steam? Who shall say, 'Thus far shalt "thou go, and no farther?' We are at present in the infancy of science. Do 66 you imagine that, in former stages of "this planet, wiser creatures than ourselves did not exist? All our boasted inven 66 66 66 tions are but the shadows of what has been,―the dim images of the past-the "dream of other states of existence. 66 'Might not the fable of Prometheus, "and his stealing the fire, and of Bri"areus and his earth-born brothers, be "but traditions of steam and its ma chinery? Who knows whether, when "a comet shall approach this globe to 66 destroy it, as it often has been and will "be destroyed, men will not tear rocks "from their foundations by means of steam, "and hurl mountains, as the giants are 66 said to have done, against the flaming 66 mass?-and then we shall have tradi"tions of Titans again, and of wars with "A mighty ingenious theory," said I laughing,—and was near adding, in the words of Julian and Maddalo': "The sense that he was greater than his kind Had made, methinks, his eagle spirit blind With gazing on its own exceeding light." Talking of romances, he said: "The Monk' is perhaps one of the "best in any language, not excepting the "German. It only wanted one thing, as "I told Lewis, to have rendered it per"fect. He should have made the dæmon 66 really in love with Ambrosio : this would "have given it a human interest. 'The "Monk' was written when Lewis was 66 only twenty, and he seems to have ex"hausted all his genius on it. Perhaps "at that age he was in earnest in his "belief of magic wonders. That is the secret of Walter Scott's inspiration: he "retains and encourages all the super"stitions of his youth. Lewis caught "his passion for the marvellous, and it "amounted to a mania with him, in Germany; but the groundwork of 'The Monk' is neither original nor German; "it is derived from the tale of Santon "Barsisa.' The episode of "The Bleed'ing Nun,' which was turned into a melodrama, is from the German. 66 66 66 "There were two stories which he al "most believed by telling. One hap 66 pened to himself whilst he was residing at Manheim. Every night, at the same "hour, he heard or thought he heard in "his room, when he was lying in bed, a 66 crackling noise like that produced by parchment, or thick paper. This cir"cumstance caused enquiry, when it was "told him that the sounds were attribut"able to the following cause :-The house "in which he lived had belonged to a "widow, who had an only son. In order "to prevent his marrying a poor but "amiable girl, to whom he was attached, "he was sent to sea. Years passed, and "the mother heard no tidings of him, nor "the ship in which he had sailed. It 66 was supposed that the vessel had been "wrecked, and that all on board had pe 66 rished. The reproaches of the girl, the 66 upbraidings of her own conscience, and "the loss of her child, crazed the old 66 lady's mind, and her only pursuit be came to turn over the Gazettes for news. Hope at length left her: she did not "live long, and continued her old occu"pation after death. 66 66 "The other story that I alluded to be"fore, was the original of his 'Alonzo and 'Imogene,' which has had such a host of "imitators. Two Florentine lovers, who "had been attached to each other almost from childhood, made a vow of eternal fidelity. Mina was the name of the lady "-her husband's I forget, but it is not "material. They parted. He had been "for some time absent with his regiment, "when, as his disconsolate lady was sitting "alone in her chamber, she distinctly |
