IGNORANT ESSAYS.
IGNORANT
ESSAYS.
LONDON:
WARD AND DOWNEY,
12, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN, W.C.
1887.
[All Rights Reserved.]
Richard Clay and Sons,
LONDON AND BUNGAY.
CONTENTS.
| PAGE | |
| THE ONLY REAL GHOST IN FICTION | 1 |
| THE BEST TWO BOOKS | 30 |
| LIES OF FABLE AND ALLEGORY | 55 |
| MY COPY OF KEATS | 83 |
| DECAY OF THE SUBLIME | 117 |
| A BORROWED POET | 132 |
| THE ENGLISH OPIUM-EATER | 160 |
| A GUIDE TO IGNORANCE | 175 |
IGNORANT ESSAYS.
THE ONLY REAL GHOST IN FICTION.
My most ingenious friend met me one day, and asked me whether Iconsidered I should be richer if I had the ghost of sixpence or if I hadnot the ghost of sixpence.
“What side do you take?” I inquired, for I knew his disputatious turn.
“I am ready to take either,” he answered; “but I give preference to theghost.”
“What!” I said. “Give preference to the ghost!”
“Yes. You see, if I haven’t the ghost of{2} sixpence I have nothing atall; but if I have the ghost of a sixpence——”
“Well?”
“Well, I am the richer by having the ghost of a sixpence.”
“And do you think when you add one more delusion to those under whichyou already labour”—he and I could never agree about the differencebetween infinity and zero—“that you will be the better off?”
“I have not admitted a ghost is a delusion; and even if I had I am notprepared to grant that a delusion may not be a source of wealth.