 Shakespeare's Insomnia and the Causes Thereof. Shakespeare's Insomnia and the Causes Thereof. Insomnia, the lack of tired nature's sweet restorer, is rapidly becoming the chronic terror of all men of active life who have passed the age of thirty-five or forty years. In early life, while yet he wears the rose of youth upon him, man rarely, except in sickness, knows the want of sound, undreaming sleep. But as early manhood is left behind, and the cares and perplexities of life weigh upon him, making far more needful than ever the rest, which comes only through unbroken sleep, this remedial agent cannot longer be wooed and won. Youth would vane encounter darkness as a bride and hug it in his arms. To those of ripe years, the blanket of the dark often ushers in the season of terrors, a time of fitful snatches of broken sleep and of tormenting dreams, of long stretches of wakefulness, of hours when all things perplexing and troublesome in one's affairs, march before him in somber procession, in endless disorder, in labyrinths of confusion, in countless new phases of disagreeableness, and at length, the morning summons him to labour, far more wracked and weary than when he sought to repose. It has been of late years much the fashion in the literature of this subject to attribute sleeplessness to the rapid growth of facilities for activities of every kind. The practical annihilation of time and space by our telegraphs and railroads, the compressing thereby of the labours of months into hours or even minutes, the terrific competition in all kinds of business thereby made possible and inevitable, the intense mental activity engendered in the mad race for fame or wealth, where the nervous and mental force of man is measured against steam and lightning. These are usually credited with having developed what is considered a modern and even an almost distinctively American disease. As the maxim, there is nothing new under the sun, is of general application. It may be of interest to investigate if an exception occurs in the case of sleeplessness. If it be true that among our ancestors, before the days of working steam and electricity, the glorious sleep of youth was prolonged through all one's three or four score years. Medical books and literature throw no light upon this subject three hundred years ago. We must therefore turn to Shakespeare, human nature's universal solvent, for light on this as we would on any other question of his time. Was he troubled with insomnia, then, is the first problem to be solved? Dr. Holmes, arginial and many-sided poet Laureate, who is also a philosopher, in his life of Emerson, has finally worked out the theory that no man writes other than his own experience, that consciously or otherwise an author describes himself in the characters he draws, that when he loves the character he delineates it is in some measure his own, or at least one of which he feels its tendencies and possibilities belong to himself. Emerson, too, says of Shakespeare, that all his poetry was first experience. When we seek to analyse what we mean by the term Shakespeare, to endeavour to define wherein he was distinct from all others and easily preeminent, to know why to us he ever grows wiser as we grow wise, we find that his especial characteristic was an unequalled power of observation and an ability accurately to chronicle his impressions. He was the only man ever born who lived and wrote absolutely without bias or prejudice. Emerson says of him, that he reported all things with impartiality, that he tells the great greatly, the small subordinately. He is as strong as nature is strong, who lifts the land into mountain slopes without effort, and by the same rule as she floats a bubble in the air, and likes as well to do one as the other, says he further. Give a man of talents a story to tell, and his partiality will presently appear. He has certain opinions which he disposes other things to bring into prominence. He crams this part and starves the other part, consulting not the fitness of the thing, but his fitness and strength. But Shakespeare has no peculiarity, all is duly given. Thus it is that his dramas are the book of human life. He was an accurate observer of nature. He notes the markings of the violet, and the daisy, the haunts of the honeysuckle, the mistletoe, and the woodbine. He marks the fealty of marigold to its god the sun, and even touches the freaks of fashion, condemning in some woman of his time a usage, long obsolete, in accordance with which she adorned her head with the golden tresses of the dead. But it was as an observer, and a delineator of man in all his moods, that he was the bright, consummate flower of humanity. His experiences were wide and varied. He had absorbed into himself, and made his own, the pith and wisdom of his day. As the fittest survives, each age embodies in itself all worthy of preservation in the ages gone before. In Shakespeare's pages we find a reflection, perfect and absolute, of the age of Elizabeth, and therefore of all not transient in the foregone times, of all which is fixed and permanent in our own. He held the mirror up to nature. So his eternal summer shall not fade because he sang of the earth as it will be when the years have passed away. If therefore insomnia had prevailed in or before his time, in his pages shall we find it duly set forth. If he had