky. We sat upon the stile, my mother and I, and watched. There were booths, and cocoanut shies and roundabouts scattered in the small field. Groups of children moved quietly from attraction to attraction. A deeply tanned man came across the field swinging two dripping buckets of water. Women looked from


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Rh the doors of their brilliant caravans, and lean dogs rose lazily and settled down again under the steps. The fair moved slowly, for all its noise. A stout lady, with a husky masculine voice invited the excited children into her peep show. A swarthy man stood with his thin legs astride on the platform of the roundabouts, and sloping backwards, his mouth distended with a row of fingers, he whistled astonishingly to the coarse row of the organ, and his whistling sounded clear, like the flight of a wild goose high over the chimney tops, as he was carried round and round. A little fat man with an ugly swelling on his chest stood screaming from a filthy booth to a crowd of urchins, bidding them challenge a big, stolid young man who stood with folded arms, his fists pushing out his biceps. On being asked if he would undertake any of these prospective challenges, this young man nodded, not having yet attained a talking stage:—yes he would take two at a time, screamed the little fat man with the big excrescence on his chest, pointing at the cowering lads and girls. Further off, Punch’s quaint voice could be heard when the cocoanut man ceased grinding out screeches from his rattle. The cocoanut man was wroth, for these youngsters would not risk a penny shy, and the rattle yelled like a fiend. A little girl came along to look at us, daintily licking an ice-cream sandwich. We were uninteresting, however, so she passed on to stare at the caravans.

We had almost gathered courage to cross the wakes, when the cracked bell of the church sent its note falling over the babble.

“One—two—three”—had it really sounded


text:
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54 three! Then it rang on a lower bell—“One—two—three.” A passing bell for a man! I looked at my mother—she turned away from me.

The organ flared on—the husky woman came forward to make another appeal. Then there was a lull. The man with the lump on his chest had gone inside the rag to spar with the solid fellow. The cocoanut man had gone to the “Three Tunns” in fury, and a brazen girl of seventeen or so was in charge of the nuts. The horses careered round, carrying two frightened boys.

Suddenly the quick, throbbing note of the low bell struck again through the din. I listened—but could not keep count. One, two, three, four—for the third time that great lad had determined to go on the horses, and they had started while his foot was on the step, and he had been foiled—eight, nine, ten—no wonder that whistling man had such a big Adam’s apple—I wondered if it hurt his neck when he talked, being so pointed—nineteen, twenty—the girl was licking more ice-cream, with precious, tiny licks—twenty-five, twenty-six—I wondered if I did count to twenty-six mechanically. At this point I gave it up, and watched for Lord Tennyson’s bald head to come spinning round on the painted rim of the roundabouts, followed by a red-faced Lord Roberts, and a villainous looking Disraeli.

“Fifty-one——” said my mother. “Come—come along.”

We hurried through the fair, towards the church; towards a garden where the last red sentinels looked out from the top of the holly-hock spires. The garden was a tousled mass of faded pink


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Rh, and weak-eyed Michaelmas daisies, and spectre stalks of holly-hock. It belonged to a low, dark house, which crouched behind a screen of yews. We waked along to the front. The blinds were down, and in one room we could see the stale light of candles burning.

“Is this Yew Cottage?” asked my mother of a curious lad.

“It’s Mrs. May’s,” replied the boy.

“Does she live alone?” I asked.

“She ’ad French Carlin—but he’s dead—an she’s letten th’ candles ter keep th’ owd lad off’n ’im.”

We went to the house and knocked.

“An ye come about him?” hoarsely whispered a bent old woman, looking up with very blue eyes, nodding her old head with its velvet net significantly towards the inner room.

“Yes” said my mother, “we had a letter.”

“Ay, poor fellow—he’s gone, missis,” and the old lady shook her head. Then she looked at us curiously, leaned forward, and, putting her withered old hand on my mother’s arm, her hand with its dark blue veins, she whispered in confidence, “and the candles ’as gone out twice. ’E wor a funny feller, very funny!”

“I must come in and settle things—I am his nearest relative,” said my mother, trembling.

“Yes—I must ’a dozed, for when I looked up, it wor black darkness. Missis, I dursn’t sit up wi’ ’im no more, an’ many a one I’ve laid out. Eh, but his sufferin’s. Missis—poor feller—eh, Missis!”—she lifted her ancient hands, and looked up at my mother, with her eyes so intensely blue.


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ingworth, Richard of


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Inman, George Ellis


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Inman, James


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Inman, Thomas


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Inman, William


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Innes, Cosmo


text:
Page:Dictionary of spoken Russian (1945).djvu/461

 □ просторнее more room. Давайте соберёмся в школе, там просторнее. Let's meet in the school; there's more room there.

простуда cold. У него страшная простуда. He has a terrible cold.

