Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 3.8
Travels in the Mogul Empire (Constable) 3.8
- Language
- English
3.8.1
But I am sure we shall all have felt great pleasure and some comfort in knowing that a man so able, so laborious, so full of ideas as Mr. Gladstone, should still return in his leisure time to the old subjects which formed so large a portion of his school days. I hope I shall not be abusing his kindness by attributing to him an excessive educational conservatism which perhaps he would repudiate. But I cannot but think he intends to encourage us to hold fast to the old studies, as to which, though they cannot keep the exclusive place which was formerly theirs, we have Mr. Gladstone's authority for saying that there is no better foundation for the highest culture than the old Greek literature, and that in that literature there is nothing more healthy, more noble and splendid, than the early part of it, which Mr. Gladstone has done so much to illustrate and recommend to this generation. I propose a vote of thanks to Mr. Gladstone, to which, I am sure, you will accord a hearty reception. (Cheers.) Mr. Gladstone, in thanking his audience for the manner in which he had been received, and telling them how refreshing it was for an old man to come back among young ones, standing more or less in the position he once stood himself, concluded with these words: —
3.8.2
'I have mentioned a subject which is of such profound and vast extent, that were I to allow myself to be tempted, it would lead me to make another infliction upon you, but I answer the Provost by saying he has understood me rightly. I have not the smallest desire that all boys should be put upon the bed of Procrustes, and either contracted or expanded to the possession of Greek and Latin, especially of Greek, culture. I may say it would probably be a case of expansion rather than contraction. But the object is to find right and sufficient openings for all characters and all capacities. But this, Mr. Provost, I say with confidence, that my conviction and experience of life leads me to the belief that if the purpose of education be to fit the human mind for the efficient performance of the greatest functions, the ancient culture, and, above all, Greek culture, is by far the best, the highest, the most lasting, and the most elastic instrument that can possibly be applied to it.' (Loud cheers.) my brain with idle and foolish propositions, the solution of which yield no satisfaction to the mind — propositions that seldom enter into the business of life ; wild and extravagant reveries conceived with great labour, and forgotten as soon as conceived ; whose only effect is to fatigue and ruin the intellect, and to render a man headstrong and insufferable [their Philosophy abounds with even more absurd and obscure notions than our own, — Bernier].
3.8.3
O yes, you caused me to devote the most valuable years of my life to your favourite hypotheses, or systems, and when I left you, I could boast of no greater attainment in the sciences than the use of many obscure and uncouth terms, calculated to discourage, confound, and appal a youth of the most masculine understanding [their Philosophers employ even more gibberish than ours do, — Bernier] : terms invented to cover the vanity and ignorance of pretenders to philosophy ; of men who, like yourself, would impose the belief that they transcend others of their species in wisdom, and that their dark and ambiguous jargon conceals many profound mysteries known only to themselves. If you had taught me that philosophy which adapts the mind to reason, and will not suffer it to rest satisfied with anything short of the most solid arguments ; if you had inculcated lessons which elevate the soul and fortify it against the assaults of fortune, tending to produce that enviable equanimity which is neither insolently elated by prosperity, nor basely depressed by adversity ; if you had made me acquainted with the nature of man ; accustomed me always to refer to first principles, and given me a sublime and adequate conception of the universe, and of the order and regular motion of its parts;
3.8.4
— if such, I say, had been the nature of the philosophy imbibed under your tuition, I should be more indebted to you than Alexander was to Aristotle, and should consider it my duty to bestow a very different reward on you than Aristotle received from that Prince. Answer me, sycophant, ought you not to have instructed me on one point at least so essential to be known by a King; namely, on the reciprocal duties between the sovereign and his subjects? Ought you not also to have foreseen that I might, at some future period, be compelled to contend with my brothers, sword in hand, for the crown, and for my very existence? Such, as you must well know, has been the fate of the children of almost every King of Hindoustan. Did you ever instruct me in the art of war, how to besiege a town, or draw up an army in battle array? Happy for me that I consulted wiser heads than thine on these subjects! Go! withdraw to thy village. Henceforth let no person know either who thou art, or what is become of thee.'
