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Copyright © 2018 Matthieu Pageau
All rights reserved.
Esau: I have enough my brother, let that which is yours be yours.
Jacob: Please take my gift because God has shown me grace, and I
also have enough.
Esau: Let us take our journey together then, and I will go before you.
Jacob: I will journey according to the pace of the flock and children
until I come unto you, my lord, unto Seir.
 CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION . ......................................................................................... 7

PART I SALVAGING CREATION FROM THE SCIENTIFIC WORLDVIEW

1 Spiritual and Material Perspectives....................................................... 9

2 Coming Full Circle: The Copernican Revolution................................... 11
3 Returning to the Garden of Eden......................................................... 14
4 Reconstructing the Language of Creation............................................ 16

PART II HEAVEN AND EARTH IN BIBLICAL COSMOLOGY

5 Heaven and Earth: A Spiritual Perspective........................................... 21

6 The Universe As a Language................................................................ 24
7 Symbolism and the Spiritual Worldview.............................................. 27
8 The Linguistic Rules of Symbolism....................................................... 30
9 Example: The Cherubim of Ezekiel I..................................................... 33
10 Light and Darkness: A Spiritual Perspective......................................... 35
11 The Spiritual and Material Dimensions................................................ 38
12 Example: Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream I.................................................. 40
13 Example: Wisdom and Understanding................................................ 42

PART III HEAVEN AND EARTH ON THE HUMAN SCALE

14 Humanity and the Image of God......................................................... 46

15 Adam As Microcosm: The Breath and the Body.................................. 48
16 Example: Manna and Flesh.................................................................. 51
17 Adam As Mediator: Naming Animals and Hosting Angels................... 54
18 Example: Abraham As Mediator I........................................................ 57
19 Sexuality As Microcosm: Adam’s Reproduction................................... 60
20 Sexuality As Microcosm: Adam’s Multiplication.................................. 63
21 Example: Nebuchadnezzar’s Dreams II................................................ 66
22 Example: Raising a Nation from the Earth........................................... 68
23 Example: Materializing Laws from Heaven.......................................... 72
24 Example: Authority and Power............................................................ 75
25 Adam’s Descendants As Microcosm.................................................... 78
26 Example: Building the Temple I............................................................ 82
27 Example: Building the Temple II........................................................... 85
28 Example: The Cherubim of Ezekiel II.................................................... 88
29 Noah’s Descendants As Microcosm..................................................... 91
30 Example: Jacob’s Ladder...................................................................... 94
PART IV TIME AND SPACE IN BIBLICAL COSMOLOGY

31 Time and Space: A Spiritual Perspective................................................ 99

32 Flooded Land versus Dry Land............................................................. 102
33 Time and Space As Mediators of Knowledge....................................... 106
34 Symbols of Space and Time: The Pillar and the Axle........................... 109
35 Symbols of Space and Time: Foundation Stone and Scandal Stone.... 112
36 Time As Mixture and Space As Purity.................................................. 115
37 Time As Continuous and Space As Discrete......................................... 117
38 The Creator of Space and Time: Revealed and Concealed.................. 120
39 Example: Nebuchadnezzar’s Dreams III............................................... 123
40 Example: The Cherubim of Ezekiel III................................................... 125
41 Work and Rest in Ancient Cosmology.................................................. 128
42 Symbols of Space and Time: Tools and Instruments............................ 131
43 Time As Absurdity and Space As Reason............................................. 134
44 Time As Irrationality and Space As Rationality.................................... 137
45 The Creator of Space and Time: Positive and Negative....................... 140
46 Example: Wisdom versus Folly............................................................ 143
47 Example: Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal........................................... 147
48 Example: Jubilee and the Walls of Jericho I......................................... 152
49 The Sabbath As Balance of Time and Space........................................ 155
50 Symbols of Space and Time: The Pinnacle Stone................................. 158
51 Symbols of Space and Time: Seals and Ornaments............................. 161
52 Example: Nebuchadnezzar’s Dreams IV............................................... 164

PART V TIME AND SPACE ON THE HUMAN SCALE

53 Humanity and the Garden of Eden...................................................... 168

54 Adam As Microcosm: The Blood and the Bones.................................. 171
55 The Tree(s) of the Garden As Mediator(s) of Knowledge.................... 174
56 Adam As Microcosm: The Left and the Right....................................... 178
57 The Definition of Sin............................................................................ 181
58 Eating Forbidden Fruit......................................................................... 183
59 Adam As Microcosm: Naked or Dressed.............................................. 186
60 Adam As Microcosm: Sleeping or Working.......................................... 191
61 The Symbolism of Work and Rectification........................................... 195
62 The Symbolism of Dreaming and Wandering...................................... 199
63 Trees and Snakes As Mediators of Knowledge..................................... 204
64 Example: The Miracles of Moses I....................................................... 208
65 Example: The Miracles of Moses II...................................................... 213
66 The Symbolism of Clothing and Costumes.......................................... 218
67 The Symbolism of the Eyes.................................................................. 221
68 Example: Grace in the Eyes of God...................................................... 224
69 The Symbolism of Cooking and Blood................................................. 228
70 Adam’s Descendants in Relation to Space and Time........................... 232
71 Sexuality As Microcosm: Male and Female Dominance...................... 236
72 Sexuality As Microcosm: Reproduction and Recreation...................... 239
73 Cain’s Descendants in Relation to Space and Time.............................. 243
74 Example: Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream V................................................. 247
75 Sexuality As Microcosm: Taboos and Cyclical Time............................. 250
76 Example: Jubilee and the Walls of Jericho II........................................ 253
77 Example: Giants and Fallen Angels...................................................... 256
78 Example: Abraham As Mediator II....................................................... 261
79 The Rainbow and Other Covenants..................................................... 264
80 The Symbolism of Wine and Fermentation......................................... 267
81 Noah’s Descendants in Relation to Space and Time............................ 270
82 Example: Building the Temple III.......................................................... 274

PART VI TRANSCENDING THE SCIENTIFIC WORLDVIEW

83 A Metacognitive Model of the Universe.............................................. 281

84 Interpreting the Bible with the Language of Creation......................... 284
 INTRODUCTION

As our technological knowledge distances us from nature, we

find it increasingly difficult to reconcile the current scientific worldview
with the biblical worldview. I have written this commentary to provide
the reader with the necessary tools to interpret the Bible from its own
cosmological perspective instead of the materialistic paradigms of
modern science.
In the first section, I discuss the differences between scientific
and traditional cosmologies, as well as the importance of rediscovering
the ancient biblical worldview. This is followed by a brief commentary
on the first day of creation with a focus on the cosmic duality called
“heaven and earth.” The practical implications of this duality are then
examined in the stories of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, and Noah.
In the second half of this commentary, I examine the first three
days of creation and the concepts of space and time as understood in
ancient cosmology. I review the early stories of Genesis and discuss
the implications of these concepts at the level of human experience.
Finally, I revisit the difference between materialistic and traditional
worldviews in light of the information presented in this commentary.

