ssion of Agnosticism:--

"With them the seed of Wisdom did I sow,
And with mine own hand wrought to make it grow;
And this was all the Harvest that I reap'd--
'I came like Water, and like Wind I go.'

Into this Universe, and _Why_ not knowing
Nor _Whence_, like Water willy-nilly flowing;
And out of it, as Wind along the Waste,
I know not _Whither_, willy-nilly blowing.

* * * * *

We are no other than a moving row
Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go
Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern held
In Midnight by the Master of the Show;

But helpless Pieces of the Game He plays
Upon this Chequer-board of Nights and Days;
Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays,
And one by one back in the Closet lays."

Yet to how many critics this has seemed but a poem of the wine-cup and
roses!

FitzGerald proved a most kindly contributor to the series of "Suffolk
Notes and Queries" that I edited for the 'Ipswich Journal' in 1877-78.
The following were some of his notes, all signed "Effigy"--a play on his
initials:--

"_Major Moor_, _David Hume_, _and the Royal George_.--In a review of
Burton's Life of Hume, p. 354 of the 'Gentleman's Magazine,' April 1849,
is the following quotation from the book, and the following note upon it:

"'Page 452. "Major M---, with whom I dined yesterday, said that he
had frequently met David Hume at their military mess in Scotland, and
in other parties. That he was very polite and pleasant, though
thoughtful in company, generally reclining his head upon his hand, as
if in study; from which he would suddenly recover," &c. [Note by the
Editor, John Mitford of Benhall.] We merely add that Major M--- was
Major Moor, author of the Hindoo Pantheon, a very learned and amiable
person.'

"A very odd blunder for one distinguished Suffolk man to make of another,
and so near a neighbour. For David Hume died in 1776, when Major Moor
was about seven years old; by this token that (as he has told me) he saw
the masts of the ROYAL GEORGE slope under water as she went down in 1782,
while he was on board the transport that was to carry him to India, a
cadet of thirteen years old.

"Nearly sixty years after this, Major Moor (as I also heard him relate)
was among the usual company going over one of the Royal Palaces--Windsor,
I think--when the cicerone pointed out a fragment of the Royal George's
mast, whereupon on