простудить (-стужу, -студит; pct of простужать and простуживать) to let (someone) catch cold. Смотрите — не простудите ребёнка! Careful — don't let the baby catch cold. □ Я сильно простужен. I've a bad cold.

-ся to catch cold. Он сильно простудился. He caught a bad cold.

простужать (dur of простудить).

простуживать (dur of простудить).

-ся to catch cold. Она вечно простуживается. She's forever catching cold.

простужусь See простудиться.

простыня (P простыни, простынь, простыням) (bed) sheet. Простыни лежат в нижнем ящике. The sheets are in the lower drawer.

просыпать (dur of проспать) to oversleep. Я уже второй день просыпаю и опаздываю на работу. This is the second time that I've overslept and been late to work.

-ся (dur of проснуться) to wake up. Вы всегда так рано просыпаетесь? Do you always wake up so early?

просьба request. По просьбе брата посылаю вам эту книгу. I'm sending you this book at my brother's request. □ У меня к вам просьба: познакомьте меня с ним. Do me a favor, will you? Introduce me to him. • Просьба цветов не рвать, по траве не ходить. Don't pick the flowers and don't walk on the grass.

протекать (dur of протечь) to flow. Здесь где-то поблизости протекает небольшая речка. A small stream flows somewhere near here. • to leak. Наша лодка протекает. Our boat leaks. □ Его болезнь протекает вполне нормально. His sickness is taking its normal course.

протеку See протечь.

протестовать (both dur and pct/pct also о-/) to protest. Я протестую против подобного обращения. I protest against being treated that way. — Они протестуют против того, что у них отобрали пропуска. They're protesting their passes being taken from them.

протечь (-теку, -течёт; p -тёк, -текла, -о, -и; pct of протекать) to seep. Вода протекла в мотор. Water seeped into the motor.

против opposite. За обедом мы сидели друг против друга. We sat opposite each other at dinner. — Лифт как раз против вашей комнаты. The elevator is just opposite your room. • against. Я ничего не имею против этого. I haven't got anything against it. — Вы, я вижу, против него настроены. You seem to have something against him. — Кто за? Кто против? Кто воздержался? Who is "for"? Who is "against"? Who is not voting? — Мы шли против ветра и грести было трудно. We were going against the wind and that's why it was difficult to row. • to. Десять шансов против одного, что дело не выгорит. It's ten-to-one that it won't succeed. □ Против такого довода трудно спорить. It's a difficult argument to brush aside. • Дайте мне что-нибудь против зубной боли. Can you give me something for a toothache?

противник opponent. Я противник этой теории. I'm an opponent of this theory. — Не мудрено, что я проиграл: у меня был очень сильный противник. It isn't any wonder I lost; I had a strong opponent. • enemy. Партизаны помогли нам напасть на след противника. The guerrillas helped us track down the enemy.

противный nasty. Этот противный мальчишка опять напроказил. That nasty brat has been up to some mischief again. □ в противном случае otherwise. Авось это леченье поможет, — в противном случае придётся оперировать. Maybe this treatment will help; otherwise, we'll have to operate. противный ветер head wind. Ветер противный, лучше свернём парус. There's a head wind; we'd better pull down our sails. противно disgusting. Противно смотреть, как он лениво работает. It's disgusting to watch how lazily he works. □ После всего случившегося, мне просто противно говорить с ним. After all that's happened, I just can't stand talking to him.

противогаз gas mask.

противоречие contradiction. В его показаниях были явные противоречья. There were evident contradictions in his testimony. • conflicting. У нас с вами очевидное противоречие интересов. Evidently you and I have conflicting interests. □ классовые противоречия conflicting class interests. □ Я уверен, что вы это говорите только из духа противоречия. I'm sure that you're saying that just to be contradictory.

противоречить (dur) to contradict. Он сам себе противоречит на каждом шагу. He contradicts himself at every turn. — Вы ему лучше не противоречьте! Ему опасно волноваться. You'd better not contradict him; it's bad for him to get excited.

противоядие antidote.

протокол minutes. Кто ведёт сегодня протокол? Who's keeping the minutes today? • record. Занесите это в протокол! Put that on record! — Пришёл милиционер и составил протокол. The policeman came and made a record of what had happened.

протягивать ([-g'v-]; dur of протянуть) to string. Мы протягиваем новую телефонную линию. We're stringing a new telephone line through here.

протянуть (-тяну, -тянет; pct of протягивать) to stretch. Протяните тут верёвку. Stretch a rope through here. • to last. (no dur) Она долго не протянет. She won't last long. □ Ну, не сердитесь, протяните ему руку. Don't be angry. Why don't you make up and shake hands? • (no dur) Если вы будете так относиться к своему здоровью, вы скоро ноги протянете. If you take so little care of your health, you'll soon kick the bucket.

профактив active group in trade unions.

профбилет trade-union card.