7
 PART I

SALVAGING CREATION
FROM THE SCIENTIFIC WORLDVIEW
 CHAPTER 1

Spiritual and Material Perspectives

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

Unlike modern science, traditional cosmology did not attempt

to describe reality in terms of atoms, energy, and mechanical causality.
Instead, most ancient cultures perceived the world in terms of spiritual
principles such as angels, demons, and mysterious sea monsters at the
edge the world. So before attempting to interpret a book like Genesis,
it is important to understand why our current worldview is so different
from that of the past.

As illustrated above, scientific and traditional cosmologies see

reality from two completely different perspectives: 1) in terms of its
practical and material implications, and 2) in terms of its higher mean-
ing. The first is the specialty of modern science, which conceptualizes
all things in terms of meaningless matter and mindless causality. The
second is the specialty of religion, which interprets every phenomenon
as the manifestation of spiritual truth.

9
 When interpreting reality, each of these worldviews raises its
own types of questions. For example, when looking at a plant from a
material perspective, one might ask the following questions: “What is
this plant made of?” and, “How does it work?” However, when look-
ing at the same plant from a spiritual perspective, one might ask the
following questions: “What is the meaning of this plant?” and, “What
higher truth does it embody?” Not surprisingly, these questions have
little or nothing in common, which demonstrates the distinct nature of
these worldviews.
That said, the goal of this commentary is not to bridge the gaps
between the material and spiritual perspectives, but to rediscover the
lost spiritual worldview and to interpret the Bible accordingly. For that
purpose, we must learn how to look at the world from a very different
point of view, to see reality not as a heap of meaningless atoms and
energy, but as the physical expression of metaphysical truth.

10
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 Chapter 2

Coming Full Circle:

The Copernican Revolution

God exiled him [the human] from the Garden of Eden to work the
ground from which he was taken.

The spiritual and material perspectives have always been in

competition because they are fundamentally different. Nevertheless,
since neither of these worldviews has successfully subsumed the other,
they have learned to coexist and even cooperated in the past. However,
a series of important scientific discoveries have dealt a fatal blow to the
spiritual worldview, one from which it has never recovered.

The scientific discoveries illustrated above were not merely

technical in nature; they transformed our concepts of space, time, and
causality. Ultimately, these discoveries completely undermined the
foundations of traditional metaphysics. Therefore, when these changes
were taking place during the Copernican revolution, the stakes were
much higher than merely defending geocentrism against heliocentrism.
They were also about preserving the spiritual perspective from a com-

11
pletely materialistic worldview. From a scientific standpoint, it would
be difficult to justify any attempts to “cover up” discoveries in order to
preserve a debunked model of the universe. However, from a biblical
perspective, this seems like a proper response to the tragedy of the fall
in Genesis.

Losing the Spiritual Perspective (paraphrased from Genesis 2-3)

God said to Adam, “From the tree of the knowledge of good and
bad you must not eat, for you will die on the day that you eat
from it.”
They ate its fruit, and their eyes were opened, and they knew
that they were naked. They sewed fig-leaves together and made
themselves girdles . . . God exiled the human from the Garden of
Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.

The reason to preserve biblical cosmology against scientific hegemony

is that it describes reality at the meta-cognitive level. Hence, the story
of the fall is really about the process of knowledge itself and the dan-
gers of acquiring greater material knowledge at the expense of spiritual
insight. So, by comparing the diagram below to the previous one, it is
easy to understand why the Copernican revolution may be interpreted
as a reiteration of the narrative of the fall.

The story of the Garden of Eden describes a state of innocence,

where humans occupied a central place in a relatively natural environ-
ment. This naive perspective conveniently provided humans with a full
understanding of their role in the universe and the spiritual purpose
12
of existence. However, the garden was also a sheltered place; it was
a tiny portion of a much greater world. Therefore, as soon as humans
looked beyond the limits of the garden, their “eyes were opened” to
a strange universe devoid of spiritual meaning. They “knew that they
were naked” and saw their previous worldview as somewhat illusory.
Once the bubble had been shattered, all attempts at “covering it up”
were in vain, and humans had no choice but to wander in a meaningless
universe until they return to the ground.
At the meta-cognitive level, the narrative of the fall perfectly
matches the plight of humanity since the scientific revolution. So, even
though these technical discoveries have locally debunked traditional
cosmology, they have ironically proven its significance at a higher level.
In general, the narratives of the Bible are about humanity’s conflicted
attempts to reconcile spiritual truth with physical reality in the hopes
of acquiring divine knowledge. For that reason, the ancient stories of
the Bible will survive and eventually transcend any scientific discovery,
as long as we recognize that level of interpretation.

13
 Chapter 3

Returning to the Garden of Eden

God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the human
he had formed.

From a strictly materialistic perspective, science has debunked

most of traditional cosmology. However, as discussed in the previous
chapter, the highest level of biblical interpretation has been left intact
by scientific discovery. Moreover, this level is the only one that truly
matters from a spiritual perspective because it fully encapsulates the
meaning of humanity within creation.
Unfortunately, the higher levels of interpretation have been
marginalized in recent times because of the scientific ability to explain
phenomena exclusively in terms of matter and mechanical causality.
Nevertheless, it is a mistake to interpret the Bible using a scientific
model of the universe instead of its own cosmological perspective, no
matter how archaic it may appear to modern sensibilities.

