OF AN ENGLISH OPIUM-EATER. 23 66 (With "Levana," "The Rosicrucians and Freemasons," Notes BY THOMAS DE QUINCEY. WITH INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY WILLIAM SHARP. LONDON: WALTER SCOTT, 24 WARWICK LANE, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1886. N the narrow range of that fascinating section of literature which deals with the intimate self-disclosure of the soul, the Confessions of an English Opium-Eater holds conspicuous place. Marcus Aurelius, Rousseau, Amiel,-the most diverse personalities have an abiding claim upon our imaginative sympathy. We come face to face with the moral, the intellectual, the spiritual emotions of men who pass before us with the inmost secrets of their hearts laid bare to curious eyes-and we are electrified by what we see. The natural sounds of earth-wind in the branches, a wave falling on the sea-shore-appeal to all, but not in the same way as does some subtle chord struck by a great musician, some string with its pathetic vox humana, thrilling from the touch of the master violinist. The inner lives of our kind are to us as these natural sounds-to be interpreted but by very few-while like these revealing passages of lyric passion are the rare individuals whose "souls and bodies are one, for their spirit is not hidden, but, as |