suffered, if the fringed curtains of his eyes were all the night undrawn, we shall find his dreary experiences, his hours of pathetic misery, his nights of desolation, voiced by the tongues of his men and women. Shakespeare speaks often of the time in life when men have left behind them the dreamless sleep of youth. Friar Lawrence says, Care keeps his watch in every old man's eye, and where care lodges sleep can never lie. But where unbruised youth with unstuffed brain doth couch his limbs, there golden sleep doth reign. Shakespeare describes, too, with life-like fidelity the causes of insomnia, which are not weariness or physical pain, but undue mental anxiety. He constantly contrasts the troubled sleep of those burdened with anxieties and cares, with the happy lot of the labourer whose physical weariness ensures him a tranquil night's repose. Henry VI says, And to conclude the shepherd's homely curds, his cold thin drink out of his leather bottle, his wanted sleep under a fresh tree's shade, all which secure and sweetly he enjoys, are far beyond a prince's delicates. And Henry V says, It is not the balm, the scepter and the ball, the sword, the mace, the crown imperial, the intertissued robe of gold and pearl, the facet title running for the king, the throne he sits on, nor the tide of pomp that beats upon the high shore of this world. No, not all these, thrice-gorgeous ceremony, not all these, laid in bed majestical, can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave. Who, with a body filled and vacant mind, gets him to rest, crammed with distressful bread, never sees horrid night that child of hell, but, like a lackey from the rise to the set, sweats in the eye of Phoebus, and all night sleeps in Elysium. And, but for ceremony, such a wretch, winding up days with toil and nights with sleep, hath the forehand and vantage of a king, Prince Henry says, in Henry IV, O polished perturbation, golden care, that keeps to the ports of slumber open wide, to many a watchful night, sleep with it now. Yet not so sound, and half so deeply sweet, as he whose brow, with homely big inbound, snores out the watch of night. In this same play, too, is found the familiar and marvellous soliloquy of Henry IV. How many thousand of my poorest subjects are, at this hour, asleep? O sleep! O gentle sleep! Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, that thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down, and steep my senses in forgetfulness? Why rather sleep liest thou in smoky cribs, upon uneasy pallets stretching thee, and hushed with buzzing night flies to thy slumber, than in the perfumed chambers of the great, under the canopies of costly state, and lulled with sounds of sweetest melody? O thou dull God, why liest thou with the vile, in loathsome beds, and leavest the kingly couch, a watch-case, or a common larum-bell? Wilt thou upon the high and giddy mast, seal up the ship-boy's eyes, and rock his brains, in cradle of the rude, imperious surge? And in the visitation of the winds, who take the ruffian billows by the top, curling their monstrous heads, and hanging them with deafening clamour in the slippery shrouds, that with the hurly death itself awakes? Can't thou, O partial sleep, give thy repose to the wet sea-boy, in an hour so rude, and in the calmest, a most stillest night, with all appliances and means to boot, deny it to a king? Then, happy low, lie down, uneasy lies the head that wears a crown, Caesar, whom Shakespeare characterises as the foremost man of all this world, says, Let me have men about me that are fat, sleek-headed men, and such as sleeper knights. And again it is not an old man broken with the storms of state, whom he describes when he says, Thou hast no figures, nor no fantasies, which busy care draws in the brains of men, therefore thou sleepest so sound. The poet also in various passages expresses his emphatic belief as to what is the brightest blessing, or the deadliest calamity, which can be laid upon our frail humanity. Rarely is a blessing invoked, which does not include the wish for tranquil sleep, and this too as the best and greatest boon of all. His gracious benediction may compass honours, and wealth, and happiness, and fame, that one's name may dwell for ever in the mouths of men. But the earth hath bubbles as the water hath, and these are of them. As compared with the royal beneson, sleep give thee all his rest. The spectres of the princes and queen Anne, enriched the third, invoking every good upon rich men, say, Sleep rich men, sleep in peace, and wake in joy. And again, thou quiet soul, sleep thou a quiet sleep. Romeo's dearest wish to Juliet is, Sleep dwell upon thine eyes, peace in thy breast. The crowning promise of Lady Mortimer in Henry IV is that, She will sing the song that pleases thee, and on thy eyelids crown the God of sleep. Titania promises her fantastic lover, I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee, And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep, And sing, while thou on pressured flowers doth sleep. Titus, welcoming again to Rome the victorious legions, Says of the heroes who have fallen. There, greet in silence, as the dead are want, And sleep in peace, slain in your country's wars. Promising them that in the land of the blessed Are no more storms, no noise, but silence, and eternal sleep. Constantly also in