Sartor Resartus: The Life and Opinions of Herr Teufelsdröckh Read online

  CHAPTER II. EDITORIAL DIFFICULTIES.

  If for a speculative man, "whose seedfield," in the sublime words of thePoet, "is Time," no conquest is important but that of new ideas, thenmight the arrival of Professor Teufelsdrockh's Book be marked withchalk in the Editor's calendar. It is indeed an "extensive Volume," ofboundless, almost formless contents, a very Sea of Thought; neither calmnor clear, if you will; yet wherein the toughest pearl-diver may diveto his utmost depth, and return not only with sea-wreck but with trueorients.

  Directly on the first perusal, almost on the first deliberateinspection, it became apparent that here a quite new Branch ofPhilosophy, leading to as yet undescried ulterior results, wasdisclosed; farther, what seemed scarcely less interesting, a quite newhuman Individuality, an almost unexampled personal character, that,namely, of Professor Teufelsdrockh the Discloser. Of both whichnovelties, as far as might be possible, we resolved to master thesignificance. But as man is emphatically a proselytizing creature, nosooner was such mastery even fairly attempted, than the new questionarose: How might this acquired good be imparted to others, perhaps inequal need thereof; how could the Philosophy of Clothes, and the Authorof such Philosophy, be brought home, in any measure, to the business andbosoms of our own English Nation? For if new-got gold is said to burnthe pockets till it be cast forth into circulation, much more may newtruth.

  Here, however, difficulties occurred. The first thought naturally was topublish Article after Article on this remarkable Volume, in such widelycirculating Critical Journals as the Editor might stand connected with,or by money or love procure access to. But, on the other hand, was itnot clear that such matter as must here be revealed, and treated of,might endanger the circulation of any Journal extant? If, indeed, allparty-divisions in the State could have been abolished, Whig, Tory,and Radical, embracing in discrepant union; and all the Journals of theNation could have been jumbled into one Journal, and the Philosophy ofClothes poured forth in incessant torrents therefrom, the attempt hadseemed possible. But, alas, what vehicle of that sort have we, except_Fraser's Magazine_? A vehicle all strewed (figuratively speaking)with the maddest Waterloo-Crackers, exploding distractively anddestructively, wheresoever the mystified passenger stands or sits;nay, in any case, understood to be, of late years, a vehicle full tooverflowing, and inexorably shut! Besides, to state the Philosophy ofClothes without the Philosopher, the ideas of Teufelsdrockh withoutsomething of his personality, was it not to insure both of entiremisapprehension? Now for Biography, had it been otherwise admissible,there were no adequate documents, no hope of obtaining such, but rather,owing to circumstances, a special despair. Thus did the Editor seehimself, for the while, shut out from all public utterance of theseextraordinary Doctrines, and constrained to revolve them, not withoutdisquietude, in the dark depths of his own mind.

  So had it lasted for some months; and now the Volume on Clothes, readand again read, was in several points becoming lucid and lucent; thepersonality of its Author more and more surprising, but, in spite of allthat memory and conjecture could do, more and more enigmatic; wherebythe old disquietude seemed fast settling into fixed discontent,--whenaltogether unexpectedly arrives a Letter from Herr Hofrath Heuschrecke,our Professor's chief friend and associate in Weissnichtwo, with whomwe had not previously corresponded. The Hofrath, after much quiteextraneous matter, began dilating largely on the "agitation andattention" which the Philosophy of Clothes was exciting in its ownGerman Republic of Letters; on the deep significance and tendency of hisFriend's Volume; and then, at length, with great circumlocution, hintedat the practicability of conveying "some knowledge of it, and of him, toEngland, and through England to the distant West:" a work on ProfessorTeufelsdrockh "were undoubtedly welcome to the _Family_, the _National_,or any other of those patriotic _Libraries_, at present the gloryof British Literature;" might work revolutions in Thought; and soforth;--in conclusion, intimating not obscurely, that should the presentEditor feel disposed to undertake a Biography of Teufelsdrockh, he,Hofrath Heuschrecke, had it in his power to furnish the requisiteDocuments.

  As in some chemical mixture, that has stood long evaporating, but wouldnot crystallize, instantly when the wire or other fixed substance isintroduced, crystallization commences, and rapidly proceeds till thewhole is finished, so was it with the Editor's mind and this offer ofHeuschrecke's. Form rose out of void solution and discontinuity; likeunited itself with like in definite arrangement: and soon either inactual vision and possession, or in fixed reasonable hope, the image ofthe whole Enterprise had shaped itself, so to speak, into a solid mass.Cautiously yet courageously, through the twopenny post, applicationto the famed redoubtable OLIVER YORKE was now made: an interview,interviews with that singular man have taken place; with more ofassurance on our side, with less of satire (at least of open satire)on his, than we anticipated; for the rest, with such issue as is nowvisible. As to those same "patriotic _Libraries_," the Hofrath's counselcould only be viewed with silent amazement; but with his offer ofDocuments we joyfully and almost instantaneously closed. Thus, too, inthe sure expectation of these, we already see our task begun; and thisour _Sartor Resartus_, which is properly a "Life and Opinions of HerrTeufelsdrockh," hourly advancing.

  Of our fitness for the Enterprise, to which we have such title andvocation, it were perhaps uninteresting to say more. Let the Britishreader study and enjoy, in simplicity of heart, what is here presentedhim, and with whatever metaphysical acumen and talent for meditation heis possessed of. Let him strive to keep a free, open sense; clearedfrom the mists of prejudice, above all from the paralysis of cant; anddirected rather to the Book itself than to the Editor of the Book.Who or what such Editor may be, must remain conjectural, and eveninsignificant: [*] it is a voice publishing tidings of the Philosophy ofClothes; undoubtedly a Spirit addressing Spirits: whoso hath ears, lethim hear.

  * With us even he still communicates in some sort of mask, or muffler; and, we have reason to think, under a feigned name!--O. Y.

  On one other point the Editor thinks it needful to give warning: namely,that he is animated with a true though perhaps a feeble attachment tothe Institutions of our Ancestors; and minded to defend these, accordingto ability, at all hazards; nay, it was partly with a view to suchdefence that he engaged in this undertaking. To stem, or if that beimpossible, profitably to divert the current of Innovation, such aVolume as Teufelsdrockh's, if cunningly planted down, were no despicablepile, or floodgate, in the logical wear.

  For the rest, be it nowise apprehended, that any personal connection ofours with Teufelsdrockh, Heuschrecke or this Philosophy of Clothes, canpervert our judgment, or sway us to extenuate or exaggerate. Powerless,we venture to promise, are those private Compliments themselves.Grateful they may well be; as generous illusions of friendship; as fairmementos of bygone unions, of those nights and suppers of the gods,when, lapped in the symphonies and harmonies of Philosophic Eloquence,though with baser accompaniments, the present Editor revelled in thatfeast of reason, never since vouchsafed him in so full measure! But whatthen? _Amicus Plato, magis amica veritas_; Teufelsdrockh is our friend,Truth is our divinity. In our historical and critical capacity, we hopewe are strangers to all the world; have feud or favor with no one,--saveindeed the Devil, with whom, as with the Prince of Lies and Darkness, wedo at all times wage internecine war. This assurance, at an epoch whenpuffery and quackery have reached a height unexampled in the annals ofmankind, and even English Editors, like Chinese Shopkeepers, mustwrite on their door-lintels _No cheating here_,--we thought it good topremise.