In other letters John Stuart Mill is 666 if the a be left out; Chasuble is perfect. John Brighte is a fait accompli; and I am asked whether intellect can account for the final e. Very easily: this Beast is not the M. P., but another person who spells his name differently. But if John Sturt Mill and John Brighte choose so to write themselves, they may.
A curious collection; a mystical phantasmagoria! There are those who will try to find meaning: there are those who will try to find purpose.
My account of Mr. Thom and his 666 appeared on October 27: and on the 29th I received from the editor a copy of Mr. Thom's sermons published in 1863 (he died Feb. 27, 1862) with best wishes for my health and happiness. The editor does not name himself in the book; but he signed his name in my copy: and may my circumference never be more than 3+1/8 of my diameter if the signature, name and writing both, were not that of my ⊙︎□ing friend Mr. James Smith! And so I have come in contact with him on 666 as well as on ! I should have nothing left to live for, had I not happened to hear that he has a perpetual motion on hand. I returned thanks and kind regards: and Miss Miggs's words—'Here's forgivenesses of injuries! here's amicablenesses!'—rang in my ears. But I was made slightly uncomfortable: how could the war go on after this armistice? Could I ever make it understood that the truce only extended to the double Vahu and things thereunto relating? It was once held by seafaring men that there was no peace with Spaniards beyond the line: I was determined that there must be no concord with J. S. inside the circle; that this must be a special exception, like Father Huddleston and old Grrouse in the gun-room. I was not long in anxiety; twenty-four hours after the book of sermons there came a copy of the threatened exposure—'The British Association in Jeopardy, and Professor De Morgan in the Pillory without hope of escape. By James Smith, Esq.' London and Liverpool, 8vo., 1866 (pp. 94). This exposure consists of reprints from the Athenæum and Correspondent: of things new there is but one. In a short preface Mr. J. S. particularly recommends to 'read to the end.' At the end is an appendix of two pages, in type as large as the work; a very prominent peroration. It is an article from the Athenæum, left out of its place. In the last sentence Mr. J. Smith, who had asked whether his character