Admittedly, interpreting the Bible with its own cosmology is a

difficult task because our current worldview has little in common with
that ancient perspective. This huge discrepancy was inevitable because
14
we arrived at it by artificially warping our natural perceptions with tele-
scopes and microscopes. At this point, humanity has “opened its eyes”
to such an extent that our conception of space and time corresponds to
the point of view of an alien robot gazing at our solar our system from
a far away region.
To rediscover the biblical point of view, we must pretend that
our eyes are not geared with thousands of telescopes and microscopes
and that we care little for quasars and quarks. Moreover, we will need
to reposition ourselves within space and time by looking past the helio-
centric and geocentric viewpoints towards an ancient cosmology. This
archaic worldview may be described as tree-centric or “dentrocentric”
for lack of a better word. We will temporarily adopt this perspective
to rediscover ancient biblical cosmology and reclaim its metaphysical
foundations.

15
 Chapter 4

Reconstructing the Language of Creation

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.

Rediscovering the biblical perspective will be the equivalent of

learning an entirely new language because all concepts will need to be
redefined according to the spiritual worldview.

Most importantly, the words “heaven” and “earth,” as quoted

in the verse above, can no longer refer to what we now call “heaven”
and “earth” from our scientific viewpoint: the third planet from the sun
and its atmosphere. Instead, the archaic concept of “earth” refers to
the lower material half of the entire universe, and the archaic concept
of “heaven” refers to the upper spiritual half. In general, a complete re-
definition of cosmic categories like heaven, earth, time, and space will
be needed. The implications of these concepts will then trickle down to
every level of human experience to redefine all things in the context of
the Bible.

16
 To simulate an immersion into the archaic perspective of Gen-
esis, visual aids will always accompany the text of this commentary.
These diagrams will emulate the pre-conscious conditioning that time
and space imposes on the human mind.

In parallel, another didactic tool, single quotation marks, will be

used to highlight the distinction between current concepts and their
ancient counterparts in the Bible. For example, in the following quota-
tion: God prepared a great ‘fish’ to swallow Jonah, and he was in the
belly of the ‘fish’ for three days and three nights, the word ‘fish’ has
been highlighted with single quotes to distinguish the archaic concept
of fish from a modern taxonomical definition: a gill-bearing aquatic
craniate animal that lacks limbs with digits. Instead, a more ancient
concept should be assumed, one that certainly included such animals
as dolphins, whales, and other aquatic creatures. Of course, neither
of these definitions is correct or incorrect. They are simply based on
different cosmologies. Modern taxonomical definitions are grounded
in evolutionary science while ancient bestiaries were answering the
question: “What spiritual truth does this animal embody?”

The breath of God hovered over the face of the ‘waters.’

In the verse above, the concept of water perfectly illustrates the

need to recover the meaning of ancient cosmological concepts. Indeed,
from a scientific perspective, the definition of water can easily be given
as H2O, which is simply its chemical composition. However, this type
17
of definition only answers the questions, “What is it made of?” and
“How does it work?” These are the only concerns of the materialistic
perspective. On the other hand, the biblical concept of water certainly
had nothing to do with its chemical composition. Therefore, it would
be naive to assume that the concept of water in the Bible necessarily
refers to the same substance as its modern counterpart. Instead, it is
perfectly conceivable that ‘water’ was synonymous with our current
notions of liquid or fluid, which have much broader definitions. If this
were the case, then there would have been many different varieties of
‘water’ (meaning liquids) in the ancient conception, including blood,
wine, urine, milk, mercury, and many other fluids.

God said, “Let there be light,” and there was ‘light.’

Similarly, from a scientific perspective, a working definition of

light would be as follows: electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength
in the range of 4,000 to 7,700 angstroms. As expected, since phys-
ics studies matter and its interactions, this concept has been framed
by materialistic parameters. On the other hand, the concept of light
was framed by meaning rather than mechanism in ancient cosmology.
Hence, there were probably many varieties of ‘light’ in that context,
and not all of them were made of photons.
The main point of these examples is to demonstrate the naiveté
of assuming that ancient words had the same meaning as their modern
counterparts. In reality, there are tremendous gaps between ancient
and modern definitions such that every word must be reconstructed
within the framework of an archaic cosmology.
The distinctions between ancient and current concepts will not
always be as clear as the examples provided in this chapter. Therefore,
the reader may legitimately doubt the validity of this reconstructed lan-
guage. However, as will be discovered in the following sections, these
words will be entirely derived from the cosmological categories of the
Bible: heaven, earth, time, and space, as described in the narrative of
creation.
18
 In addition, the Bible itself will serve as testing grounds for this
reconstructed language as it is used to interpret its stories, rituals, and
laws. For the reader, this will be the ultimate test as to whether this
“language of creation” faithfully recaptures the biblical worldview. If all
goes well, formerly cryptic texts should begin to make perfect sense,
even to the point of becoming self-evident.

19
 PART II

HEAVEN AND EARTH

IN BIBLICAL COSMOLOGY
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 Chapter 5

Heaven and Earth:

A Spiritual Perspective

In the beginning, God created the ‘heaven’ and the ‘earth.’

Due to the glaring discrepancies between modern and ancient

worldviews, it is necessary to rely exclusively on traditional cosmology
to interpret the meaning heaven and earth in the Bible.

When considered from an ancient human perspective, the words

‘heaven’ and ‘earth’ refer to the two halves of the cosmos. This polarity
completely encompasses reality, which makes it the secondary cause
of all manifestation. In other words, everything in this universe was
made from a combination of ‘heavenly’ and ‘earthly’ components.
In this respect, biblical cosmology is similar to our materialistic
worldview, which tends to describe all phenomena as a combination
of matter and energy. However, it would be a mistake to imagine that
‘earth’ is exactly the equivalent of matter as understood by contem-
porary physics, and it would be an even greater mistake to think that
‘heaven’ is the equivalent of energy.

21
 In the Bible, raw ‘earth’ refers to matter without meaning, and
pure ‘heaven’ refers to spiritual meaning without corporeal existence.
As strange as this duality may seem to modern sensibilities, this way
of framing reality is self-evident from the spiritual perspective because
it directly addresses the following questions: “What does it mean?”
and, “What spiritual truth does it embody?” So, it is not surprising that
the basic polarity of this cosmology is meaning and matter. Conversely,
the materialistic perspective has developed its model of the universe in
response to the following questions: “What is it made of?” and, “How
does it work?” So, it is not surprising that materialism’s fundamental
duality is matter and energy.

