r the True and Worthy. It is written, 'if we are ourselves
valets, there shall exist no hero for us; we shall not know the hero
when we see him;'--we shall take the quack for a hero; and cry,
audibly through all ballot-boxes and machinery whatsoever, Thou art
he; be thou King over us!

What boots it? Seek only deceitful Speciosity, money with gilt
carriages, 'fame' with newspaper-paragraphs, whatever name it bear,
you will find only deceitful Speciosity; godlike Reality will be
forever far from you. The Quack shall be legitimate inevitable King of
you; no earthly machinery able to exclude the Quack. Ye shall be born
thralls of the Quack, and suffer under him, till your hearts are near
broken, and no French Revolution or Manchester Insurrection, or
partial or universal volcanic combustions and explosions, never so
many, can do more than 'change the _figure_ of your Quack;' the
essence of him remaining, for a time and times.--"How long, O
Prophet?" say some, with a rather melancholy sneer. Alas, ye
_un_prophetic, ever till this come about: Till deep misery, if nothing
softer will, have driven you out of your Speciosities _into_ your
Sincerities; and you find that there either is a Godlike in the world,
or else ye are an unintelligible madness; that there is a God, as well
as a Mammon and a Devil, and a Genius of Luxuries and canting
Dilettantisms and Vain Shows! How long that will be, compute for
yourselves. My unhappy brothers!--

CHAPTER IX.

ABBOT SAMSON.

So, then, the bells of St. Edmundsbury clang out one and all, and in
church and chapel the organs go: Convent and Town, and all the west
side of Suffolk, are in gala; knights, viscounts, weavers, spinners,
the entire population, male and female, young and old, the very
sockmen with their chubby infants,--out to have a holiday, and see the
Lord Abbot arrive! And there is: 'stripping barefoot' of the Lord
Abbot at the Gate, and solemn leading of him in to the High Altar and
Shrine; with sudden 'silence of all the bells and organs,' as we kneel
in deep prayer there; and again with outburst of all the bells and
organs, and loud _Te Deum_ from the general human windpipe; and
speeches by the leading viscount, and giving of the kiss of
brotherhood; the whole wound-up with popular games, and dinner within
doors of more than a thousand strong, _plus quam mille comedentibus in
gaudio magno_.

In such manner is the selfsame Samson once again returning to us,
wel