"WHAT SHADOWS," CRIED BURKE • •
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—When in your last issue, on the day of its appearance, I re-read my own letter about the origin of the saying—" What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue ! "—I saw at once that I had not proved my point. For the quotation which I gave from Bolingbroke, to whom I ascribed the saying, did not contain these particular words. My first thought was that I had omitted them inadvertently ; but, on referring to my authorities, I was astounded to find that, in their quota- tions from Bolingbroke about the crisis of 1714, these words about " shadows " did not occur. I turned to Burke, and almost at once found the words in his speech on taking leave of the electors of Bristol in September, 1780.
I am not, I think, a careless writer, nor, I hope, a dishonest one. How do I explain an indefensible error, of which at the time of writing I was completely unconscious ? I can only say that I had long believed that the two sentences "What a world is this, and how does fortune banter us ! "and "What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue ! " were uttered consecutively, formed in fact a single passage, and were Bolingbroke's. Of the two sentences, the first had the ascend- ency in my recollection ; the second following as a comment. I consulted authorities before writing, and I found, as I expected, that it was Bolingbroke who spoke about bantering fortune. Without more thought, but quite inexcusably, I . took it for granted that he uttered the other sentence also. So strong was my obsession at the time of writing, that I was not even conscious that my authorities gave no warrant for this assumption.
I can only tender my sincere apologies to the writer in The Times for attributing to him a blunder which he did not make, to you, Sir, and to those of your readers who happened to read my letter.—Believe me, yours faithfully, W. M. CHILDS.
Grintsbmy Bank, Hermitage, Berkshire.
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