st appeared on the earth when the
earth first appeared as an unsatisfied atom seeking combination. The
question is rather, when did the inanimate first appear? It appeared
when the first harmonic combination was effected. The earth is
indeed to be considered as having grown up through the life that is
inherent in it. Man is the most concentrated and differentiated
outgrowth of that life. Mankind is, so to speak, the brain of the
earth, and is progressing towards the conscious guidance of all its
processes."

"Dunsinane."

It was not clear on what ground this noble duke based his authority
over me; but I had been so long accustomed to fulfil the behests of
lunatics of low degree that I was able to receive those of an
afflicted lord with perfect equanimity. But as I could not see that
my obedience would be rewarded with anything except death or
Pentridge, I refrained from action. I did not place the broad arrow
abaft of anything or anybody, nor did I make a levy on the cash in
the Bank of Victoria.

GIPPSLAND AFTER THIRTY YEARS.

"A pleasing land of drowsihed it was,
And dreams that wave before the half-shut eye."

For twelve years I did the Government stroke in Her Majesty's Court
at Colac, then I was ordered to make my way to Gippsland.

The sun of wisdom shone on a new ministry. They observed that many
of their officers were destitute of energy, and they resolved to
infuse new life into the service, by moving its members continually
from place to place. But officials live long, and the most robust
ministry dies early, and the wisdom of one cabinet is foolishness to
the next.

I took root so deeply in the soil of Gippsland that I became
immoveable. Twice the Government tried to uproot me, but I remained
there to the end of my official days.

Little reliable information about the country or its inhabitants was
to be had, so I fondly imagined that in such a land, secured from
contamination by the wicked world outside, I should find a people of
primeval innocence and simplicity, and the long-forgotten lines
returned to my memory:

"Beatus ille qui procul negotils,
Ut prisca gens mortalium."

It was summer time, and the weather was serene and beautiful, when in
the grey dusk of the evening we sailed through the Rip at Port Philip
Heads. Then began the troubles of the heaving ocean, and the log of
the voyage was cut short. It ran thus:

"The ship went up, and the ship went down; and then we fell