anathemas, throughout the plays are invoked, As the deadliest of curses, broken rest, And its usual accompaniment of troubleous dreams. Thus note the climax in Queen Margaret's Curse, Upon the traitorous Gloucester. If heaven have any grievous plague in store, Exceeding those that I can wish upon thee, O let them keep it, till thy sins be ripe, And then hurl down their indignation on thee, The troubler of the poor world's peace. The worm of conscience still benore thy soul, Thy friends suspect for traitors, while thou livest, And take deep traitors for thy dearest friends. No sleep close up that deadly eye of thine, Unless it be while some tormenting dream Afrites thee with a hell of ugly devils. The witch in Macbeth, cataloguing the calamities In store for the ambitious thane, says, Sleep shall neither night nor day, Hang upon his penthouse lid, he shall live a man forbid. It is curious also to remark, in the various lists Of griefs which make life a burden and a sorrow, How often the climax of these woes Think of sleep, or the troubled dreams Bearing their train of gorgons, hydras, And Shamira's dire, which come with broken rest. Lady Percy says to Hotspur, Why hast thou lost the fresh blood in thy cheeks, And given my treasures and my rites of thee The thick-eyed musing and cursed melancholy? Tell me, sweet lord, what is it that takes from thee Thy stomach, pleasure, and thy golden sleep? Macbeth says, But let the frame of things disjoint, Both the world suffer, ere we will eat our meal in fear, And sleep in the affliction of these terrible dreams That shake us nightly, better be with the dead. In Othello is a striking picture of the sudden change In the direction we are considering, Which comes over a tranquil mind From the commission of a great crime. Iago says to Othello, after he has wrought The deed without a name. Not Poppy, nor Mandragora, Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world, Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep Which thou ownedst yesterday. The greatest punishment which comes to Macbeth After the murder of Duncan Is lack of sleep. Nowhere in the language in the same space Can be found so many pictures Of the blessedness of repose, As in the familiar lines. Me thought I heard a voice cry, Sleep no more, Macbeth does murder sleep, The innocent sleep, Sleep that knits up the ravelled sleeve of care, The death of each day's life, Saw Labour's bath, Barm of hurt minds, Great Nature's second course, Chief nourisher in life's feast. And the principal reason Which deters Hamlet from suicide Is the fear that, even if he does sleep well, After life's fitful fever is over, Still that sleep may be full of troubled dreams. To sleep, perchance to dream, I, there's the rub, For in that sleep of death What dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil Must give us pause. Rich the third says, When the catalogue of his crimes is full, And when he sees as in a map The end of all. The sons of Edward sleep in Abraham's bosom, And Anne, my queen, Hath bid the world good night. In addition to the fuller phrases, Wherein are shown the blessedness of sleep, Or the remedyless nature of its loss, Many brief sentences occur scattered throughout the plays, And emphasising the same great lesson. For instance, Now, o'er one half the world, Nature seems dead and wicked dreams Abuse the curtained sleep. With him above to ratify our work We may again give to our tables meat, Sleep to our nights. You lack the season of all natures, sleep. My soul is heavy and I feign would sleep. For never yet one hour in his bed Have I enjoyed the golden dew of sleep. For some must watch and some must sleep, So runs the world away. How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon that bank. The best of rest is sleep. Our little lives are rounded with a sleep. The various passages cited above Prove and illustrate that no author Has written so feelingly, so appreciatingly As Shakespeare on the subject of sleep and its loss. The diligent commentators on his works Have investigated laboriously The sources from which he drew his plots, And many of the very lines of his poems. He was a great borrower, absorbing, Digesting, and making his own Much of the material of his predecessors. But it is a noteworthy fact That none of the exquisite lines In praise of sleep, that gift which the psalmist Says the Lord giveth to his beloved Can be traced to other source than the master. These are jewels of his own, Transcripts from his own mournful experience. In middle life he remembered hopelessly The tranquil sleep of his lost youth, As he that his stricken blind cannot forget The precious treasure of his eyesight lost. He had suffered from insomnia, And he writes of this, Not as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, But as one who, in words burning With indestructible life, lays open to us The somber record of what was experienced Before it was song, Who makes us a sharer of his griefs, Who would awaken in a similarly afflicted Of all time that compassionate sympathy Which goes out to those whose burdens Are almost greater than they can bear. Part 2 The meagre information we have As to the life and habits of Shakespeare Would seem to make it an almost hopeless task now To discover the causes of his insomnia. He wrote a marvellous body of literature, It might be thought this labour itself