第44章

'Tis certain that this man has an estate of fifty thousand livres, and seems to be a person of very great accomplishments.

But, then, if he's a wizard, are wizards so devoutly given as this man seems to be? In short, I could make neither head nor tail on't--The Count de Gabalis, Translation affixed to the second edition of the "Rape of the Lock."Of all the weaknesses which little men rail against, there is none that they are more apt to ridicule than the tendency to believe.And of all the signs of a corrupt heart and a feeble head, the tendency of incredulity is the surest.

Real philosophy seeks rather to solve than to deny.While we hear, every day, the small pretenders to science talk of the absurdities of alchemy and the dream of the Philosopher's Stone, a more erudite knowledge is aware that by alchemists the greatest discoveries in science have been made, and much which still seems abstruse, had we the key to the mystic phraseology they were compelled to adopt, might open the way to yet more noble acquisitions.The Philosopher's Stone itself has seemed no visionary chimera to some of the soundest chemists that even the present century has produced.(Mr.Disraeli, in his "Curiosities of Literature" (article "Alchem"), after quoting the sanguine judgments of modern chemists as to the transmutation of metals, observes of one yet greater and more recent than those to which Glyndon's thoughts could have referred, "Sir Humphry Davy told me that he did not consider this undiscovered art as impossible; but should it ever be discovered, it would certainly be useless.")Man cannot contradict the Laws of Nature.But are all the laws of Nature yet discovered?

"Give me a proof of your art," says the rational inquirer."When I have seen the effect, I will endeavour, with you, to ascertain the causes."Somewhat to the above effect were the first thoughts of Clarence Glyndon on quitting Zanoni.But Clarence Glyndon was no "rational inquirer." The more vague and mysterious the language of Zanoni, the more it imposed upon him.A proof would have been something tangible, with which he would have sought to grapple.

And it would have only disappointed his curiosity to find the supernatural reduced to Nature.He endeavoured in vain, at some moments rousing himself from credulity to the scepticism he deprecated, to reconcile what he had heard with the probable motives and designs of an imposter.Unlike Mesmer and Cagliostro, Zanoni, whatever his pretensions, did not make them a source of profit; nor was Glyndon's position or rank in life sufficient to render any influence obtained over his mind, subservient to schemes, whether of avarice or ambition.Yet, ever and anon, with the suspicion of worldly knowledge, he strove to persuade himself that Zanoni had at least some sinister object in inducing him to what his English pride and manner of thought considered a derogatory marriage with the poor actress.Might not Viola and the Mystic be in league with each other? Might not all this jargon of prophecy and menace be but artifices to dupe him?

He felt an unjust resentment towards Viola at having secured such an ally.But with that resentment was mingled a natural jealousy.Zanoni threatened him with rivalry.Zanoni, who, whatever his character or his arts, possessed at least all the external attributes that dazzle and command.Impatient of his own doubts, he plunged into the society of such acquaintances as he had made at Naples--chiefly artists, like himself, men of letters, and the rich commercialists, who were already vying with the splendour, though debarred from the privileges, of the nobles.From these he heard much of Zanoni, already with them, as with the idler classes, an object of curiosity and speculation.

He had noticed, as a thing remarkable, that Zanoni had conversed with him in English, and with a command of the language so complete that he might have passed for a native.On the other hand, in Italian, Zanoni was equally at ease.Glyndon found that it was the same in languages less usually learned by foreigners.