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5m THE/ I/EADIR. ;[ & r^jji^w^; , ¦ '¦ '...
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Uve good for the absolute good, you must...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Theology In Nature. The Natural History ...
"TltE STOJtY OF NELL CFWYN . * " £ K t ^ SiSS . "' ' th ' s ^> a arU ¦ * £±£$ 2 ! 2 ^^^^ SS ^ tSiSX ^^^^ dortafn persons whose career Kas not perhaps boon that of all others suited to ilSato the beauty of rigorous morals . Mirabeauwas , conventionally , ffM ^^^ uTim than Eobespiorro ; Oamillo Desmoul ns far less so than St Just vet weaUlovo the genial reprobates , and ^ rud go our praise ^ S « trifll . Therfis W owyn too , Xm M « J people loved , antf will love , lot moralists sermonize with forty parson power" against her . As Peter Cunningham remarks : — "ThoEngliflh peoplo have always ontcrtftined a peculiar liking for Noll « wyn .
There is a sort of indulgence towards her not generally conceded to any other woman of her class . Thousands ar ^ att ^ ted by ; her name , they know not why and do not stay to inquire . It isthe popularimpression that , with all her failings ' she had a generous as well as a tender heart ; that when raised from poverty , she reserved her wealth for others rather than herself ; and that the influence ; she possessed was often exercised for good objecfe , and never abused . Contrasted with others in a far superior rank in life , and tried by fewer temptations , there is much that marks and removes her from the common herd . The many have no sym . pathyy nor should they have any , for Barbara Palmer , Louise de Qu erouelle , or Erengard de Schulenbergf but for Nell Gwyn , ^ pretty witty Nell , ' there is * tolerant and kindly regard , which the following pages are designed to illustrate rather than extend . "
This is not the time , or we could ; show that , on a deeper view of morals , the apparent contradiction disappears , and that it is our . healthy moral sense which awards this praise to Character over Gondu . et , perceiying that Life is a Problem not a Theorem , a thing to be acted ^ not a thing to be prescribed ; and that truly speaking , kindness , tenderness , charity , and joyousness are really of more consequence than the rigorous adherence to a code of maxims , admirable and necessary as those maxims may be . The coal-yard in I ) rury-lane—a low alley on the east side of the lane , and famous , among other things , as the residence of Jonathan Wild , — claims the honour of being Nelly ' s birth-place j but while seven cities ^ claim a Homer , may not two dispute about a I ^ elly P andthere is Hereford , the birthplace of Garrick , eqiiafly proud of its traditional claim to be the mother-citv of Nell Gwyn . Peter Cunningham tells us that " oddly
enough , one of Nelly ' s grandsons died Bishop of Hereford , a detail which all right-minded persons will at once pronounce decisive in favour of the Hereford claim , in spite of pertinacious antiquaries . At any rate Nell was born on the 2 nd February , 1650 ; her father , we are told , belonging to an ancient Welch family ; but the Captain , if captaincy there was , must have dragged Ins lineage somewhat through the dirt , as Nell's early life was spent in company not precisely the most choice , and in avocations not usually regarded as favourable to the culture of female purity . We find her as an " Orange girl , holding her basket of fruit covered with vineleaves , in the pit of the King ' s Theatre , and taking her stand with her fellow fruit-women in the front row of the pit with her back to the stage . " -rr n t ' _ i _ i rro , ~ " XTi-inm ** TT ^ otri / ao tirVi / i nrvar-n . ninra . af . rnll infn xxio j uii jutotivd i —
xLow iasnions cnange i . v » g . , «« v , « y .. » » w « , « .. »» . « the stalls of Her Majesty ' s with a quill tooth-pick ostentatiou ^ protruding from their foolish mouths , as if to announce to the mild public that they , the Heavies , have just left their club , and have " dined , damme ! ' would be thrown into fits at the idea of being offered " oranges , apples , ginger beer , bill of the play ! " and of being suspected of eating oranges there . Yet as our biographer says : ~ " With the orangergirls ( who stood as we have seen in the pit , with their , back to the stage ) the beaux about town were accustomed to break their jests j and that the language employed was not of the most delicate description , we may gather from the dialogue of Dorjmant , in Etherege ' comedy of Sir Fopling Flutter familiarlknown olland
