st of his thoughts even
on such precipitous paths to those very depths in which Socrates and
Montaigne always felt at home. But he, a feverish, clamorous,
obstreperous stripling of a Beduin, what chance has he in extricating
his barbaric instincts from such thorny hedges of philosophy? And had
he not quoted Socrates in that last paragraph, it would have been
expunged. No, we are not utterly lost to the fine sense of propriety
of this chaste and demure age. But no matter how etiolated and sickly
the thought, it regains its colour and health when it breathes the
literary air. Prudery can not but relish the tang of lubricity when
flavoured with the classical. Moreover, if Socrates and Montaigne
speak freely of these midnight matters, why not Khalid, if he has
anything new to say, any good advice to offer. But how good and how
new are his views let the Reader judge.

'Tis very well to speak "of evoking the spirit before the bodily
communion," but those who can boast of a deeper experience in such
matters will find in Socrates' dictum, quoted by Montaigne, the very
gist of reason and wisdom. Those wise ones were as far-sighted as they
were far gone. And moderation, as it was justly said once, is the
respiration of the philosopher. But Khalid, though always invoking the
distant luminary of transcendentalism for light, can not arrogate to
himself this high title. The expansion of all the faculties, and the
reduction of the demands of society and the individual to the lowest
term;--this, as we understand it, is the aim of transcendentalism. And
Khalid's distance from the orbit of this grand luminary seems to vary
with his moods; and these vary with the librations and revolutions of
the moon. Hallucinated, moonstruck Khalid, your harmonising and
affinitative efforts do not always succeed. That is our opinion of the
matter. And the Reader, who is no respecter of editors, might quarrel
with it, for all we know.

Only by standing firmly in the centre can one preserve the equilibrium
of one's thoughts. But Khalid seldom speaks of equilibrium: he cares
not how he fares in falling on either side of the fence, so he knows
what lies behind. Howbeit, we can not conceive of how the affinity of
the mind and soul with the senses, and the harmony between these and
nature, are possible, if not exteriorised in that very superman whom
Khalid so much dreads, and on whom he often casts a lingering glance
of admiration. So there you are. We must