THE RIGHTS OF FOLLY.
ADKIEL TAO SZE, Zadkiel the Doctor of Reason—whom, LI on the faith of an article on the "Doctrines of Foe, the son of In-fan Yang," in last year's almanack, we had always pictured to ourselves as an important member of the Buddhist clergy, "wearing a particular dress and shaving the beard and head "—has revealed himself to the world, and this, like all other revelations, astonishes principally by its simplicity. The particular dress is not a black robe covered with mystic signs, but the tight blue swallow-tail coat of a lieutenant in Her Majesty's navy, "seniority, 1815." We have pride in stating that this important discovery is at least indirectly due to the influence of the press. It was a daily contemporary who fired the first shot, but Zadkiel scorned to contend openly with anonymous antagonists. Indeed, he is quite capable of returning a Roland for an Oliver, "hack scribes who write for newspapers," "feeble old iTimes," "ignorant and nameless scribe," "smart but vulgar scribbler," being among the flowers of rhetoric by which he has replied to his critics. An adversary in every sense worthy of him was, however, ready to appear. Admiral Sir Edward Belcher wrote to the Ddily Telegraph, and -with professional rashness "named names." He further declared that R J. Morrison, alias Zadkiel, was the person "who gulled many of our nobility about 1852" with a crystal globe, in which his son and a lad named Usher professed to see visions. "He took money for.these profane acts, and made a good thing of it." Sir Edward went on to say that the sage could, doubtless, be satisfactorily trotted out, and no doubt he was to the satisfaction of the public, for he descended from his observatory and brought an action for libel. We can only hope that it may be equally to the satisfaction of the Admiral when he pays his lawyer's bill.
It is much to be hoped that this legal contest may pro- duce no permanent ill effects. The defendant pleaded that his letter was-1, true ; and 2, a fair criticism on the plaintiff's almanack. The plaintiff, therefore, subpcenaed the "nobility " who had come to gaze on the magic crystal, to prove
his disinterestedness, and under that gentle compulsion they came in a flock into the Queen's Bench. There was a time when West- minster Hall was the lounge of men of fashion, and when success at the bar depended more on the suffrage of Halifax and Chester- field than on the favour of attorneys. But we trust the junior bar will remember that the statesmen and fashionables whom Colonel Dickson and this potent magician have drawn into the witness-box during the last fortnight were not altogether willing visitors, and that it will hardly be prudent—whatever visions they may have seen in the crystal into which they were observed to gaze with strange earnestness—to relax their efforts to conciliate the lower branch of the profession. One witness stated that she had herself seen in the crystal a man in armour and a lady in a pink dress with her head on his shonleer. li the laws of optics should by some chance have reflected a fashionable witness in the same relation to Mr. Brieffess, that learned gentleman might be ruined for ever. But certainly his curiosity was pardonable. Lord Harry Vane had been to see it, and met many of his friends there, among others Lord Effingham. The Church, even, has a hanker- ing after unlawful knowledge. The Venerable Archdeacon Robinson, Master of the Temple, saw the ball at the house of a relative of the Chief Justice who tried the case, and obtained the valuable information that his son in Jamaica was a. clergyman. The Bishop of Lichfield came into the box and threw the sanctity of the episcopal lawn over Dr. Dee's crystaL Lady Egerton of 'Patton was the happy means of removing the doubts which a daring scepticism has felt about the man whose devils were numerous enough to occupy a herd of swine. She found that she had seventy guardian angels in the ball, and when with natural feminine timidity she said "it was a large number,' she was informed that "most people had more." Seventy guardian angels must, we imagine, require at least double the number of devils to keep them in even healthy occupation. Even that bright particular star of fashion Maria, Marchioness of Ayles- bury, whom it would be sacrilege to call a Dowager, had patronized the rites—but, as was to be expected from her exalted position, she "thought it such nonsense she paid no attention to it,'" After this need we enumerate Lord William Graham, andadirector of the New River Company, and Lord Wilton, who may be entirely be- lieved when he assures us that "he received no caution for his futnre- guidance," and Colonel Phipps and Lady Erroll and Baron Brunnow and the Right Hon. W. Cowper, M.P., Mr. Charles Kent, a barrister- and editor of the Sun, stated that Sir Bulwer Lytton's maidservant saw Knebworth, and a man lying down under a tree. But the author of a "Strange Story," we regret to add, affected to pooh- pooh the whole affair—he did not believe in his maidservant—and.. although the crystal is dedicated to the Angel of the Sun,. even to the author of " Zanoni," " Adon-ai, the Luminous, the Augo-eides," did not appear. The pure-minded little boys who assisted Zadkiel were happily more fortunate, for they saw Orion and Eve, and Queen Mab and Titania, and many of the Scriptural miracles. It is singular, however, that these spirits spoke by; means of labels proceeding from their mouths like the pictures its Punch, which the little boys may, perhaps, have seen in the shop- windows. Of course, spirits have the gift of tongues, and could speak English, as Serjeant Ballantine might have known ; for the ghost of the Lowland serjeant was stated to have spoken Gaelic, in that famous Scotch trial in which it was decided that a ghost is a good witness, provided that he will come into court and be sworn. Therefore, if St. Luke did speak English to Master Morrison, it can throw no light on the alleged controversy as to the language in which that Gosleel was originally written—a dispute which the learned serjeant, with that profound and accurate knowledge of theology for which he is remarkable, stated to be now raging