Great Britain -- Social conditions -- 19th century; Social problems
Independence, 'lord of the lion-heart and eagle-eye'--alas, yes,
he is a lord we have got acquainted with in these late times: a
very indispensable lord, for spurning off with due energy
innumerable sham-superiors, Tailor-made: honour to him, entire
success to him! Entire success is sure to him. But he must not
stop there, at that small success, with his eagle-eye. He has
now a second far greater success to gain: to seek out his real
superiors, whom not the Tailor but the Almighty God has made
superior to him, and see a little what he will do with these!
Rebel against these also? Pass by with minatory eagle-glance,
with calm-sniffing mockery, or even without any mockery or sniff,
when these present themselves? The lion-hearted will never dream
of such a thing. Forever far be it from him! His minatory
eagle-glance will veil itself in softness of the dove: his lion-
heart will become a lamb's; all is just indignation changed into
just reverence, dissolved in blessed floods of noble humble love,
how much heavenlier than any pride, nay, if you will, how much
prouder! I know him, this lion-hearted, eagle-eyed one; have
met him, rushing on, 'with bosom bare,' in a very distracted
dishevelled manner, the times being hard;--and can say, and
guarantee on my life, That in him is no rebellion; that in him
is the reverse of rebellion, the needful preparation for
obedience. For if you do mean to obey God-made superiors, your
first step is to sweep out the Tailormade ones; order them,
under penalties, to vanish, to make ready for vanishing!
Nay, what is best of all, he cannot rebel, if he would.
Superiors whom God has made for us we cannot order to withdraw!
Not in the least. No Grand-Turk himself, thickest-quilted
tailor-made Brother of the Sun and Moon can do it: but an Arab
Man, in cloak of his own clouting; with black beaming eyes, with
flaming sovereign-heart direct from the centre of the Universe;
and also, I am told, with terrible 'horse-shoe vein' of swelling
wrath in his brow, and lightning (if you will not have it as
light) tingling through every vein of him,--he rises; says
authoritatively: "Thickest-quilted Grand-Turk, tailor-made
Brother of the Sun and Moon, No:--_I_ withdraw not; thou shalt
obey me or withdraw!" And so accordingly it is: thickest-
quilted Grand-Turks and all their progeny, to this hour,
obey that man in the remarkablest manner; preferring _not_
to withdraw.
O brother, it is an endless consolation to me, in this
disorganic, as yet so quack-ridden, what you may well call hag-
ridden and hell-ridden world, to find that disobedience to the
Heavens, when they send any messenger whatever, is and remains
impossible. It cannot be done; no Turk grand or small can do
it. 'Skew the dullest clodpole,' says my invaluable German
friend, 'shew the haughtiest featherhead, that a soul higher than
himself is here; were his knees stiffened into brass, he must
down and worship.
Chapter VII
The Gifted
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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