профессиональный professional. У меня к этой книге чисто профессиональный интерес. I have a professional interest in this book. — Он не любитель, а профессиональный актёр. He's no amateur; he's a professional actor. □ профессиональное движение trade union movement. профессиональное заболевание occupational disease. профессиональное обучение vocational training.


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Innes, John (d.1414)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Innes, John (1739-1777)


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Innes, Lewis


text: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Innes, Thomas


text:
Tirukural/Chapter 42

411 Wealth of wealth is wealth acquired be ear attent; Wealth mid all wealth supremely excellent.

Wealth (gained) by the ear is wealth of wealth; that wealth is the chief of all wealth.

412 When 'tis no longer time the listening ear to feed With trifling dole of food supply the body's need.

When there is no food for the ear, give a little also to the stomach.

413 Who feed their ear with learned teachings rare, Are like the happy gods oblations rich who share.

Those who in this world enjoy instruction which is the food of the ear, are equal to the Gods, who enjoy the food of the sacrifices.

414 Though learning none hath he, yet let him hear alway: In weakness this shall prove a staff and stay.

Although a man be without learning, let him listen (to the teaching of the learned); that will be to him a staff in adversity.

415 Like staff in hand of him in slippery ground who strays Are words from mouth of those who walk in righteous ways.

The words of the good are like a staff in a slippery place.

416 Let each man good things learn, for e'en as he Shall learn, he gains increase of perfect dignity.

Let a man listen, never so little, to good (instruction), even that will bring him great dignity.

417 Not e'en through inadvertence speak they foolish word, With clear discerning mind who've learning's ample lessons heard.

Not even when they have imperfectly understood (a matter), will those men speak foolishly, who have profoundly studied and diligently listened (to instruction).

418 Where teaching hath not oped the learner's ear, The man may listen, but he scarce can hear.

The ear which has not been bored by instruction, although it hears, is deaf.

419 'Tis hard for mouth to utter gentle, modest word, When ears discourse of lore refined have never heard.

It is a rare thing to find modesty, a reverend mouth- with those who have not received choice instruction.

420 His mouth can taste, but ear no taste of joy can give! What matter if he die, or prosperous live?

What does it matter whether those men live or die, who can judge of tastes by the mouth, and not by the ear ?

title: Tirukural/Chapter 42


text:
Tirukural/Chapter 43

421 True wisdom wards off woes, A circling fortress high; Its inner strength man's eager foes Unshaken will defy.

Wisdom is a weapon to ward off destruction; it is an inner fortress which enemies cannot destroy.

422 Wisdom restrains, nor suffers mind to wander where it would; From every evil calls it back, and guides in way of good.

Not to permit the mind to go where it lists, to keep it from evil, and to employ it in good, this is wisdom.

423 Though things diverse from divers sages' lips we learn, 'Tis wisdom's part in each the true thing to discern.

To discern the truth in every thing, by whomsoever spoken, is wisdom.

424 Wisdom hath use of lucid speech, words that acceptance win, And subtle sense of other men's discourse takes in. To speak so as that the meaning may easily enter the mind of the hearer, and to discern the subtlest thought which may lie hidden in the words of others, this is wisdom.

425 Wisdom embraces frank the world, to no caprice exposed; Unlike the lotus flower, now opened wide, now petals strictly closed.

To secure the friendship of the great is true wisdom; it is (also) wisdom to keep (that friendship unchanged, and) not opening and closing (like the lotus flower).

426 As dwells the world, so with the world to dwell In harmony- this is to wisely live and well.

To live as the world lives, is wisdom.

427 The wise discern, the foolish fail to see, And minds prepare for things about to be.

The wise are those who know beforehand what will happen; those who do not know this are the unwise.

428 Folly meets fearful ills with fearless heart; To fear where cause of fear exists is wisdom's part.

Not to fear what ought to be feared, is folly; it is the work of the wise to fear what should be feared.

429 The wise with watchful soul who coming ills foresee; From coming evil's dreaded shock are free.

No terrifying calamity will happen to the wise, who (foresee) and guard against coming evils.

430 The wise is rich, with ev'ry blessing blest; The fool is poor, of everything possessed.

Those who possess wisdom, possess every thing; those who have not wisdom, whatever they may possess, have nothing.

title: Tirukural/Chapter 43


text:
Tirukural/Chapter 44

431 Who arrogance, and wrath, and littleness of low desire restrain, To sure increase of lofty dignity attain. Truly great is the excellence of those (kings) who are free from pride, anger, and lust.

432 A niggard hand, o'erweening self-regard, and mirth Unseemly, bring disgrace to men of kingly brith.

Avarice, undignified pride, and low pleasures are faults in a king.

433 Though small as millet-seed the fault men deem; As palm tree vast to those who fear disgrace 'twill seem.

Those who fear guilt, if they commit a fault small as a millet seed, will consider it to be as large as a palmyra tree.

