man in
the moon mainly because it was one out of many scattered stories
which, as Max Mueller nobly says, "though they may be pronounced
childish and tedious by some critics, seem to me to glitter with the
brightest dew of nature's own poetry, and to contain those
very touches that make us feel akin, not only with Homer or
Shakespeare, but even with Lapps, and Finns, and Kaffirs." [47]
Vico discovered the value of myths, as an addition to our
knowledge of the mental and moral life of the men of the
myth-producing period. Professor Flint tells us that mythology, as
viewed by the contemporaries of Vico, "appeared to be merely a
rubbish-heap, composed of waste, worthless, and foul products of
mind; but he perceived that it contained the materials for a science
which would reflect the mind and history of humanity, and even
asserted some general principles as to how these materials were to be
interpreted and utilised, which have since been established, or at
least endorsed, by Heyne, Creuzer, C O Mueller, and others." [48]
Let us cease to call that common which God has cleansed, and with
thankfulness recognise the solidarity of the human race, to which
testimony is borne by even a lunar myth.

We now return to the point whence we deflected, and rejoin the
chief actor in the selenographic comedy. It is a relief to get away
from the legendary man in the moon, and to have the real man once
more in sight. We are like the little boy, whom the obliging visitor,
anxious to show that he was passionately fond of children, and
never annoyed by them in the least, treated to a ride upon his knee.
"Trot, trot, trot; how do you enjoy that, my little man? Isn't that
nice?" "Yes, sir," replied the child, "but not so nice as on the real
donkey, the one with the four legs." It is true, the mythical character
has redeeming traits; but then he breaks the Sabbath, obstructs
people going to mass, steals cabbages, and is undergoing sentence
of transportation for life. While the real man, who lives in a
well-lighted crescent, thoroughly ventilated; whose noble profile is
sometimes seen distinctly when he passes by on the shady side of
the way; whose beaming countenance is at other times turned full
upon us, reflecting nothing but sunshine as he winks at his many
admirers: he is a being of quite another order. We do not forget that
he has been represented with a claret jug in one hand, and a claret
cup in the other; that he frequently takes half