3.8.5
At that time a slight disturbance arose against the astrologers, which I did not find unpleasing. The majority of Asiatics are so infatuated in favour of being guided by the signs of the heavens, that, according to their phraseology, no circumstance can happen below, which is not written above. In every enterprise they consult their astrologers. When two armies have completed every preparation for battle, no consideration can induce the generals to commence the engagement until the Sahet be performed; that is, until the propitious moment for attack be ascertained. In like manner no commanding officer is nominated, no marriage takes place, and no journey is undertaken, without consulting Monsieur the Astrologer. Their advice is considered absolutely necessary even on the most trifling occasions; as the proposed purchase of a slave, or the first wearing of new clothes. This silly superstition is so general an annoyance, and attended with such important and disagreeable consequences, that I am astonished it has continued so long: the astrologer is necessarily made acquainted with every transaction public and private, with every project common and extraordinary.
3.8.6
Now it happened that the Kings principal astrologer fell into the water and was drowned. This melancholy accident caused a great sensation at court, and proved injurious to the reputation of these professors in divination. The man who had thus lost his life always performed the Sahet for the King and the Omralis; and the people naturally wondered that an astrologer of such extensive experience, and who had for many years predicted happy incidents for others, should have been incapable of foreseeing the sad catastrophe by which he was himself overwhelmed. It was insinuated that in Franguistan, where the sciences flourish, professors in astrology are considered little better than cheats and jugglers, that it is there much doubted whether the science be founded on good and solid principles, and whether it be not used by designing men as a means of gaining access to the great, of making them feel their dependence, and their absolute need of these pretended soothsayers. The astrologers were much displeased with these and similar observations, and particularly with the following anecdote, which was universally known and repeated:—Chah-Abas, the great King of Persia, having given orders that a small piece of ground within the seraglio should be prepared for a garden, the master-gardener intended to plant there several fruit-trees on a given day;
3.8.7
but the astrologer, assuming an air of vast consequence, declared that unless the time of planting were regulated by the Sahet, it was impossible that the trees should thrive. Chah-Abas having acquiesced in the propriety of the remark, the astrologer took his instruments; turned over the pages of his books, made his calculations and concluded that, by reason of this or that conjunction of the planets, it was necessary to plant the trees before the expiration of another hour. The gardener, who thought of nothing less than an appeal to the stars, was absent when this wise determination was formed; but persons were soon procured to accomplish the work: holes were dug, and all the trees put into the ground, the King placing them himself, that it might be said they were all planted by the hand of Chah-Abas. The gardener, returning at his usual hour in the afternoon, was greatly surprised to see his labour anticipated; but observing that the trees were not ranged according to the order he had originally designed — that an apricot, for example, was placed in the soil intended for an apple-tree, and a pear-tree in that prepared for an almond — he pulled up the premature plantation, and laid down the trees for that night on the ground, covering the roots with earth. In an instant the astrologer was apprised of the gardener's proceedings, and he was equally expeditious in complaining to Chah-Abas, who, on his part, sent immediately for the culprit.
3.8.8
'How is it,' cried the Monarch indignantly, 'that you have presumed to tear up trees planted by my own hands; trees put into the ground after the solemn performance of the Sahet? We cannot now hope to repair the mischief. The stars had marked the hour for planting, and no fruit can henceforth grow in the garden.' The honest rustic had taken liberal potations of Schiras wine, and looking askance at the astrologer, observed after an oath or two, 'Billah, Billah, an admirable Sahet certainly! thou augur of evil! Trees planted under thy direction at noon, are in the evening torn up by the roots!' Chah-Abas, hearing this unexpected piece of satirical drollery, laughed heartily, turned his back upon the astrologer, and walked away in silence.