434 Freedom from faults is wealth; watch heedfully 'Gainst these, for fault is fatal enmity.

Guard against faults as a matter (of great consequence; for) faults are a deadly enemy.

435 His joy who guards not 'gainst the coming evil day, Like straw before the fire shall swift consume away.

The prosperity of him who does not timely guard against faults, will perish like straw before fire.

436 Faultless the king who first his own faults cures, and then Permits himself to scan faults of other men.

What fault will remain in the king who has put away his own evils, and looks after the evils of others.

437 Who leaves undone what should be done, with niggard mind, His wealth shall perish, leaving not a wrack behind.

The wealth of the avaricious man, who does not expend it for the purposes for which he ought to expend it will waste away and not continue.

438 The greed of soul that avarice men call, When faults are summed, is worst of all.

Griping avarice is not to be reckoned as one among other faults; (it stands alone - greater than all).

439 Never indulge in self-complaisant mood, Nor deed desire that yields no gain of good.

Let no (one) praise himself, at any time; let him not desire to do useless things.

440 If, to your foes unknown, you cherish what you love, Counsels of men who wish you harm will harmless prove. If (a king) enjoys, privately the things which he desires, the designs of his enemies will be useless.

title: Tirukural/Chapter 44


text:
Tirukural/Chapter 45

441 As friends the men who virtue know, and riper wisdom share, Their worth weighed well, the king should choose with care. Let (a king) ponder well its value, and secure the friendship of men of virtue and of mature knowledge.

442 Cherish the all-accomplished men as friends, Whose skill the present ill removes, from coming ill defends.

Let (a king) procure and kindly care for men who can overcome difficulties when they occur, and guard against them before they happen.

443 To cherish men of mighty soul, and make them all their own, Of kingly treasures rare, as rarest gift is known.

To cherish great men and make them his own, is the most difficult of all difficult things.

444 To live with men of greatness that their own excels, As cherished friends, is greatest power that with a monarch dwells.

So to act as to make those men, his own, who are greater than himself is of all powers the highest.

445 The king, since counsellors are monarch's eyes, Should counsellors select with counsel wise.

As a king must use his ministers as eyes (in managing his kingdom), let him well examine their character and qualifications before he engages them.

446 The king, who knows to live with worthy men allied, Has nought to fear from any foeman's pride.

There will be nothing left for enemies to do, against him who has the power of acting (so as to secure) the fellowship of worthy men.

447 What power can work his fall, who faithful ministers Employs, that thunder out reproaches when he errs. Who are great enough to destroy him who has servants that have power to rebuke him ?

448 The king with none to censure him, bereft of safeguards all, Though none his ruin work, shall surely ruined fall.

The king, who is without the guard of men who can rebuke him, will perish, even though there be no one to destroy him.

449 Who owns no principal, can have no gain of usury; Who lacks support of friends, knows no stability.

There can be no gain to those who have no capital; and in like manner there can be no permanence to those who are without the support of adherents.

450 Than hate of many foes incurred, works greater woe Ten-fold, of worthy men the friendship to forego.

It is tenfold more injurious to abandon the friendship of the good, than to incur the hatred of the many.

title: Tirukural/Chapter 45


text:
Tirukural/Chapter 46

451 The great of soul will mean association fear; The mean of soul regard mean men as kinsmen dear.

(True) greatness fears the society of the base; it is only the low - minded who will regard them as friends.

452 The waters' virtues change with soil through which they flow; As man's companionship so will his wisdom show.

As water changes (its nature), from the nature of the soil (in which it flows), so will the character of men resemble that of their associates.

453 Perceptions manifold in men are of the mind alone; The value of the man by his companionship is known. The power of knowing is from the mind; (but) his character is from that of his associates.

454 Man's wisdom seems the offspring of his mind; 'Tis outcome of companionship we find.

Wisdom appears to rest in the mind, but it really exists to a man in his companions.

455 Both purity of mind, and purity of action clear, Leaning no staff of pure companionship, to man draw near. Chaste company is the staff on which come, these two things, viz, purity of mind and purity of conduct.

456 From true pure-minded men a virtuous race proceeds; To men of pure companionship belong no evil deeds.

To the pure-minded there will be a good posterity. By those whose associates are pure, no deeds will be done that are not good.

457 Goodness of mind to lives of men increaseth gain; And good companionship doth all of praise obtain.

Goodness of mind will give wealth, and good society will bring with it all praise, to men.

458 To perfect men, though minds right good belong, Yet good companionship is confirmation strong.

Although they may have great (natural) goodness of mind, yet good society will tend to strengthen it.

459 Although to mental goodness joys of other life belong, Yet good companionship is confirmation strong. Future bliss is (the result) of goodness of mind; and even this acquires strength from the society of the good.

