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Miscellaneous Papers,

FRAGMENTS OF CRITICISM,

THOUGHTS ON RELIGION,

AND

POETRY.

SECTION I.

Miscellaneous Papers.

THE DREAM OF PHILO.

PHILO, the Hebrew Philosopher of Alexandria, did much to bring about

that mixture of sacred and profane literature which became conspicuous in the later history of Neo-Platonism. His speculations, borrowed one-half from Jerusalem, and the other half from Athens, wear a strange aspect to the uninitiated in such matters in our time. But they have their place in the history of thought, and are not without their uses even now. The piece below, intitled "The Dream of Philo,' was written off by my son during one of his lonely evenings at Halle, when human existence, so perplexing to Philo, had become a distressing enigina to his own mind. It is such a vision of the history and condition of humanity as Philo's discoursings in the day might well have reproduced in the sleeping hours of the night. The conclusion is gloomy-terrible; but it is such as Philo might have described, and such as had too much influence at the time on the mind of the writer. The reader will find in this fragment, if I mistake not, a singular richness of imagination and expression.-EDITOR.

A DAY of labour had nearly reached its close. My scholars, with whom I cannot live, and yet who are ever alternately gratifying and disappointing me, had been dismissed. I sat down in the garden of the Museum. A distant hum of the many sounds from either side, -from the harbour and from the city-and the quiet breath of the summer evening, invited me to repose. Sleep overcame me; and the truths, some of which I had been that day imparting, and the investigation of which has formed the toil and pleasure of my life, appeared in that sleep.

Methought I was suddenly placed in the midst of space-poised as in the centre of a dark undefined void. But presently I saw that on either side of me stood a form of surpassing dignity. Neither shape nor feature could I distinctly recognise, but a something within told me who were these divine companions. On my right stood Moses-the Plato of our nation; on the left, Plato-the Moses of Greece. The former addressed me, and said :-'Wait, favoured one, and thou shalt behold that which hath been. Let the eye look -let the ear listen and learn thou these lessons. not been in vain, neither thy many earnest thoughts. For thee shall the Isis-veil of the past be uplifted. Thou shalt behold a re-enacted shadowing of what God hath done, and behold the birth-time of creation and of sin-the brethren-one but so short a space the elder, now servant unto him who came forth second.'

Thy toil hath

I bowed my head, for I could not trust myself to speaking right words. I kissed the hem of the garment that seemed woven of silver light. I arose and stood waiting. Long the darkness remained even as it was. Plato looked towards his brother spirit, and said, 'Shall it not be now as after those words 'Let there be light'?' Scarcely had he spoken when I saw before me, but afar off, the kingdom of light-perfect, as it is and will be ever-formed, and kindled, and bounded without a sound. The Infinite-the Marvellous, He who is bounded by nothing, and hath contact with nothing, who stands in need of nothing, and to whom nought is like, He of whom none can say what He is the without distinction, or part, or change-unbegun, unending-had rayed out from Himself the light circle of glory. The Word was. In the inmost insufferable brightness of the vast realm, methought I beheld the Word; and His majesty and brightness rayed from thence to the utmost round of the outer fiery circle, which, heaving and streaming in waves of flashing fire, undulated in its stupendous round, the outskirts of the region of glory. Many saw I who seemed to be throned powers and principalities, of an undimmed lustre; but beyond all shone that Word, destined to

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