I dispersed my hoard of antiques, retaining only my
Prynne's "Histrio-Mastix" and my Opera Quinti Horatii Flacci (8vo,
Aldus, Venetiis, 1501). And then I became interested in British
balladry--a noble subject, for which I have always had a veneration and
love, as the well-kept and profusely annotated volumes in cases 3, 6,
and 9 in the front room are ready to prove to you at any time you
choose to visit my quiet, pleasant home.

V

BALDNESS AND INTELLECTUALITY

One of Judge Methuen's pet theories is that the soul in the human body
lies near the center of gravity; this is, I believe, one of the tenets
of the Buddhist faith, and for a long time I eschewed it as one might
shun a vile thing, for I feared lest I should become identified even
remotely with any faith or sect other than Congregationalism.

Yet I noticed that in moments of fear or of joy or of the sense of any
other emotion I invariably experienced a feeling of goneness in the pit
of my stomach, as if, forsooth, the center of my physical system were
also the center of my nervous and intellectual system, the point at
which were focused all those devious lines of communication by means of
which sensation is instantaneously transmitted from one part of the
body to another.

I mentioned this circumstance to Judge Methuen, and it seemed to please
him. "My friend," said he, "you have a particularly sensitive soul; I
beg of you to exercise the greatest prudence in your treatment of it.
It is the best type of the bibliomaniac soul, for the quickness of its
apprehensions betokens that it is alert and keen and capable of
instantaneous impressions and enthusiasms. What you have just told me
convinces me that you are by nature qualified for rare exploits in the
science and art of book-collecting. You will presently become
bald--perhaps as bald as Thomas Hobbes was--for a vigilant and active
soul invariably compels baldness, so close are the relations between
the soul and the brain, and so destructive are the growth and
operations of the soul to those vestigial features which humanity has
inherited from those grosser animals, our prehistoric ancestors."

You see by this that Judge Methuen recognized baldness as prima-facie
evidence of intellectuality and spirituality. He has collected much
literature upon the subject, and has promised the Academy of Science
to prepare and read for the instruction of that learned body an essay
demonstrating that absence of