With wisdom, the Lord founded the earth; with understanding, he

established the heavens; with his knowledge, the depths were split
and the skies dropped the dew (Proverbs 3:19).

According to the spiritual worldview, the whole universe can be

described in terms of the intercourse between ‘heaven’ and ‘earth.’
This joining of spiritual and corporeal realities–called knowledge–is the
most fundamental notion in biblical cosmology. In fact, every single
phenomenon can be interpreted according to this pattern.

As illustrated in the diagram above, the union of heaven and

earth involves a dual interaction, in which the heavens “cover the
earth” and the earth “supports the heavens.” On one end, spiritual
reality informs corporeal reality with meaning and purpose. On the
22
other end, matter expresses spirit by making it visible and tangible
in the universe. These fundamental interactions will be discussed at
length throughout this commentary, and the notion of knowledge will
be illustrated with many examples from the Bible.

23
 Chapter 6

The Universe As a Language

In the beginning, God created the heaven [spiritual reality] and the
earth [corporeal reality].

From a material perspective, the universe resembles a gigantic

machine composed of meaningless matter and mindless energy. This
worldview has little to do with the spiritual perspective, which likens
the universe to a written language.

Divine Breath Becomes Word and Light (Genesis 1:2)

The earth was confused and meaningless; darkness was on the

face of the deep, and the breath of God hovered over the face
of the waters.
God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.

From the spiritual perspective, creation is viewed as the manifestation

of divine language. Therefore, to understand the book of Genesis and
its ancient cosmology, we must posit a universe founded on meaning
and language instead of mindless mechanical causality. Thankfully,
there is an easy way to emulate this perspective using an analogy with
our written language. To fully appreciate this analogy, it is important
to realize that written words are the union of physical marks (shown
at the bottom of the following image) and abstract meaning. Because
of this union, the marks of the written word support the breath of the
spoken word. These linguistic components perfectly represent the cor-
poreal and spiritual interactions discussed in the previous chapter.

24
 As illustrated below, it takes levels upon levels of organization to
form a meaningful sentence from a jumble of marks. The result is a
physical construction, the written word, capable of encoding the events
of our world within the confines of this page. Miraculously, by ordering
these marks with the technical laws of our language (alphabet, vocabu-
lary, and grammar), they point to a relatively higher reality. Thus, a real
but invisible connection is established between those physical marks
and a universe that reaches far beyond the limits of this page.

In biblical cosmology, the entire universe operates according to

this paradigm, except at a higher level. In that case, instead of order-
ing marks on a page to encode a fact, a divine language organizes facts
and events in the world to embody metaphysical truth. Thus, concrete
reality is arranged by the cosmic laws of that language and then infused
with spiritual meaning.
25
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was a son rather than a far-off cousin. As such it will always
be justly dear to me and mine.
Wishing continued prosperity to the city of Worcester, I
remain, etc.,
J. R. Lowell.

✠
 VII.

on international arbitration.

A
numerous deputation from the Workmen’s Peace Association,
headed by Mr. W. R. Cremer, waited on Mr. Lowell, at the official
residence in Albemarle street, on the evening of June 6, 1885,
for the purpose of presenting to him an address preparatory to his
leaving England for the United States. Mr. Lowell, in reply, said:
I have been exceedingly touched latterly by the kindness
which I have received here in England from all classes, but
never have I been more profoundly touched than by the
deputation that has now waited upon me to express the kind
wishes of the English Workingmen. I have twice had the
pleasure of addressing working men since I have been in
England, and I have been gratified to find that, among all the
audiences to whom I have spoken, there were none more
intelligent. They were exceedingly quick to catch all points
and exceedingly agreeable to talk to.
You must not think that I have forgotten the part taken by
the working men of England during our civil war—I won’t say
on behalf of the North, because now we are a united people
—on the side of good order and freedom; and on the only
occasion when I had an opportunity of saying so—that was
when speaking to the provincial press in London—I alluded to
the subject. I agree with you entirely on the importance of a
good understanding and much more between England and
the United States, and between the two chief branches of the
Anglo-Saxon race. I think you exaggerate a good deal of my
own merit in relation to anything of that sort, but I have
always had a feeling about me that a war between the two
countries would be a civil war, and I believe a cordial
understanding between them to be absolutely essential, not
only to the progress of reasonable liberty, but its preservation
and its extension to other races. (Hear, hear.)

It is a particular pleasure to me on another account to

meet English workmen. I notice that, however ardent they
may be in their aspirations and however theoretical on some
points, they are always reasonable. The individual man may
set the impossible before him as something to be obtained,
but I think those communities of men have prospered the
best who have aimed at what is possible. We see daily
illustrations of that, and anybody who has studied the history
of France would be convinced that, though England has a
form of Government not so free as that country, yet you have
made a greater advance towards good will among men and
towards peace than France has done. I do not wish you to
suppose that I am out of sympathy with what I call the
French Revolution—although I consider it an enormous
misfortune, which might have been prevented, and France
saved from many evil consequences that followed—but the
manner in which it took place we ought all to regard.

Since I have been in England I have done something, I

trust, to promote a cordial feeling between this country and
the United States. That has been my earnest desire always,
and I hope I have to some extent succeeded. You will allow
me to thank you warmly for this address, which I shall always
feel to be among my most precious possessions, and I shall
carry to the workmen on the other side of the Atlantic the
message expressive of your sympathy and hope. I hope the
occasion will not ever arise even for arbitration. I think if we
can talk together face to face we shall be able to settle all
differences. I am certain that the relations between the two
countries are now of a most amicable and friendly kind, and I
am sure that my successor is as strongly impressed as I could
be with the necessity of strengthening those friendly
relations. I trust the necessity for arbitration may never arise
between us; I do not think it will.

