refore, whether Ceylon is Taprobane, the true answer is, not by
affirmation simply, nor by negation simply, but by both at once; it is,
and it is not. Taprobane includes much of what belongs to Ceylon, but also
more, and also less. And this case is a type of many others standing in
the same logical circumstances.

[15] _Unicorn_: and strange it is, that, in ancient dilapidated
monuments of the Ceylonese, religious sculptures, &c., the unicorn
of Scotland frequently appears according to its true heraldic
(_i.e._ fabulous) type.

But, secondly, as to Ceylon being the local representative of Paradise, we
may say, as the courteous Frenchman did to Dr Moore, upon the Doctor's
apologetically remarking of a word which he had used, that he feared it
was not good French--"Non, Monsieur, il n'est pas; mais il merite bien
l'etre." Certainly, if Ceylon was not, at least it ought to have been,
Paradise; for at this day there is no place on earth which better supports
the paradisiacal character (always excepting Lapland, as an Upsal
professor observes, and Wapping, as an old seaman reminds us) than this
Pandora of islands, which the Hindoos call Lanka, and Europe calls Ceylon.
We style it the "Pandora" of islands, because, as all the gods of the
heathen clubbed their powers in creating that ideal woman--clothing her
with perfections, and each separate deity subscribing to her dowery some
separate gift--not less conspicuous, and not less comprehensive, has been
the bounty of Providence, running through the whole diapason of
possibilities, to this all-gorgeous island. Whatsoever it is that God has
given by separate allotment and partition to other sections of the planet,
all this he has given cumulatively and redundantly to Ceylon. Was she
therefore happy, was Ceylon happier than other regions, through this
hyper-tropical munificence of her Creator? No, she was not; and the reason
was, because idolatrous darkness had planted curses where Heaven had
planted blessings; because the insanity of man had defeated the
graciousness of God. But another era is dawning for Ceylon; God will now
countersign his other blessings, and ripen his possibilities into great
harvests of realization, by superadding the one blessing of a dovelike
religion; light is thickening apace, the horrid altars of Moloch are
growing dim; woman will no more consent to forego her birthright as the
daughter of God; man will cease to be the tiger-cat that, i