« The mistress or superior of the girls was y as Orange M , filled the same sort of office in the theatre that the mother of the maids occupied at court among the maids of honour , . Both Sir William Perm and Pepys-would occasionally have « a great deal of discourse' with Orange Moll : ; and M « . Kn ^ p the actress , when in want of Pepy 8 , sent * toll to the Clerk of the Acts with the welcome message . To higgle about the price of the fruit was thought . beneath the character of a gentlemen . < The next stop / says the Young Gallant s Academy , 'is to give a turn to the China orange wench , and give her her own rate Tor her oranees ( for ' tis below a gentleman to stand haggling like a citizens wife ) , ana then to present the fairest to the next vizard mask / Pepys , when challenged m the pit for the price of twelve oranges which the orange-woman said he owed fter , but which he says was wholly untrue , was not content with denying the debt , but for quiet bought four shillings' worth of oranges from her . at sixpence a piece . TbisVas a high price , but the Clerk of the Acts was true to the direction in tno
Gallant ' s Academy . " _ Nelly is always associated in the public mind with the gaieties ot the Restoration :- — ** ,-, ¦**• ircn mm " She was ten years of ago at the restoration of King Charles II ., in 1660 . » ne was old enough , therefore , to have noticed the extraordinary change wmen ui « return of royalty effected in the manners , customs , feelings , and even com ™™™ of the bulk of the peoplo . The strict observance of the Sabbath was no longer rigidly enforced . Sir Charles Sedley and the Duke of Buckingham rode m tneir coaches on a Sunday , and the barber and the shoe-black shaved beards andcleimca of the 8 h
boots on the same day , without the overseera of the poor P » n . T , Sabfines on them for such ( as they were then thought ) unseemly breaches orthe » a bath . Maypolea were once moVo erected on spots endeared by old « f sociations , w the people again danced their old dances aroundthem . The Cavalier ^ torea ^ royal insignia on his fire-place to its old position ; the King ' s Head , tno vu Head , and the Crown wore once more favourite signs by which taverns ^ «* ; tinguished ; drinking of healths and deep potations , with all ihow ^ J ^ * ^ honours and observances , were again in vogue . Oughtred , tho matnonoaw ^ of ioy ; and Urquhart , the translator of Knbolais , of laughter , at hean w enthusiasm of the English to < welcome homo old Rowley . ' * The King s nw
& ' Hero ' s o health unto his Majesty , with a fa , la , ln , f ^^ was made a pretext for the worst oxcessea , and irreligion mid in ^ "Jtici 8 ni thought to secure conversation against q suspicion of diBloyalty ^ an "_^__ "ITTr ^^ o ^^' oiJ ^ i ^ is tho name of the woll-known ^ U iah tuno <* e « Had away frao mo , Donald , " Soo Johnson ' fl Soptt ' p Musical ¦ afw « f M" ' ^ ' jn three , f Ono oi tho flovon " Choice Now English Ayroa ' \^ iS 0 Mu » i * four , ftvQ parts , both apt for tho Voicon and Viols , with a briof lntroduction «> Jq as taught in tho Muaick-Scliool of Aberdeen , third edition , enlarged , Aberdeen m ; i ' orboa , 1082 , is— , . „ * ln " Hero ' s a health unto his Majesty , with ft w , •» , *•• Convorsion to his onomioe , with a fa , la , la . And ho that will not p ledge his health , I wish him noithor wit nor wealth , Nor yet a rope to hang himself . " With a fa , la , la , la , With a fa , la , " Ac . .. „ c ^ woU Tho musio appearu to have been the composition of " Mr . John bavw > . rofors to tho Bong , Works ^ ii . 268 ; iii . 62 .
5m The/ I/Eadir. ;[ & R^Jji^W^; , ¦ '¦ '...
5 m THE / I / EADIR . ;[ & r ^ jji ^ w ^; , ¦ '¦ ' ¦ ' : ¦ ¦ ' ' ' ' - '" ' ' " ——J — ^
Uve Good For The Absolute Good, You Must...
