upon him, and as "the golden opes, the iron shuts amain."

We have got something out of the lines, I think, and much more is
yet to be found in them; but we have done enough by way of example
of the kind of word-by-word examination of your author which is
rightly called "reading;" watching every accent and expression, and
putting ourselves always in the author's place, annihilating our own
personality, and seeking to enter into his, so as to be able
assuredly to say, "Thus Milton thought," not "Thus I thought, in
misreading Milton." And by this process you will gradually come to
attach less weight to your own "Thus I thought" at other times. You
will begin to perceive that what YOU thought was a matter of no
serious importance;--that your thoughts on any subject are not
perhaps the clearest and wisest that could be arrived at thereupon:-
in fact, that unless you are a very singular person, you cannot be
said to have any "thoughts" at all; that you have no materials for
them, in any serious matters; {8}--no right to "think," but only to
try to learn more of the facts. Nay, most probably all your life
(unless, as I said, you are a singular person) you will have no
legitimate right to an "opinion" on any business, except that
instantly under your hand. What must of necessity be done, you can
always find out, beyond question, how to do. Have you a house to
keep in order, a commodity to sell, a field to plough, a ditch to
cleanse? There need be no two opinions about these proceedings; it
is at your peril if you have not much more than an "opinion" on the
way to manage such matters. And also, outside of your own business,
there are one or two subjects on which you are bound to have but one
opinion. That roguery and lying are objectionable, and are
instantly to be flogged out of the way whenever discovered;--that
covetousness and love of quarrelling are dangerous dispositions even