Chapter 11.

Otago Witness, Issue 941, 11 December 1869, Page 18

Chapter 11.

A FLOOD OF ELOQUENCE.

One cold and windy evening in the winter of 1704, when there was every reason in tho world for people hurrying along the streets , instead of loitering, v man who was Bauntering along the bowling green, by the wall of the Tadcaster Inn, stopped suddenly. This man, whose dress indicated the sailor, was of good mien and handsome figure, a thing necessary for courtiers and" not forbidden to the lower orders. Why had he stopped 1 To listen. What did^he hear 1 A voice, probably speaking in a court-yard on the other side of the wall. A voice, a little worn perhapß, but still powerful enough to reaoh the passerß-by in the streets. At tho same time, one could hear in the yard whence the voice proceeded, the noise of a crowd, and the voice said —

♦' Men and women of London, behold me. I congratulate you cordially on being English, You are a great people. I Bay more, you are a great populace. Your blows of the fists are finer than your sword-thrusts. You are the possesors of an appetite. You are the nation that devours the others. Magnificent function ! This absorption of the world is a specialty of England. As politicians, philosophers, and colonisers, doers of evil to others that good may come to yourselves, you are particular and surprising! The tune is approaching when there will be on the earth two huge signboards', on which one will read — 'The side of mankind,' and on the other, « The side of the English.' I put this down to your credit. I, who am neither English nor man, having the honor to be a bear. More, I am a doctor. Gentlemen, I teach. What? Two kinds of things, what I know, and what I don't know. I sell drugs, and I give away ideas. Approach, and listen. Open your ears. If they are small they will hold a little truth ; if they are big, a good deal of stupidity. Attention, then ! I have a comrade who will raise laughter. I incite to thought. Now I will introduce you to my company . " Here a violent gUBt of wind shook the timbers of the solitary house. A species of long celestial murmur. The orator stopped a moment and then went on. "Interruption. Vory good. Speak out, my Lord Wind. Gentlemen, Ido not grumble. The wind, like all solitaries, is loquacious. No one keeps him company on high. Therefore ho is a chatterbox. I resume the thread of my discourse. You see here an association of talent. Wo are four. To begin with the wolf. My friend is a wolf. He does not disguise it. He is educated, grave, sagacious. Providence had possibly for a moment tho idea of making him a doctor of the University, but to be that one must be slightly stupid, and he is not. I may add that he has no aristocratic prejudices. His name is "Homo." He is humble too, with the modesty of a wolf useful to mankind. His left paw knows not what his right paw doeth. Such are his merits. Of tho other, my second friend, I will only say one word. He is a monster. You will wonder at him. He was once deserted by pirates on the shores of the savage ocean. Thia young woman here is blind. Is this an exception ? No. We are all blind. Tho miser is blind, he sees gold and notriohes ; the prodigal is blind, ho tees the beginning and not the end ; tho coquette is blind, 'she soes not hor wrinkles ; the scholar is blind, he sees not his ignorance ; the honest man is blind, ho lees nut the rogue ; the rogue is blind, ho tees not Ood ; God is blind, for on tho day Ho created the world He did not se» tho devil therein ; I, too, am blind, for I apeak and do not see that you are doaf. This blind girl hero is a priestess of mystery. Vesta hat confided to hor h«r torch. I believe, but I don't affirm, that ehe is a king's daughter. As for me I reason and I ours*. - Chirurgut turn* lam neither ignorant nor rude. I honor

tHeW "^oae^s^i^'iMpperit^iritimacy,. I boholude with one piece- of advice—ladies'' and centlem^cultivate virtue^ modesty;,, probity.^j'usiic^l^nd-iovev l Everyone hereVcan tiave-:their> little' 'floWer-p-O* on the ' window-sill.'"' My* loroVand gen%; men,' the' performance' is about to'begin. , f The man/p robably sailor, vwho; lis< tened ' from outside, J entered ' 'thVlow.e^ liall of the inn/crossed it', paid-thembney-aslced of him; and penetrate'din«6 a courtyard' crdwd'ed-witn.epeotatdM.^ At, the' extremity'of this-yiird was* a caravati with thefront entirely' op' en, and on the,platform" were an old > matt ! clothed 1 in a bear.-, Skin ; ' a young man, to all 'appearance wearing.a mask ; 'a blind girl, 1 and a-wolf. By Jove," lie cried, " these people are decidedly ßdmethingout;6f»the way.?' v