You will again allow me to give you my most hearty and

profound thanks for the kindness you have done me and to
wish you all manner of prosperity. I trust also that that reign
of peace to which you allude may come soon and last long. I
appreciate extremely what Mr. Cremer said as to your
sympathy with the Northern States in the Civil War, with
whom no one could help sympathizing if they went to the
root of the matter. I believe in peace as strongly as any man
can do, but I believe also that there are occasions when war
is less disastrous than peace; that there are times when one
must resort to what goes before all law, and what, indeed,
forms the foundation of it—the law of the strongest; and that,
as a general rule, the strongest deserve to get the best of the
struggle. They say satirically that God is on the side of the
 strong battalions, but I think they are sometimes in the right,
and my experience goes to prove that.
[The address, engrossed on vellum, was afterwards transmitted
to Mr. Lowell in America.]

✠
 VIII.

at a royal academy dinner.

O
n Saturday evening, May 3, 1886, the annual dinner of the Royal
Academy was held at Burlington House, the chair being occupied
by the president, Sir Frederic Leighton. On his right hand were
the Prince of Wales, and the Duke of Cambridge, Prince Christian,
Prince Henry of Battenberg, the Duke of Teck, the Lord Chancellor,
and the Archbishop of York; and on his left hand were Prince Albert
Victor of Wales, the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador, the Italian
Ambassador, etc., etc.
Mr. Lowell, in responding for “Literature,” said:
Your Royal Highnesses, My Lords, and Gentlemen,—I think I
can explain who the artist might have been who painted the
reversed rainbow of which the professor has just spoken. I
think, after hearing the too friendly remarks made about
myself, that he was probably some artist who was to answer
for his art at a dinner of the Royal Society (laughter); and,
naturally, instead of painting the bow of hope, he painted the
reverse, the bow of despair. (Laughter.) When I received your
invitation, Mr. President, to answer for “Literature,” I was too
well aware of the difficulties of your position not to know that
your choice of speakers must be guided much more by the
necessities of the occasion than by the laws of natural
selection. (Laughter and cheers.) I remembered that the
dictionaries give a secondary meaning to the phrase “to
answer for,” and that is the meaning which implies some
expedient for an immediate necessity, as for example, when
one takes shelter under a tree from a shower one is said to
make the tree answer for an umbrella. (Laughter.) I think
even an umbrella in the form of a tree has certainly one very
great advantage over its artificial namesake—viz., that it
cannot be borrowed (laughter), not even for the exigencies
for which the instrument made of twilled silk is made use of,
as those certainly will admit who have ever tried it during one
of those passionate paroxysms of weather to which the
Italian climate is unhappily subject. (Laughter.) I shall not
attempt to answer for literature, for it appears to me that
literature, of all other things, is the one which is most
naturally expected to answer for itself. It seems to me that
the old English phrase with regard to a man in difficulties,
which asks “What is he going to do about it?” perhaps should
be replaced in this period of ours, when the foundations of
everything are being sapped by universal discussion, with the
more pertinent question, “What is he going to say about it?”
(“Hear, hear,” and laughter.) I suppose that every man sent
into the world with something to say to his fellow men could
say it better than anyone else if he could only find out what it
was. (Laughter.) I am sure that the ideal after-dinner speech
is waiting for me somewhere with my address upon it, if I
could only be so lucky as to come across it. (Laughter.) I
confess that hard necessity, or perhaps, I may say, too soft
good nature, has compelled me to make so many unideal
ones that I have almost exhausted my natural stock of
universally applicable sentiment and my acquired provision of
anecdote and allusion. (Laughter.) I find myself somewhat in
the position of Heine, who had prepared an elaborate oration
for his first interview with Goethe, and when the awful
moment arrived could only stammer out that the cherries on
the road to Weimar were uncommonly fine. (Laughter.)

But, fortunately, the duty which is given to me to-night is

not so onerous as might be implied in the sentiment which
has called me up. I am consoled not only by the
lexicographer as to the meaning of the phrase “to answer for,”
but also by an observation of mine, which is that speakers on
an occasion like this are not always expected to allude except
in distant and vague terms to the subject on which they are
specially supposed to talk. Now, I have a more pleasing and
personal duty, it appears to me, on this my first appearance
before an English audience on my return to England. It gives
me great pleasure to think that in calling upon me, you call
upon me as representing two things which are exceedingly
dear to me, and which are very near to my heart. One is that
I represent in some sense the unity of English literature under
whatever sky it may be produced (cheers); and the other is
that I represent also that growing friendliness of feeling,
based on a better understanding of each other, which is
growing up between the two branches of the British stock.
(Cheers.) I could wish that my excellent successor here as
American Minister could fill my place to-night, for I am sure
that he is as fully inspired as I ever was with a desire to draw
closer the ties of friendship between the mother and
daughter, and could express it in a more eloquent and more
emphatic manner than even I myself could do,—at any rate in
a more authoritative manner.

For myself I have only to say that I come back from my

native land confirmed in my love of it and in my faith in it. I
come back also full of warm gratitude for the feeling that I
find in England; I find in the old home a guest chamber
prepared for me and a warm welcome. (Cheers.) Repeating
what his Royal Highness the commander-in-chief has said,
that every man is bound in duty if he were not bound in
affection and loyalty to put his own country first, I may be
allowed to steal a leaf out of the book of my adopted fellow-
citizens in America; and while I love my native country first,
as is natural, I may be allowed to say I love the country next
best which I cannot say has adopted me, but which I will say
has treated me with such kindness, where I have met with
such universal kindness from all classes and degrees of
people, that I must put that country at least next in my
affection. (Cheers.) I will not detain you longer. I know that
the essence of speaking here is to be brief, but I trust I shall
not lay myself open to the reproach that in my desire to be
brief I have resulted in making myself obscure. (Laughter.) I
hope I have expressed myself explicitly enough; but I would
venture to give another translation of Horace’s words, and say
that I desire to be brief, and therefore I efface myself.
(Laughter and cheers.)
✠
 IX.

at the stratford memorial fountain presentation.

