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  • Nov. 1, 1855
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The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, Nov. 1, 1855: Page 6

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    Article THE SIGNS OF ENGLAND. Page 1 of 4 →
Page 6

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

The Signs Of England.

THE SIGNS OE ENGLAND .

BY OKE WHO HAS PAINTED MANY , THE TIKST SIGKNV Ik ancient times , amongst the philosophers , a grand dispute went on as to whether , after all , this world were a sham or a reality .

Honest , plain-thinking men were told that they ought to doubt whether a post was really a post . Archelaus was argued with until he saw that he was Antipater ; and Phormio was brought to believe that he had , all his life , been making a great mistake about himself , and that he , in reality , was Harpax .

Now the philosophers were right , and , to speak in Cervantes' vein , the men were not wrong . To grave wits , the point simplified itself into the question whether this thing , which we call world , were really objective or subjective ; in other words , whether it was something without or within—something in or out of our head .

Start not , reader !—there is truth in these things , insane enough as you may deem us in propounding them ; propounding them to one who so unmistakably sees that two and two are four , and one that distinguishes the difference between his right hand and his left .

Now , I confess that I am no philosopher ; at least , not much of a philosopher . Shall I tell you why ?—It makes my head ache . In my youth I ran my head against some hard things , which the University doctors told me were philosophical problems ; and as there are no literary hospitals , I was obliged to betake myself to my own poor house to plaster myself as I could .

From the fact that , if I retain no marks , I still possess the ache , and all this resulting from an ill-considered collision with ugly outside things , I entertain a most particular and thorough horror—an indescribable creeping , which if only a few more minutes prolonged , I feel would make me seek for flannel—at unusually wise propositions . Of all nuts for critical teeth that are already not more than half-cracked , I go in hourly fear for my life . And so would you , reader , if you had suffered as much by them as I have .

Now , my friend , you will say that this is dreadful ; — that it indicates a mentally bruised condition . Ton will set me down as a literary Lazarus , full—to speak the uncomfortable fact mildly—of excoriated places ; in other words , of sores . The ship , you will urge , tight and strong enough , perhaps , originally , has , during some

queer metaphysical voyage in the region of philosophic cloud-landlike the pot of clay against the pot of brass—lighted upon some hardbound , bluff-bowed wanderer of the ocean that has had no pity . You show , in your own person , the effects of the blow , you will say . Your head should have been something harder than an egg-shell , and contained something sounder than sawdust .

“The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine: 1855-11-01, Page 6” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 8 July 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mmr/issues/mmr_01111855/page/6/.
  • List
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Title Category Page
FREEMASONRY IN FRANCE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. Article 9
CHINA Article 61
PROVINCIAL LODGES AND CHAPTERS; Article 62
Obituary Article 63
THE SIGNS OF ENGLAND. Article 6
NOTICE. Article 64
TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 64
NOTES ON ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCH. Article 12
VOICES FROM DEAD NATIONS. BY KENNETH R. H. MACKENZIE, F.S.A., Ph.D. Article 18
FORMS, CEREMONIES, AND SYMBOLS Article 1
TRAVELS BY A FREEMASON Article 24
THE ANCIENT AND ACCEPTED RITE Article 52
COLONIAL. Article 54
FRANCE. Article 55
MASONIC SONGS.-No. 4 Article 28
COLOURED LODGES IN AMERICA. Article 29
REVIEWS OF NEW BOOKS. Article 32
GERMANY. Article 57
PAST PLEASURE. Article 56
INDIA. Article 58
MUSIC. Article 32
CORRESPONDENCE Article 33
NOTES AND QUERIES Article 36
MASONIC INTELLIGENCE Article 38
ROYAL MASONIC INSTITUTION FOR BOYS. Article 38
METROPOLITAN. Article 40
THE TAVERN. Article 39
PROVINCIAL Article 41
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

The Signs Of England.

THE SIGNS OE ENGLAND .

BY OKE WHO HAS PAINTED MANY , THE TIKST SIGKNV Ik ancient times , amongst the philosophers , a grand dispute went on as to whether , after all , this world were a sham or a reality .

Honest , plain-thinking men were told that they ought to doubt whether a post was really a post . Archelaus was argued with until he saw that he was Antipater ; and Phormio was brought to believe that he had , all his life , been making a great mistake about himself , and that he , in reality , was Harpax .

Now the philosophers were right , and , to speak in Cervantes' vein , the men were not wrong . To grave wits , the point simplified itself into the question whether this thing , which we call world , were really objective or subjective ; in other words , whether it was something without or within—something in or out of our head .

Start not , reader !—there is truth in these things , insane enough as you may deem us in propounding them ; propounding them to one who so unmistakably sees that two and two are four , and one that distinguishes the difference between his right hand and his left .

Now , I confess that I am no philosopher ; at least , not much of a philosopher . Shall I tell you why ?—It makes my head ache . In my youth I ran my head against some hard things , which the University doctors told me were philosophical problems ; and as there are no literary hospitals , I was obliged to betake myself to my own poor house to plaster myself as I could .

From the fact that , if I retain no marks , I still possess the ache , and all this resulting from an ill-considered collision with ugly outside things , I entertain a most particular and thorough horror—an indescribable creeping , which if only a few more minutes prolonged , I feel would make me seek for flannel—at unusually wise propositions . Of all nuts for critical teeth that are already not more than half-cracked , I go in hourly fear for my life . And so would you , reader , if you had suffered as much by them as I have .

Now , my friend , you will say that this is dreadful ; — that it indicates a mentally bruised condition . Ton will set me down as a literary Lazarus , full—to speak the uncomfortable fact mildly—of excoriated places ; in other words , of sores . The ship , you will urge , tight and strong enough , perhaps , originally , has , during some

queer metaphysical voyage in the region of philosophic cloud-landlike the pot of clay against the pot of brass—lighted upon some hardbound , bluff-bowed wanderer of the ocean that has had no pity . You show , in your own person , the effects of the blow , you will say . Your head should have been something harder than an egg-shell , and contained something sounder than sawdust .

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