--thus says Montaigne in his
charming essay "Of Books"(7)--"have several senses and meanings, of
which the Mythologists choose some one that tallies with the fable.
But for the most part 't is only what presents itself at the first
view, and is superficial; there being others more lively, essential,
and internal, into which they had not been able to penetrate;
and"--adds Montaigne--"the case is the very same with me."

(1) OEuvres inedites de Maine de Biran, vol. i. See introduction.

(2) OEuvres inedites de Maine de Biran, vol. iii. p. 546
(Anthropologie).

(3) OEuvres inedites de Maine de Biran, vol. iii. p. 524.

(4) "The Golden Ass" of Apuleius.

(5) Sir William Hamilton: Lectures on Metaphysics, p. 40.

(6) Jacobi: Von der Gottlichen Dingen; Werke, p. 424-426.

(7) Translation, 1776, Yol. ii. p. 103.

CHAPTER I.

In the year 18-- I settled as a physician at one of the wealthiest of
our great English towns, which I will designate by the initial L----.
I was yet young, but I had acquired some reputation by a professional
work, which is, I believe, still amongst the received authorities on the
subject of which it treats. I had studied at Edinburgh and at Paris, and
had borne away from both those illustrious schools of medicine whatever
guarantees for future distinction the praise of professors may concede
to the ambition of students. On becoming a member of the College of
Physicians, I made a tour of the principal cities of Europe, taking
letters of introduction to eminent medical men, and gathering from many
theories and modes of treatment hints to enlarge the foundations of
unprejudiced and comprehensive' practice. I had resolved to fix my
ultimate residence in London. But before this preparatory tour was
completed, my resolve was changed by one of those unexpected events
which determine the fate man in vain would work out for himself. In
passing through the Tyro, on my way into the north of Italy, I found in
a small inn, remote from medical attendance, an English traveller seized
with acute inflammation of the lungs, and in a state of imminent danger.
I devoted myself to him night and day; and, perhaps more through careful
nursing than active remedies, I had the happiness to effect his complete
recovery. The traveller proved to be Julius Faber, a physician of great
distinction, contented to reside, where he was born, in the provincial
city of L----, but whose reputation as a