T
he memorial fountain presented to Stratford-on-Avon by Mr.
George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, was inaugurated Monday,
October 17, 1887. Mr. James Russell Lowell sent the following
letter:
I should more deeply regret my inability to be present at
the interesting ceremonial of the 17th were it not that my
countrymen will be more fitly and adequately represented
there by their accomplished Minister, Mr. Phelps. The occasion
is certainly a most interesting one. The monument which you
accept to-day in behalf of your townsmen commemorates at
once the most marvellous of Englishmen and the jubilee year
of the august lady whose name is honored wherever the
language is spoken, of which he was the greatest master. No
symbol could more aptly serve this double purpose than a
fountain, for surely no poet ever poured forth so broad a river
of speech as he, whether he was the author of the “Novum
Organum” also or not. Nor could the purity of her character
and example be better typified than by the current that shall
flow forever from the sources opened here to-day. It was
Washington Irving who first embodied in his delightful English
the emotion which Stratford-on-Avon awakes in the heart of
the pilgrim, and especially of the American pilgrim, who visits
it. I am glad to think that this memorial should be the gift of
an American and thus serve to recall the kindred blood of two
great nations, joint heirs of the same noble language and of
the genius that has given it a cosmopolitan significance. I am
glad of it because it is one of the multiplying signs that those
two nations are beginning to think more and more of the
things in which they sympathize and less and less of those in
which they differ. A common language is not indeed, the
surest bond of amity, for this enables each country to
understand whatever unpleasant thing the other may chance
to say about it.

As I am one of those who believe that an honest friendship

between England and America is a most desirable thing, I
trust that we shall on both sides think it equally desirable in
our intercourse one with another to make our mother tongue
search her coffers round for the polished rather than the
sharp-cornered epithets she has stored there. Let us by all
means speak the truth to each other, for there is no one else
who can speak it to either of us with such a fraternal instinct
for the weak point of the other; but let us do it in such wise
as to show that it is the truth we love and not the discomfort
we can inflict by means of it. Let us say agreeable things to
each other and of each other whenever we conscientiously
can. My friend, Mr. Childs, has said one of these agreeable
things in a very solid and durable way. A common literature
and a common respect for certain qualities of character and
ways of thinking supply a neutral ground where we may meet
in the assurance that we shall find something amiable in each
other, and from being less than kind become more than kin.
In old maps the line which outlined British possessions in
America included the greater part of what is now territory of
the United States. The possessions of the American in
England are laid down on no map, yet he holds them in
memory and imagination by a title such as no conquest ever
established and no revolution can ever overthrow. The dust
that is sacred to you is sacred to him. The annals which
Shakspeare makes walk before us in flesh and blood are his
no less than yours. These are the ties which we recognize,
and are glad to recognize, on occasions like this. They will be
yearly drawn closer as science goes on with her work of
abolishing time and space, and thus render more easy that
peaceful commerce ’twixt dividable shores which is so potent
to clear away whatever is exclusive in nationality or savors of
barbarism in patriotism.

I remain, dear Mr. Mayor,

Faithfully yours,
J. R. Lowell.
 X.

at the dinner to american authors.

T
he dinner of the Incorporated Society of Authors, on July 25,
1888, was given to the “American Men and Women of Letters”
who happened to be in London on that date. Mr. Lowell spoke as
follows:
I confess that I rise under a certain oppression. There was
a time when I went to make an after-dinner speech with a
light heart, and when on my way to the dinner I could think
over my exordium in my cab and trust to the spur of the
moment for the rest of my speech. But I find as I grow older
a certain aphasia overtakes me, a certain inability to find the
right word precisely when I want it; and I find also that my
flank becomes less sensitive to the exhilarating influences of
that spur to which I have just alluded. I had pretty well made
up my mind not to make any more after-dinner speeches. I
had an impression that I had made quite enough of them for
a wise man to speak, and perhaps more than it was profitable
for other wise men to listen to. I confess that it was with
some reluctance that I consented to speak at all to-night. I
had been bethinking me of the old proverb of the pitcher and
well which is mentioned, as you remember, in the proverb;
and it was not altogether a consolation to me to think that
that pitcher, which goes once too often to the well, belongs to
the class which is taxed by another proverb with too great
length of ears. But I could not resist. I certainly felt that it
was my duty not to refuse myself to an occasion like this—an
occasion which deliberately emphasizes, as well as expresses,
that good feeling between our two countries which, I think,
every good man in both of them is desirous to deepen and to
increase. If I look back to anything in my life with satisfaction,
it is to the fact that I myself have, in some degree,
contributed—and I hope I may believe the saying to be true—
to this good feeling. You alluded, Mr. Chairman, to a date
which gave me, I must confess, what we call on the other
side of the water “a rather large contract.” I am to reply, I am
to answer to literature, and I must confess that a person like
myself, who first appeared in print fifty years ago, would
hardly wish to be answerable for all his own literature, not to
speak of the literature of other people. But your allusion to
sixty years ago reminded me of something which struck me
as I looked down these tables.
Sixty years ago the two authors you mentioned, Irving and
Cooper, were the only two American authors of whom
anything was known in Europe, and the knowledge of them in
Europe was mainly confined to England. It is true that
Bryant’s “Water-Fowl” had already begun its flight in immortal
air, but these were the only two American authors that could
be said to be known in England. And what is even more
remarkable, they were the only American authors at that time
—there were, and had been, others known to us at home—
who were capable of earning their bread by their pens.
Another singular change is suggested to me as I look down
these tables, and that is the singular contrast they afford
between the time when Johnson wrote his famous lines about
those ills that assail the life of the scholar, and by the scholar
he meant the author—

Toil, envy, want, the patron, and the gaol.

And I confess when I remember that verse it strikes me as a

singular contrast that I should meet with a body of authors
who are able to offer a dinner instead of begging one; that I
have sat here and seen “forty feeding like one,” when one
hundred years ago the one fed like forty when he had the
chance. You have alluded also, in terms which I shall not
qualify, to my own merits. You have made me feel a little as if
I were a ghost revisiting the pale glimpses of the moon, and
reading with considerable wonder my own epitaph. But you
have done me more than justice in attributing so much to me
with regard to International Copyright. You are quite right in
alluding to Mr. Putnam, who, I think, wrote the best pamphlet
that has been written on the subject; and there are others
you did not name who also deserve far more than I do for the
labor they have expended and the zeal they have shown on
behalf of International Copyright, particularly the secretaries
of our international society—Mr. Lathrop and Mr. G. W. Green.
And since I could not very well avoid touching upon the
subject of International Copyright, I must say that all
American authors without exception have been in favor of it
on the moral ground, on the ground of simple justice to
English authors. But there were a great many local, topical
considerations, as our ancestors used to call them, that we
were obliged to take into account, and which, perhaps, you
do not feel as keenly here as we did. But I think we may say
that the almost unanimous conclusion of American authors
latterly has been that we should be thankful to get any bill
that recognized the principle of international copyright, being
confident that its practical application would so recommend it
to the American people that we should get afterwards, if not
every amendment of it that we desire, at least every one that
is humanly possible. I think that perhaps a little injustice has
been done to our side of the question; I think a little more
heat has been imported into it than was altogether wise. I am
not so sure that our American publishers were so much more
wicked than their English brethren would have been if they
had had the chance. I cannot, I confess, accept with patience
any imputation that implies that there is anything in our
climate or in our form of government that tends to produce a
lower standard of morality than in other countries. The fact is
that it has been partly due to a certain—may I speak of our
ancestors as having been qualified by a certain dulness? I
mean no disrespect, but I think it is due to the stupidity of
our ancestors in making a distinction between literary
property and other property. That has been at the root of the
whole evil.

