"Hold a moment," interrupted my father, whose habit of commenting aloud in church had often disconcerted Mr. Grylls. "Are you quite sure, Mr. Badcock, that we are not starting with the Doctor's peroration?" "This is the first page, sir." "Then the Doctor himself began at the wrong end. Prosper, will you take a look astern and report me how many boats are coming?" "Three, sir," said I. "The third has just pushed off from the ship." "Thank you. Proceed, Mr. Badcock." "And first for its noblest faculty, the understanding. It was then sublime, clear, and aspiring, and as it were the soul's upper region, lofty and serene, free from the vapours and disturbances of the inferior affections. . . . Like the sun it had both light and agility; it knew no rest but in motion; no quiet but in activity. . . . It did arbitrate upon the several reports of sense, and all the varieties of imagination; not like a drowsy judge, only hearing, but also directing their verdict. In sum, it was vegete quick and lively; open as the day, untainted as the morning, full of the innocence and sprightliness of youth; it gave the soul a bright and a full view into all things." "A fine piece of prose," remarked Mr. Fett as Mr. Badcock drew breath. "A fine fiddlestick, sir!" quoth my father. "The man is talking largely on matters of which he can know nothing; and in five minutes (I bet you) he will come a cropper." Mr. Badcock resumed-- "For the understanding speculative there are some general maxims and notions in the mind of man, which are the rules of discourse and the basis of all philosophy." "As, for instance, never to beg the question," snapped my father, who from this point let scarce a sentence pass without pishing and pshawing. "Now it was Adam's happiness in the state of innocence to have these clear and unsullied. He came into the world a philosopher--" ("Instead of which he went and ate an apple.") "He could see consequents yet dormant in their principles, and effects yet unborn and in the womb of their causes." ("'Tis a pity, then, he took not the trouble to warn Eve.") "His understanding could almost pierce to future contingencies. . . ." ("Ay, 'almost.' The fellow begins to scent mischief, and thinks to set himself right with a saving clause. Why 'almost'?" ) "his conjectures improving even to prophecy, or to certainties of prediction. Till his fall he was ignorant of nothing but sin; or, at least, it rested in the notion without the smart of the experiment."