460 Than good companionship no surer help we know; Than bad companionship nought causes direr woe. There is no greater help than the company of the good; there is no greater source of sorrow than the company of the wicked.

title: Tirukural/Chapter 46


text:
Tirukural/Chapter 47

461 Expenditure, return, and profit of the deed In time to come; weigh these- than to the act proceed.

Let a man reflect on what will be lost, what will be acquired and (from these) what will be his ultimate gain, and (then, let him) act.

462 With chosen friends deliberate; next use the private thought; Then act. By those who thus proceed all works with ease are wrought.

There is nothing too difficult to (be attained by) those who, before they act, reflect well themselves, and thoroughly consider (the matter) with chosen friends.

463 To risk one's all and lose, aiming at added gain, Is rash affair, from which the wise abstain.

Wise men will not, in the hopes of profit, undertake works that will consume their principal.

464 A work of which the issue is not clear, Begin not they reproachful scorn who fear.

Those who fear reproach will not commence anything which has not been (thoroughly considered) and made clear to them.

465 With plans not well matured to rise against your foe, Is way to plant him out where he is sure to grow!

One way to promote the prosperity of an enemy, is (for a king) to set out (to war) without having thoroughly weighed his ability (to cope with its chances).

466 'Tis ruin if man do an unbefitting thing; Fit things to leave undone will equal ruin bring.

He will perish who does not what is not fit to do; and he also will perish who does not do what it is fit to do.

467 Think, and then dare the deed! Who cry, 'Deed dared, we'll think,' disgraced shall be.

Consider, and then undertake a matter; after having undertaken it, to say "We will consider," is folly.

468 On no right system if man toil and strive, Though many men assist, no work can thrive.

The work, which is not done by suitable methods, will fail though many stand to uphold it.

469 Though well the work be done, yet one mistake is made, To habitudes of various men when no regard is paid.

There are failures even in acting well, when it is done without knowing the various dispositions of men.

470 Plan and perform no work that others may despise; What misbeseems a king the world will not approve as wise.

Let a man reflect, and do things which bring no reproach; the world will not approve, with him, of things which do not become of his position to adopt.

title: Tirukural/Chapter 47


text:
Tirukural/Chapter 48

471 The force the strife demands, the force he owns, the force of foes, The force of friends; these should he weigh ere to the war he goes.

Let (one) weigh well the strength of the deed (he purposes to do), his own strength, the strength of his enemy, and the strength of the allies (of both), and then let him act.

472 Who know what can be wrought, with knowledge of the means, on this, Their mind firm set, go forth, nought goes with them amiss.

There is nothing which may not be accomplished by those who, before they attack (an enemy), make themselves acquainted with their own ability, and with whatever else is (needful) to be known, and apply themselves wholly to their object.

473 Ill-deeming of their proper powers, have many monarchs striven, And midmost of unequal conflict fallen asunder riven. There are many who, ignorant of their (want of) power (to meet it), have haughtily set out to war, and broken down in the midst of it.

474 Who not agrees with those around, no moderation knows, In self-applause indulging, swift to ruin goes.

He will quickly perish who, ignorant of his own resources flatters himself of his greatness, and does not live in peace with his neighbours.

475 With peacock feathers light, you load the wain; Yet, heaped too high, the axle snaps in twain. The axle tree of a bandy, loaded only with peacocks' feathers will break, if it be greatly overloaded.

476 Who daring climbs, and would himself upraise Beyond the branch's tip, with life the forfeit pays. There will be an end to the life of him who, having climbed out to the end of a branch, ventures to go further.

477 With knowledge of the measure due, as virtue bids you give! That is the way to guard your wealth, and seemly live.

Let a man know the measure of his ability (to give), and let him give accordingly; such giving is the way to preserve his property.

478 Incomings may be scant; but yet, no failure there, If in expenditure you rightly learn to spare.

Even though the income (of a king) be small, it will not cause his (ruin), if his outgoings be not larger than his income.

479 Who prosperous lives and of enjoyment knows no bound, His seeming wealth, departing, nowhere shall be found.

The prosperity of him who lives without knowing the measure (of his property), will perish, even while it seems to continue.

480 Beneficence that measures not its bound of means, Will swiftly bring to nought the wealth on which it leans.

The measure of his wealth will quickly perish, whose liberality weighs not the measure of his property.

title: Tirukural/Chapter 48


text:
Tirukural/Chapter 49

481 A crow will conquer owl in broad daylight; The king that foes would crush, needs fitting time to fight.

A crow will overcome an owl in the day time; so the king who would conquer his enemy must have (a suitable) time.

482 The bond binds fortune fast is ordered effort made, Strictly observant still of favouring season's aid.

Acting at the right season, is a cord that will immoveably bind success (to a king).

483 Can any work be hard in very fact, If men use fitting means in timely act?

Is there anything difficult for him to do, who acts, with (the right) instruments at the right time ?

484 The pendant world's dominion may be won, In fitting time and place by action done.

Though (a man) should meditate (the conquest of) the world, he may accomplish it if he acts in the right time, and at the right place.