I, of course, understand, as everybody understands, that

all property is the creature of municipal law. But you must
remember that it is the conquest of civilization, that when
property passes beyond the boundaries of that municipium it
is still sacred. It is not even yet sacred in all respects and
conditions. Literature, the property in an idea, has been
something that it is very difficult for the average man to
comprehend. It is not difficult for the average man to
comprehend that there may be property in a form which
genius or talent gives to an idea. He can see it. It is visible
and palpable, this property in an idea when it is exemplified in
a machine, but it is hardly so apprehensible when it is subtly
interfused in literature. Books have always been looked on
somewhat as feræ naturæ, and if you have ever preserved
pheasants you know that when they fly over your neighbor’s
boundaries he may take a pot shot at them. I remember that
something more than thirty years ago Longfellow, my friend
and neighbor, asked me to come and eat a game pie with
him. Longfellow’s books had been sold in England by the tens
of thousands, and that game pie—and you will observe the
felicity of its being a game pie, feræ naturæ always you see—
was the only honorarium he had ever received from this
country for reprinting his works. I cannot help feeling as I
stand here that there is something especially—I might almost
use a cant word and say monumentally—interesting in a
meeting like this. It is the first time that English and American
authors, so far as I know, have come together in any
numbers, I was going to say to fraternize when I
remembered that I ought perhaps to add to “sororize.” We, of
course, have no desire, no sensible man in England or
America has any desire, to enforce this fraternization at the
point of the bayonet. Let us go on criticising each other; it is
good for both of us. We Americans have been sometimes
charged with being a little too sensitive; but perhaps a little
indulgence may be due to those who always have their faults
told to them, and the reference to whose virtues perhaps is
sometimes conveyed in a foot-note in small print. I think that
both countries have a sufficiently good opinion of themselves
to have a fairly good opinion of each other. They can afford it;
and if difficulties arise between the two countries, as they
unhappily may,—and when you alluded just now to what De
Tocqueville said in 1828 you must remember that it was only
thirteen years after our war,—you must remember how long it
has been to get in the thin end of the wedge of International
Copyright; you must remember it took our diplomacy nearly
one hundred years to enforce its generous principle of the
alienable allegiance, and that the greater part of the
bitterness which De Tocqueville found in 1828 was due to the
impressment of American seamen, of whom something like
fifteen hundred were serving on board English ships when at
last they were delivered. These things should be
remembered, not with resentment but for enlightenment. But
whatever difficulties occurred between the two countries, and
there may be difficulties that are serious, I do not think there
will be any which good sense and good feeling cannot settle.
I think I have been told often enough to remember that my
countrymen are apt to think that they are in the right, that
they are always in the right; that they are apt to look at their
side of the question only. Now, this conduces certainly to
peace of mind and imperturbability of judgment, whatever
other merits it may have. I am sure I do not know where we
got it. Do you? I also sympathize most heartily with what has
been said by the chairman with regard to the increasing love
for England among my countrymen. I find on inquiry that
they stop longer and in greater numbers every year in the old
home, and feel more deeply its manifold charms. They also
are beginning to feel that London is the centre of the races
that speak English, very much in the sense that Rome was
the centre of the ancient world. And I confess that I never
think of London, which I also confess that I love, without
thinking of that palace which David built, sitting in hearing of
a hundred streams—streams of thought, of intelligence, of
activity. And one other thing about London, if I may be
allowed to refer to myself, impresses me beyond any other
sound I have ever heard, and that is the low, unceasing roar
that one hears always in the air. It is not a mere accident, like
the tempest or the cataract, but it is impressive because it
always indicates human will and impulse and conscious
movement, and I confess that when I hear it I almost feel
that I am listening to the roaring loom of time. A few words
more. I will only say this, that we, as well as you, have
inherited a common trust in the noble language which, in its
subtle compositiveness, is perhaps the most admirable
instrument of human thought and human feeling and cunning
that has ever been unconsciously devised by man. May our
rivalries be in fidelity to that trust. We have also inherited
certain traditions political and moral, and in doing our duty
towards these it seems to me that we shall find quite enough
occupation for our united thought and feeling.

✠
 XI.

before the liverpool philomathic society.

T
he Hon. J. Russell Lowell, formerly the United States
representative at the Court of St. James, was the special guest
on Wednesday night, November 23, 1888, at a banquet of the
Liverpool Philomathic Society, held at the Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool. In
response to the toast, “The Guest of the Evening,” Mr. Lowell, who
met with a cordial reception, referred at the outset to what he
termed a rather pathetic incident of his literary history. He said:
It is connected, with the first volume which introduced me
to the English public. It was not the “Bigelow Papers” or
“Biglow Papers”—I beg pardon—(laughter), but it was a little
volume of rather immature poetry which some enthusiast on
this side of the water reprinted privately. He was good
enough to send me a copy. Perhaps it is known to you that
we have a protective system. (Laughter.) The book was
accordingly liable to duty as coming to its author, and for the
information of whomsoever it might concern there had been
written on the outside “Value 6d.” (Laughter.) I laid it to heart
at once, and I said to myself, “Here is a piece of criticism you
can appreciate, and which, perhaps, may do you a great deal
of good.” (Laughter.)

