Secret of the Sangraal: A Collection of Writings [S.S. Col.] [N.F. - Essays] by Machen Arthur

Author:Machen, Arthur [Machen, Arthur]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Essays, Fiction, Nonfiction, Short Stories, Folklore
ISBN: 9781872621180
Google: Ym97AAAACAAJ
Goodreads: 3454510
Publisher: Tartarus Press
Published: 1995-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

‘By what means,’ said the Prince, ‘are the Europeans thus powerful; or why, since they can so easily visit Asia and Africa for trade and conquest, cannot the Asiaticks and Africans invade their coasts, plant colonies in their ports, and give laws to their natural princes? The same wind that carries them back would bring us thither.’

The puzzle is addressed to the sage, Imlac, the prince’s philosophic counsellor. Imlac, with some circumlocution, gives it up, and Johnson himself, commenting on the passage many years after, did the same. He said that he could see no real explanation of the remarkable facts.

The explanation is, of course, easy enough. The East, as I said, has always been inclined to teetotalism, with all that is implied in that term. Let us be warned in time. Woe to us if we take to despising good drink while the myriads of millions of China take to strong ale and vintage port. Our day will be done. ‘Mene, Mene’ will be written on the wall. Let us rather honour the memory and imitate the example of the good man of Gray’s Inn, who left six dozen bottles of the finest port to his old friend. I am sure that he was a good man. If a man talks to me of the sacred cause of Humanity, I lock up my few silver spoons. If he speaks of Liberty, I know that he has a Bill in his pocket by which it will be made penal to be out of bed after ten p.m. But he who speaks well of port is, as the Greeks said of their best men, beautiful and good.

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