485 Who think the pendant world itself to subjugate, With mind unruffled for the fitting time must wait.

They who thoughtfully consider and wait for the (right) time (for action), may successfully meditate (the conquest of) the world.

486 The men of mighty power their hidden energies repress, As fighting ram recoils to rush on foe with heavier stress.

The self-restraint of the energetic (while waiting for a suitable opportunity), is like the drawing back of a fighting-ram in order to butt.

487 The glorious once of wrath enkindled make no outward show, At once; they bide their time, while hidden fires within them glow. The wise will not immediately and hastily shew out their anger; they will watch their time, and restrain it within.

488 If foes' detested form they see, with patience let them bear; When fateful hour at last they spy,- the head lies there.

If one meets his enemy, let him show him all respect, until the time for his destruction is come; when that is come, his head will be easily brought low.

489 When hardest gain of opportunity at last is won, With promptitude let hardest deed be done.

If a rare opportunity occurs, while it lasts, let a man do that which is rarely to be accomplished (but for such an opportunity).

490 As heron stands with folded wing, so wait in waiting hour; As heron snaps its prey, when fortune smiles, put forth your power.

At the time when one should use self-control, let him restrain himself like a heron; and, let him like it, strike, when there is a favourable opportunity.

title: Tirukural/Chapter 49


text:
Tirukural/Chapter 50

491 Begin no work of war, depise no foe, Till place where you can wholly circumvent you know.

Let not (a king) despise (an enemy), nor undertake any thing (against him), until he has obtained (a suitable) place for besieging him.

492 Though skill in war combine with courage tried on battle-field, The added gain of fort doth great advantage yield.

Even to those who are men of power and expedients, an attack in connection with a fortification will yield many advantages.

493 E'en weak ones mightily prevail, if place of strong defence, They find, protect themselves, and work their foes offence. Even the powerless will become powerful and conquer, if they select a proper field (of action), and guard themselves, while they make war on their enemies.

494 The foes who thought to triumph, find their thoughts were vain, If hosts advance, seize vantage ground, and thence the fight maintain.

If they who draw near (to fight) choose a suitable place to approach (their enemy), the latter, will have to relinquish the thought which they once entertained, of conquering them.

495 The crocodile prevails in its own flow of water wide, If this it leaves, 'tis slain by anything beside.

In deep water, a crocodile will conquer (all other animals); but if it leave the water, other animals will conquer it.

496 The lofty car, with mighty wheel, sails not o'er watery main, The boat that skims the sea, runs not on earth's hard plain.

Wide chariots, with mighty wheels, will not run on the ocean; neither will ships that the traverse ocean, move on the earth.

497 Save their own fearless might they need no other aid, If in right place they fight, all due provision made.

You will need no other aid than fearlessness, if you thoroughly reflect (on what you are to do), and select (a suitable) place for your operations.

498 If lord of army vast the safe retreat assail Of him whose host is small, his mightiest efforts fail.

The power of one who has a large army will perish, if he goes into ground where only a small army can act.

499 Though fort be none, and store of wealth they lack, 'Tis hard a people's homesteads to attack!

It is a hazardous thing to attack men in their own country, although they may neither have power nor a good fortress.

500 The jackal slays, in miry paths of foot-betraying fen, The elephant of fearless eye and tusks transfixing armed men.

A fox can kill a fearless, warrior-faced elephant, if it go into mud in which its legs sink down.

title: Tirukural/Chapter 50


text:
Page:The White Peacock, Lawrence, 1911.djvu/64

56 “Do you know where he kept his papers?” asked my mother.

“Yis, I axed Father Burns about it; he said we mun pray for ’im. I bought him candles out o’ my own pocket. He wor a rum feller, he wor!” and again she shook her grey head mournfully. My mother took a step forward.

“Did ye want to see ’im?” asked the old woman with half timid questioning.

“Yes,” replied my mother, with a vigorous nod. She perceived now that the old lady was deaf.

We followed the woman into the kitchen, a long, low room^ dark, with drawn blinds.

“Sit ye down,” said the old lady in the same low tone, as if she were speaking to herself:

“Ye are his sister, ’appen?”

My mother shook her head.

“Oh—his brother’s wife!” persisted the old lady.

We shook our heads.

“Only a cousin?” she guessed, and looked at us appealingly. I nodded assent.

“Sit ye there a minute,” she said, and trotted off. She banged the door, and jarred a chair as she went. When she returned, she set down a bottle and two glasses with a thump on the table in front of us. Her thin, skinny wrist seemed hardly capable of carrying the bottle.

“It’s one as he’d only just begun of—’ave a drop to keep ye up—do now, poor thing,” she said, pushing the bottle to my mother, and hurrying off, returning with the sugar and the kettle. We refused.