As I was saying, I do not intend to make you any formal

speech, and I should not have come here had it not been that
I think it the duty of every man who can say anything that
affects the people, whether by his pen or by his tongue, to go
anywhere where expression is given to the friendly feeling
which it is the desire of all wise and all honest men, I think,
to deepen between the two countries which you and I
represent. You have been good enough, Mr. President, also to
refer to my career as a diplomatist in England, and you were
quite right in saying that it was my endeavor to maintain
those relations—those friendly relations—and I hope not
without some success. (Cheers.) But I cannot listen to this
compliment, I cannot accept it, without saying that I was
followed by an American representative who has the same
feeling, and who has represented America as ably in my
judgment as she was ever represented in England. (Cheers.)
That reminds me that we have been rather remarkably
represented here in England. If you look over the list of our
Ministers you will find that we have had three Adamses, one
after the other, grandfather, father and son—one of the most
really striking instances of heredity I know of (laughter); and
the last Mr. Adams wore at the Court of Queen Victoria, as he
told me, the regalia in which his grandfather was robed when
he made his bow before George III. as the first American
Minister in England, and was, I am bound to say, very civilly
received by His Majesty. (Laughter.) Those are only three
illustrations, but we have many others. We have had Galitz,
for instance, a prominent American diplomatist—though he
was not an American by birth, but was a naturalized Swiss.
 There has been lately—I am not going to say a word about
politics; I always rigidly avoid them—but I have seen a
number of allusions in the newspapers lately to a certain
tension, as the journalists like to call it, between the two
countries. I cannot help thinking it is the result of a little
irritation on both sides; but I have always felt that nothing
was more foolish and that nothing ought to be more rigidly
left to children than the “You’re another.” (Laughter and
cheers.) Now, I dare say metaphysically, you are another; but
there are occasions when the telling one that he is “another”
is apt to have a disastrous effect, and I think we ought to
avoid it. (Cheers.) When we look at the enormous extension
of the race which speaks English (as we call it, for I am
always desirous to avoid confining it to the English race, as
we used to term it in our pride); when we consider this
growth (though I do not quite agree with the figures of some
of my friends, I do not believe we shall be a population of
one hundred millions or two hundred millions so soon as is
expected); when we consider this growth we find a
remarkable fact, and one which no thoughtful man can help
observing and reflecting upon. England is the greatest of
colonizing races. This is a great distinction, and ennobles a
nation. England has put a girdle of three prosperous and
vigorous communities around the globe. Of course, it is not
for me to say a word about Imperial federation. I am not sure
Imperial federation would be a good thing. I am not sure,
even if it were a good thing, it is not a dream. It is not for me
to say; but it seems to me nobody who looks far can help
seeing that the time may not be far distant when the good
understanding among all these English-speaking people and
their enormous resources may have great weight in deciding
the destinies of mankind. (Cheers.) Now, I am one of those
who believe that civilization and freedom are better married
than divided, that they go better together. Nobody who has
studied history would say they do not exist apart, but it is in
divorce, and each is the worse for it. (Cheers.) The duty
which has been laid upon the English-speaking races, so far
as we can discover, has been to carry ever the great lessons
of liberty combined with order. (Cheers.) That is the great
secret of civilization. We may have our different laws and
different forms of government; but so long as we sympathize
with any idea that so far transcends all geographical
boundaries and all municipal limits as that, I think you will
agree with me that nothing can be more important than to
preserve the friendliest relations between the two greatest
representatives of this conquering and colonizing race.
(Cheers.)
I did not intend to detain you so long as I have (cries of
“Go on”), but I have also in my experience of after-dinner
speeches observed that a speech is like an ill-broken horse; it
is apt to take the bit between its teeth and to bolt at the most
unexpected moment. A speaker frequently brings up, not
where he intended to bring up, but where his steed chooses
to land him. I suppose that before coming here I ought to
have studied carefully the history of Liverpool, with which I
ought to have appeared to have been familiar from my
earliest childhood. (Laughter.) Unfortunately, there was no
history of Liverpool in my friend Tom Brown’s library.
(Laughter.) There were histories of inferior places—Chester,
and so on—but no history of Liverpool; and I therefore cannot
give you a great deal of information which I have no doubt
would have been new and very interesting to you, and which
would make the staple of a proper after-dinner speech. But
there is one thing I remember about Liverpool. I have always
felt a sort of literary gratitude to Liverpool, strange as you
may think it. In my father’s library I remember very well three
quarto volumes stood side by side more years ago than I like
to say. Two of these volumes were “Lorenzo the Magnificent,”
and the other was “Poggio Bracciolini.” I, of course, when I
was a boy, did not know precisely the meaning of those
books; but they did to a certain extent afford me an
introduction to the “Renaissance in Italy.” I thought—but Sir
James Picton corrects me—that it was Roscoe who translated
the life of the second Lorenzo; but it was his son, I am
informed, who translated another book which gave me my
first acquaintance with the Italian Novelists, and which was a
book which I remember buying when I was making a library
of my own very early in life.

But to an American Liverpool generally represents the gate

by which he enters the Old World; for as our ancestors went
across West to find a new world there in that unexplored
Atlantic, as they thought it might be, we go back Eastward to
find our new world in the old—a new world of continental
instruction and freshness. And I am glad, linked as we are in
history and speaking, as I am given to understand, a
language which at least can be understood the one by the
other (laughter)—I am glad to find that my countrymen linger
more and more in the land of their ancestors. Formerly Bristol
was the great port through which intercourse with America
was kept up, but now certainly Liverpool is one end of the
three-thousand-mile loom on which the shuttles which are
binding us all in visible ties more and more together are
continually shooting to and fro. Liverpool is also the gate by
which Americans leave the Old World to go home, and I am
to a certain extent, as a person who crosses the seas not
infrequently, interested in a discussion which I saw in the
newspapers the other day as to the difficulties of embarcation
at Liverpool. But I have encountered one which I did not
expect, and that difficulty has been put in my way by the
Philomathic Society. You have made it harder to get away
from Liverpool than I should have expected or supposed, and
I shall carry away with me when I go to-morrow the
recollections of this pleasant meeting with you, of its
cordiality, of the pleasant things that have been said to me,
and that we often accept things that we do not deserve.
(Laughter and cheers.)

✠
A Selection ...
... from the Publications of
 Transcriber’s Note:
Two misspelled words were corrected.
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