amongst the learned ! Whatever may be the effect of these reve- lations on the public, one thing, however, is clear, that by the crystal at least Zadkiel made no money, and, notwithstanding his plea of justification, Sir Edward Belcher did not attempt to prove that he had. Whether the sage of Brompton be entirely sincere we will not pretend to say. It is certainly a suspicious fact that people "whose minds are truly anxious on any subject" are to apply "for advice to Samuel Smith, Esq., Post-Office, Brompton Row." If this were a mere nom de guerre it would be intelligible, but it is not. Samuel Smith was "educated at Westminster and Oxford. He is a gentleman, and a man of great learn- ing, and one of the finest scholars of the day, and he lives at 290, Goswell Road." Why, then, does he allow Lieutenant Morrison to open his letters and answer the ap- plicants who are truly anxious in mind, and "give the instruc- tions in astrology," and receive "the fees ? " 'Why did not Zad- kiel call himself Yates, or. X. Y. Z., or Lord Q—p—ts, or some-
thing else which would have been on the face of it an assumed
,tune? Certainly, however, we see no ground for calling the seer, in the ordinary sense of that word, an impostor. Perhaps these dabblers in occult science are always of that class whose mental activity exceeds their power of reasoning, and who glance over everything to master nothing. They are incapable of firmly grasping either the truth or the falsehood of any proposition : they are not quite without doubt whether the rule of three is right, and so think it possible that alchemy and astrology and spirit rapping may not be wrong. Such a mind dabbles with a subject, which it calls inquiring—dignifies credulity with the name of philosophy, and, if the• " science " is likely to be profitable, gladly deceives itself before it begins to deceive others. Then all is straightforward ; one fool makes many ; and while human nature is what it is, there will be no lack of grist for the mill. If the seers were mere impostors they might not be equally fortunate; and we are assured that Lieutenant Al orriaon, more favoured by the stars than Lord Wilton by the spirits, was advised that he would certainly succeed in this action. Even if he had lost his verdict, perhaps to his mind the mishap would not have outweighed the fact that he has found his predictions "mostly true after forty years' experience." But it is now clear that you ought to be careful how you frame your questions when you consult the stars. Like the witches in Macbeth,
"They keep the word. of promise to the ear, And break it to the hope."
If Zadkiel had asked whether he should get his costs we should not probably have had the pleasure of meeting persons of fashion in tha Court of Queen's Bench.
It may, perhaps, be asked why, if this trial is only a narrative
of human folly, it is worth the notice it receives at our hands. It is because it seems to us to be the leading ease on the rights of folly. It determines directly the immunities to which it is entitled, and indirectly the immunities to which it is not. This trial will teach the witnesses that it is not possible to look into magic crystals gratis. Whether they shared the sceptical credulity of the lovers of mysticism, or whether they were but whiling away the tedium of fashionable idleness, or complacently lending themselves to a pro. fans jest, they are infinitely more mischievous than Zadkiel himself. It is when it is whispered about that the aristocracy are convinced that eminent writers have received important intelligence, and that bishops and archdeacons have been present at representations of the miracles of our Lord, and of apostles with scrolls issuing from their mouths,—it is then, and then only, that folly becomes rampant, and that the harvest of credulity is duly reaped. The world of fashion does not like to be lugged into court and exposed to the public laughter at one shilling per head. For once, we thank the stars who advised the plaintiff to proceed. But though these people begged that their names might not be published, and the Times was willing to gratify them, concealment is the immunity to which mischievous folly is not entitled. The poor dupes who fancied they saw something in the crystal do indeed deserve compassion ; as for the great people, we would not spare them an iota of their distinctions or a letter of their names.
This trial equally ascertains the immunities to which folly is
entitled. It is not lawful, ruled the Chief Justice, to call any man an impostor, however wild or ridiculous may be his notions, unless you can prove that he did not believe in them himself. It is not fair criticism even of a mischievous book to say anything against the author which is not true. "You must deal fully with the facts, and not invent." Opinion is, and ought to be, free ; and the history of the world affords too many instances where what at first seemed the folly of the dreamer has at last become the wisdom of the worldling to render proscription safe. Why do sensible men who know nothing of astronomy unhesitatingly believe in the Newtonian system ? Because it is open to any one to refute it, and those who attempt it, like Zadkiel, do not succeed. The great need of modern society is that the majority should respect the rights of the minority. It is the solitary thinker who needs pro- tection. And so long as a man only publishes openly opinions which he cannot be shown not to honestly believe, he ought to be sheltered not merely from violence but from slander. They who think otherwise want faith in truth, which does not need their aid, and if you give her fair play can take care of her own. Sir Edward Belcher might have reasoned with Lieutenant Morrison, he might have laughed at him, but he chose to malign him, and the jury, therefore, rightly gave a verdict for the plaintiff. Then came the question what damage Zadkiel had sustained. The jury estimated
Iit at twenty shillings, and, by way of comment, we will only add the cautious euphemism of the Chief Justice when asked to certify for costs :—" It is better to leave the verdict to take its own effect."
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