“ ’E won’t want it no more, poor feller—an it’s good. Missis, he allers drank it good. Ay—an’ ’e


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Rh ’adn’t a drop the last three days, poor man, poor feller, not a drop. Come now, it’ll stay ye, come now.” We refused.

“ ’T’s in there,” she whispered, pointing to a closed door in a dark corner of the gloomy kitchen. I stumbled up a little step, and went plunging against a rickety table on which was a candle in a tall brass candlestick. Over went the candle, and it rolled on the floor, and the brass holder fell with much clanging.

“Eh!—Eh! Dear—Lord, Dear—Heart. Dear—Heart!” wailed the old woman. She hastened trembling round to the other side of the bed, and relit the extinguished candle at the taper which was still burning. As she returned, the light glowed on her old, wrinkled face, and on the burnished knobs of the dark mahogany bedstead, while a stream of wax dripped down on to the floor. By the glimmering light of the two tapers we could see the outlined form under the counterpane. She turned back the hem and began to make painful wailing sounds. My heart was beating heavily, and I felt choked. I did not want to look—but I must. It was the man I had seen in the woods—with the puffiness gone from his face. I felt the great wild pity, and a sense of terror, and a sense of horror, and a sense of awful littleness and loneliness among a great empty space. I felt beyond myself as if I were a mere fleck drifting unconsciously through the dark. Then I felt my mother’s arm round my shoulders, and she cried pitifully, “Oh, my son, my son!”

I shivered, and came back to myself. There were no tears in my mother’s face, only a great pleading.


text:
Page:Life of Octavia Hill as told in her letters.djvu/29

 About 1849. to June 10th, no year (evidently a very early one). We had a delicious sail yesterday. We were out for two hours, and it was so lovely; the sun shone warm and clear upon the calm blue waters; and the waves, and the bells were very pretty and made sweet music. It is so delicious bathing; we stay in so long, and try to float and splash and dash and prance and dance.

I am so happy; you don't know how happy. They are all so sweet and kind to me, and it is so beautiful here.

Give my love to the little ones, and tell them (be sure to tell them) that I did mean to bid them good bye. It was not out of anger; but I forgot in my hurry; and though that was bad enough it was not as bad as they thought it was.

Ponney wants you and we all want you to try to get Mrs. Bugden to allow Miranda to come to the carting of the hay at Hillside, which will be about Thursday week.

From to. Uttoxeter, February 2nd, 1850. I shall have great pleasure in working for the Peace Society; but I want you to tell me when the Bazaar is to be held, because if soon, I must not make anything too large to be sent in a letter. I hope it will not be before my holidays for I like best to do coarse work. Will you tell me, too, what are the


text:
Page:The White Peacock, Lawrence, 1911.djvu/66

58 “Never mind, mother—never mind,” I said incoherently.

She rose and covered the face again, and went round to the old lady, and held her still, and stayed her little wailings. The woman wiped from her cheeks the few tears of old age, and pushed her grey hair smooth under the velvet network.

“Where are all his things?” asked mother.

“Eh?” said the old lady, lifting up her ear.

“Are all his things here?” repeated mother in a louder tone.

“Here?”—the woman waved her hand round the room. It contained the great mahogany bedstead, naked of hangings, a desk, and an oak chest, and two or three mahogany chairs. “I couldn’t get him upstairs; he’s only been here about a three week.”

“Where’s the key to the desk?” said my mother loudly in the woman’s ear.

“Yes,” she replied—“it’s his desk.” She looked at us, perplexed and doubtful, fearing she had misunderstood us. This was dreadful.

“Key!” I shouted. “Where is the key?”

Her old face was full of trouble as she shook her head. I took it that she did not know.

“Where are his clothes? Clothes,” I repeated pointing to my coat. She understood, and muttered, “I’ll fetch ’em ye.”

We should have followed her as she hurried upstairs through a door near the head of the bed, had we not heard a heavy footstep in the kitchen, and a voice saying; “Is the old lady going to drink with the Devil? Hullo, Mrs. May, come and drink with me!” We heard the tinkle of the liquor poured into


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Rh a glass, and almost immediately the light tap of the empty tumbler on the table.

“I’ll see what the old girl’s up to,” he said, and the heavy tread came towards us. Like me, he stumbled at the little step, but escaped collision with the table.

“Damn that fool’s step,” he said heartily. It was the doctor—for he kept his hat on his head, and did not hesitate to stroll about the house. He was a big, burly, red-faced man.

“I beg your pardon,” he said, observing my mother. My mother bowed.

“Mrs. Beardsall?” he asked, taking off his hat.

My mother bowed.

“I posted a letter to you. You are a relative of his—of poor old Carlin’s?”—he nodded sideways towards the bed.

“The nearest,” said my mother.

“Poor fellow—he was a bit stranded. Comes of being a bachelor. Ma’am.”

“I was very much surprised to hear from him,” said my mother.

