Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1847-09-02
CHAPTER. VIII

lowing day, Cbarney exhibited the depres-
sion Of mind aud body, which results from
every great physical crisis But on the third
day, he resumed bis powers of though, and
action; and, If still detained by weakness
on his pillow, the time was not far distant
when he was likely to resume bis former
habits Of life.
What delight to renew his acquaintance
with his benefactress All his thoughts
were now turned towards Picciolal There
seemed 10 be something beyond the COM
mon course Of events in the fact that seed,
accidentally shed within the precincts Of his
prison, should have terminated in order to
cure in The first instance his moral disorder,
ennui and in the second the periIous ply
steal disease TO which he had been about TO
fall victim. lie, whom the splendour Of
wealth had failed to enliven,-he, whom the
calculations of human learning had failed to
restore, had been preserved, first and last,
by plant Enfeebled by illness, be was
no longer able TO apply his full force of rea-
soning to the development Of the question;
and superstitious feeling. accordingly, be-
gan 10 attach him with redoubled force to
the mysterious PIccIoLA. II was impossible
10 ground upon rational basis his senti-
men,s Of gratitude towards non.sentient
being nevertheless Charney found it i'm
possible to refuse his affection in exchange
for the existence bestowed upon him
Where reason is psralyzed, Imagination ex-
ercises her influence without any restraint.
Charney's regard for his benefactress now
became exalted into religious feeling, or
rather into a blind superstition. Between
him and bis favouriie, there existed a mys-
FERROUS sympathy Of nature, like the attrac-
ton which draws together certain inanimate
substances. He even fancied himself under
charm--a spell Of enchanlment Who
knowsi Perhaps the arrogant refnter Of
the existence Of Con, is about to fall into
the puerilities Of Judicial astrology. For in
the secrecy Of his cell. Charney does not
hesitate 10 apostrophize Picciola as his star
his destiny-his talisman Of light and
life ~ ----- '---' -
II is curious fact that scarcely one illus.
trious man, remarkable for knowledge or
genius, convicted Of doubt in the agency of
a Providence, but has been in his own per-
son the slave OF superstition: while attempt
ing TO throw of the yoke of servitude, sub
hitting 10 become three-fold slaves. In the
blind eagerness Of their pride TO arrogate 10
their own merit the power or glory they have
aitained--those deep-seated instincts of re-
ligion which they have attempted to stiHe in
their souls, thrust out OF their natural chan
mel, force way Of their own towards day
light, and acquire wild aud irregular char
acier. The homage they arrest in its course
to heaven, falls back upon the earth. They
would fam judge, though they refuse to be-
lieye; and the genius whose horizon they
have circumscribed. requites the forced
contraction by seeing things in part instead
OF whole, and losing all power Of estimate
ing the homogeneous design Of the great
Master of all They attach themselves TO
details, because an isolated fact is within
the scope Of their judgment and do not SO
much as notice the points Of union which
connect II with universal nature. For what
Is the whole creaiion-earth, air, water
the winds, the waves, the stars-mankind.
the universe-but an infinite being, COM
plele, premeditated, varied into nscrutable
details, and breathing and palpitating under
the omnipresent hand Of GoD!
Subdued, however, BY the strength of his
pride and the weakness Of his health. Char
ney saw nothing to admire in nature but his
Pi"n.-Ais rlocloldi ana, as II
TO justify his folly by analogy, Owed into the
vast stores of his memory for precedent
He called to mind all the miraculous
plants recorded from the earliest times, BY
poet or historian; the holly Of Homer-the
palm-iree OF Latona-the oak Of Odin -
nay, even the golden herb which shines be-
lore the eyes OF the ignorant peasants Of
Brittany, and the May-hower, which pre-
serves from evil thoughts the simple shep-
herdesses OF La Brie. He recollected the
sacred hg-iree Of the Romans--lhe olive Of
the Athenlans-the vervain Of the Gauls--
the lotus Of the Greeks-the mistletoe of the
Druids--the beans Of the Pythagoreans--
the mandrake of the Hebrews. He remem-
bered the green campac which blossoms ev-
erlastingy in the Persian's paradise--the
touba tree which overshadows the celestial
throne OF Mshomet-the magic camalata.