MY DEAR FRIEND,—I think you must now be sitting quietly again in Oxford,
behind the Vedas. I send you these lines from George’s small but lovely
place, where we have christened his child, to stop, if possible, your
wrath against Renan. He confesses in his letter that “ma plume m’a trahi;”
he has partly not said what he thinks, and partly said what he does not
think. But his note is not that of an enemy. He considers his book an
homage offered to German science, and had hoped that it would be estimated
and acknowledged in the present position of French science, and that it
would be received in a friendly way. Though brought up by the Jesuits, he
is entirely free from the priestly spirit, and in fact his remarkable
essay in the “Revue des Deux Mondes” of the 15th of November on Ewald’s
“History of the People of Israel” deserves all our thanks in a
theological, national, and scientific point of view. We cannot afford to
quarrel unnecessarily with such a man. You must deal gently with him. You
will do it, will you not, for my sake? I am persuaded it is best.
Brockhaus will bring out the third unaltered edition of my “Signs of the
Times,” as the 2,500 and the 1,000 copies are all sent out, and more are
constantly asked for. I have, whilst here, got the first half of the
“World-Consciousness” (Weltbewusstsein) ready to send off. The whole will
appear in May, 1856, as the herald and forerunner of my work on the Bible.
I have gone through this with H. Brockhaus, and reduced it to fifteen
delightful little volumes in common octavo, six of the People’s Bible,
with a full Introduction, and nine of the Key with higher criticism. I am
now expecting three printed sheets of the Bible, Volume I., the Key,
Volumes I. and VII. The fourth and fifth volumes of “Egypt” are being
rapidly printed at the same time for May. The chronological tables appear
in September. And now be appeased, and write again soon. George sends
hearty greetings. Thursday I shall be in Charlottenberg again. Heartily
yours.
[68.]