“Yes, I guess he’s not been much of a one for writing to his friends. He’s had a bad time lately. You have to pay some time or other. We bring them on ourselves—silly devils as we are.—I beg your pardon.”

There was a moment of silence, during which the doctor sighed, and then began to whistle softly.

“Well—we might be more comfortable if we had the blind up,” he said, letting daylight in among the glimmer of the tapers as he spoke.

“At any rate,” he said, “you won’t have any


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60 trouble settling up—no debts or anything of that. I believe there’s a bit to leave—so it’s not so bad. Poor devil—he was very down at the last; but we have to pay at one end or the other. What on earth is the old girl after?” he asked, looking up at the raftered ceiling, which was rumbling and thundering with the old lady’s violent rummaging.

“We wanted the key of his desk,” said my mother.

“Oh—I can find you that—and the will. He told me where they were, and to give them you when you came. He seemed to think a lot of you. Perhaps he might ha’ done better for himself——”

Here we heard the heavy tread of the old lady coming downstairs. The doctor went to the foot of the stairs.

“Hello, now—be careful!” he bawled. The poor old woman did as he expected, and trod on the braces of the trousers she was trailing, and came crashing into his arms. He set her tenderly down, saying, “Not hurt, are you?—no!” and he smiled at her and shook his head.

“Eh, doctor—Eh, doctor—bless ye, I’m thankful ye’ve come. Ye’ll see to ’em now, will ye?”

“Yes—” he nodded in his bluff, winning way, and hurrying into the kitchen, he mixed her a glass of whisky, and brought one for himself, saying to her, “There you are—’twas a nasty shaking for you.”

The poor old woman sat in a chair by the open door of the staircase, the pile of clothing tumbled about her feet. She looked round pitifully, at us and at the daylight struggling among the candle light, making a ghostly gleam on the bed where the


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title: Category:Horror poetry


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 doctrines of the Peace Society? I know very little about it though still enough to engage my sympathies.

Will you give the enclosed collar to dear Mamma with my love, and ask whether I shall make some like it for the bazaar?

But Mamma is to be sure and keep this one for herself because I have made it for her, and I like my work to be round her neck, as my arms cannot be there."


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Rh rigid figure lay unmoved; her hand trembled so that she could scarcely hold her glass.

The doctor gave us the keys, and we rifled the desk and the drawers, sorting out all the papers. The doctor sat sipping and talking to us all the time.

“Yes,” he said, “he’s only been here about two years. Felt himself beginning to break up then, I think. He’d been a long time abroad; they always called him Frenchy.” The doctor sipped and reflected, and sipped again, “Ay—he’d run the rig in his day—used to dream dreadfully. Good thing the old woman was so deaf. Awful, when a man gives himself away in his sleep; played the deuce with him, knowing it.” Sip, sip, sip—and more reflections—and another glass to be mixed.

“But he was a jolly decent fellow—generous, open-handed. The folks didn’t like him, because they couldn’t get to the bottom of him; they always hate a thing they can’t fathom. He was close, there’s no mistake—save when he was asleep sometimes.” The doctor looked at his glass, and sighed.

“However—we shall miss him—shan’t we, Mrs. May?” he bawled suddenly, startling us, making us glance at the bed.

He lit his pipe and puffed voluminously in order to obscure the attraction of his glass. Meanwhile we examined the papers. There were very few letters—one or two addressed to Paris. There were many bills, and receipts, and notes—business, all business.

There was hardly a trace of sentiment among all the litter. My mother sorted out such papers as she considered valuable; the others, letters and missives


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62 which she glanced at cursorily and put aside, she took into the kitchen and burned. She seemed afraid to find out too much.

The doctor continued to colour his tobacco smoke with a few pensive words.

“Ay,” he said, “there are two ways. You can burn your lamp with a big draught, and it’ll flare away, till the oil’s gone, then it’ll stink and smoke itself out. Or you can keep it trim on the kitchen table, dirty your fingers occasionally trimming it up, and it’ll last a long time, and sink out mildly.” Here he turned to his glass, and finding it empty, was awakened to reality.

“Anything I can do, Madam?” he asked.

“No, thank you.”

“Ay, I don’t suppose there’s much to settle. Nor many tears to shed—when a fellow spends his years an’ his prime on the Lord knows who, you can’t expect those that remember him young to feel his loss too keenly. He’d had his fling in his day, though, ma’am. Ay—must ha’ had some rich times. No lasting satisfaction in it though—always wanting, craving. There’s nothing like marrying—you’ve got your dish before you then, and you’ve got to eat it.” He lapsed again into reflection, from which he did not rouse till we had locked up the desk, burned the useless papers, put the others into my pockets and the black bag, and were standing ready to depart. Then the doctor looked up suddenly and said:

“But what about the funeral?”

Then he noticed the weariness of my mother’s look, and he jumped up, and quickly seized his hat, saying:


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