Uve good for the absolute good , you mustequally accept your relative wl for ^ absolute evil . Now this is shocking j , the mind refuses to ^ accept suchaSeption ; and would be plunged in despair , did it not ; learn thaVWisdom , Goodness , Evil , are but relative terms , and pertam to our Kan finite conditions , not to the InHn te ; yet , ifme ^ persist m S y the Infinite according to their finite standard , they must do so S the one case as in the . other . If the argument of design is good £ ? mie case it is in the other . Theologians ^ usually escape from the cMemma by saying , when any case of manifest evil is propounded , ^ d ™ ways are & crutable ; " andJhey are right But , i ( inscrutable in one direction , inscrutable in aU . We do not understand Evil , nor do we understand Good ; the Finite cannot understand the Infinite , A loftier conception of the Deity than this of a Contriver , and a profounder theorv of the Universe than the common mechanical one , would emancipate men from this tendency to see in . Nature nothing but a reflection of human powers . But we have formerly touched on this topic , and may
^ As ^ iair specimen of the absurd interpretation of Nature in the search for final causes , let us quote this : — " The most interesting part of the anatomy of the Leech relates , however , to the structure of its mouth , which presents a piece of mechanism that is quite unique in the animal creation . In the medicinal Leech , which alone possesses the apparatus we are about to describe in a complete condition , the mouth is a dilatable orifice situated near the centre of the anterior sucker , and would seem , at first sight , to be but a simple hole . Just within the margin of the aperture , are situated three beautiful little semicircular horny saws , arranged in a tri-radiate manner , so that their edges meet in the centre . It is by means of these saws is to be tion
that the Leech makes the incisions whence blood procured , an opera that is performed in the following manner : no sooner is the sucker firmly fixed to the skin , than the mouth becomes slightly everted , and the edges o the saws thus made to press upon the tense integument , a sawing movement being at the same time given to . each , whereby it is made gradually to pierce the surface , and cut its way to the sluices of blood beneath . Nothing could be more admirably adapted to secure the end in view than the shape of the wound thus inflicted , the lips of which must necessarily be drawn asunder by the very contractility of the skin itself ; nor can we doubt that the enormous sacculated stomach , which fills nearly the whole body of the Leech , is equally a contrivance to render these creatures efficient as medicinalagents for theme of mankind . That it was for man , and not for the Leech , that this structure was designed , there can be no reasonable question . The Leech , m its native „ , __ ,. ^ . Aa t ^^ w y **™ for n . KMtvnlv of hot blood as food ; and on the other elementcould hardlhope for a supply of hot blood as food ; and on the otner
, y hand its habits are most abstemious , and it may be kept alive and healthy idr years , with no other apparent nourishment than what As derived from pure water frequently changed ; even when at large , minute aquatic insects and larva ? form its . usual diet : whence , then , the necessity for this curious cupping apparatus ? " Another convincing proof of the adaptation of the economy of these Leeches to the necessities of mankind , rather thaft to their own support , is the remarkable disproportion between the quantity of blood swallowed at a meal , and the slowness of its appropriation as nutriment . A Leech , in the course of half an hour , will aorse itself almost to bursting ; while observation proves that it requires a whole year to digest the quantity of food thus rapidly imbibed , during the whole of which time the blood remains in the body of the Leech in . a fluid condition , instead of coagulating or becoming putrid , as it would inevitably do under any other
circumstances . " , .. , There is something so laughable in the first portion of tibi * that we cannot gravely answer it ; as Goethe says , there are men who think cork trees were invented to stop ginger-beer bottles . With regard to the second " convincing proof , " we would ask Mr . Bymer Jones how so accomplished a naturalist could forget that the boa-constrictor stands in similar relations to its food ? . The idea of the universe being subordinate to Man , made for him and for his wants—so that no flower blooms save for his delight , no leech n ^ o i . « f « a « nnsHihl ft minoinff-machine to be called upon when
wantedis not the idea which our minds can accept ; and although we study everv feature of the divine face of Nature with a love as fervent , and with emotions of wonder and joy as deep as those that move the natural theolocian , seeking for " contrivance , " and ostentatiously applauding " skill '—although we know that , being human , we have only human language wherewith to translate our feelings , and that we must employ the words Beauty , Goodness , and Wisdom , when speaking of the thousand-fold activities of the great Life which encompasses and sustains us ~ 4 . ; n «™ ™™ vwa nR necessarilv erroneous and certainly dangerous , all
speculation founded on a mechanical theory of the universe and a great rfesigner who " contrives" in human fashion . We will accompany Mr . Bvmer Jones into the remotest recesses of Nature and admire with him the marvel of beauty and fitness there displayed ; but when ho pretends to be admitted into the secrets of the Creator , there we leave him . Beauty and fitness , he may-repl y , arc they not human conceptions alsoP Thev are . Wherein , then , lies the difference between us ? In this : wo use language which we know to bo human , and incommensurate with the Deity : the natural theologians use the same language , and insist upori its being commensurate . We " sit down in quiet ignorance , as Looko advisod ; they declare their ignorance to bo final truth .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 12, 1852, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12061852/page/18/
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