On Nothing and Kindred Subjects

On Nothing and Kindred Subjects

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Title: On Nothing & Kindred Subjects
Author: Hilaire Belloc
Release Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7432] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on April 29, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-Latin-1
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ON NOTHING & KINDRED SUBJECTS
BY
HILAIRE BELLOC

TO
MAURICE BARING

CONTENTS
ON THE PLEASURE OF TAKING UP ONE'S PEN
ON GETTING RESPECTED IN INNS AND HOTELS
ON IGNORANCE
ON ADVERTISEMENT
ON A HOUSE
ON THE ILLNESS OF MY MUSE
ON A DOG AND A MAN ALSO
ON TEA
ON THEM
ON RAILWAYS AND THINGS
ON CONVERSATIONS IN TRAINS
ON THE RETURN OF THE DEAD
ON THE APPROACH OF AN AWFUL DOOM
ON A RICH MAN WHO SUFFERED
ON A CHILD WHO DIED
ON A LOST MANUSCRIPT
ON A MAN WHO WAS PROTECTED BY ANOTHER MAN
ON NATIONAL DEBTS
ON LORDS
ON JINGOES: IN THE SHAPE OF A WARNING
ON A WINGED HORSE AND THE EXILE WHO RODE HIM
ON A MAN AND HIS BURDEN
ON A FISHERMAN AND THE QUEST OF PEACE
ON A HERMIT WHOM I KNEW
ON AN UNKNOWN COUNTRY
ON A FA?RY CASTLE
ON A SOUTHERN HARBOUR
ON A YOUNG MAN AND AN OLDER MAN
ON THE DEPARTURE OF A GUEST
ON DEATH
ON COMING TO AN END

_King's Land,
December the 13th, 1907
My dear Maurice,
It was in Normandy, you will remember, and in the heat of the year, when the birds were silent in the trees and the apples nearly ripe, with the sun above us already of a stronger kind, and a somnolence within and without, that it was determined among us (the jolly company!) that I should write upon Nothing, and upon all that is cognate to Nothing, a task not yet attempted since the Beginning of the World.
Now when the matter was begun and the subject nearly approached, I saw more clearly that this writing upon Nothing might be very grave, and as I looked at it in every way the difficulties of my adventure appalled me, nor am I certain that I have overcome them all. But I had promised you that I would proceed, and so I did, in spite of my doubts and terrors.
For first I perceived that in writing upon this matter I was in peril of offending the privilege of others, and of those especially who are powerful to-day, since I would be discussing things very dear and domestic to my fellow-men, such as The Honour of Politicians, The Tact of Great Ladies, The Wealth of Journalists, The Enthusiasm of Gentlemen, and the Wit of Bankers. All that is most intimate and dearest to the men that make our time, all that they would most defend from the vulgar gaze,--this it was proposed to make the theme of a common book.
In spite of such natural fear and of interests so powerful to detain me, I have completed my task, and I will confess that as it grew it enthralled me. There is in Nothing something so majestic and so high that it is a fascination and spell to regard it. Is it not that which Mankind, after the great effort of life, at last attains, and that which alone can satisfy Mankind's desire? Is it not that which is the end of so many generations of analysis, the final word of Philosophy, and the goal of the search for reality? Is it not the very matter of our modern creed in which the great spirits of our time repose, and is it not, as it were, the culmination of their intelligence? It is indeed the sum and meaning of all around!
How well has the world perceived it and how powerfully do its legends illustrate what Nothing is to men!
You know that once in Lombardy Alfred and Charlemagne and the Kaliph Haroun-al-Raschid met to make trial of their swords. The sword of Alfred was a simple sword: its name was Hewer. And the sword of Charlemagne was a