Would suffice as an explanation, That the furnace heat in which the Conceptions of Hamlet and Macbeth and Lear Were wrought in the crucible of his brain Would be fatal to repose. But his contemporaries speak of him As an easy and rapid writer, One whose imagination is only paralleled By the ease, the force, and beauty Of the phrase in which it is embodied. We are told, too, by Dr. H. A. Johnson, An eminent medical authority, In the second volume of his treatise On the pathology of the optic nerve, That it is not work, even heavy and continuous, But worry over this work, Which drives away repose and shortens life. I had observed, in collating the many passages In Shakespeare concerning sleep, That the greater number, and those bearing Evidence of deepest earnestness Occurred in six plays, Richard III, Macbeth, First Henry IV, Hamlet, Second Henry IV, and Henry V. The chronology of Shakespeare's plays Seems almost hopeless, Scarcely any two writers agreeing As to the order of the plays, Or the years in which they were written. Several of the most critical authorities, however, Dice, White, Furnable, and Hallowell Phillips, Are agreed that two of the plays Above-named were written in 1593, Three in 1602, And one in 1609. This would seem to indicate That during those three years Unusual perplexities or anxieties Had surrounded our author. And on noting this, It occurred to me that on these points The series of papers recently discovered And called the Southampton manuscripts, Which are not yet published, Might give light. I accordingly addressed a letter To the director of the British Museum, The manuscripts are placed for safekeeping And received the following reply, British Museum, Office of Chief Curator, Department of Manuscripts, London, February 14th, 1886 Sir, I am directed by the curator To acknowledge the receipt of your valued favour Of February 1st, Transmitting for preservation at reference In the library of this institution, The manuscript of the farewell address Of Dr. Charles Gilman Smith In the private life From the presidency of the Chicago Literary Club Two, the manuscript of the inaugural address Of his successor in the office, Which is a public trust, James S. Norton Esquire Three, an affidavit of Dr. W. F. Poole That both manuscripts are originals And in the handwriting of their eminent authors. The curator further instructs me To convey to you the thanks Of the Board of Governors For these highly important papers And a state to you that they may be found on file In subcompartment number 113,280 Of contemporary documents I am further instructed by the curator To inform you that compliance with your request That this institution reciprocate your kindness By learning to you all papers From the recently discovered Southampton Shakespeare Collection bearing date In the years 1593, 1602 And 1609 Is contrary to the regulation Of this institution If you cannot visit London To examine these interesting manuscripts Copies will be made and transmitted to you For three halfpence portfolio Payment by our rules invariably In advance I note that you are evidently in error Upon one point The collection contains no letters Or manuscripts of Shakespeare It is composed principally Of letters written to Shakespeare By various people In some way came into the possession Of the Earl of Southampton His death so soon after that of Shakespeare Doubtless caused these letters To be lost sight of, and they were But last year discovered in the dungeon Of the castle I have examined the letters for the years you name And find that copies of the same Can be made for three pounds Three shillings exclusive of postage Very respectfully yours John Barnacle, Tenth Assistant Subsecretary The money having been forwarded I received in due time the copies At the first date 1593 Shakespeare was a young dramatist And actor struggling for recognition Poor and almost unknown In 1602 He had won an assured position Among his fellows And, with the thrift which characterised him Had secured an interest in the Globe Theatre Where his plays were performed In 1609 He was in the fullness of his contemporary fame Had bought valuable property In Stratford And was contemplating retirement To his country home The following are the letters From the Southampton collection Which served to throw light upon the Insomnia of Shakespeare They are given in their chronological order And verbatim, but not litteratim The orthography having been modernised The first of the letters Dated in 1593 Is from a firm of lawyers Mrs. Shallow and Slender And is as follows In a temple, London February 15th, 1593 To William Shakespeare Mr. Moses Solomon's An honoured client of our firm Has placed with us That payment may be straight away enforced A bill drawn by John Hemming For ten pounds Due in two months from the date thereof And the payment of which was assured By you in writing This bill has been for some days overdue And Mr. Solomon's is constrained To call upon you for payment at once Your prompt attention to this Will save the costs and annoyance Of an arrest The second letter is from the same parties And bears date four days later than the first In a temple February 19th, 1593 Mr. William Shakespeare Recurring to certain statements made by yourself At our chambers yesterday We have considered the same And have likewise the opinion thereon Of our client Mr. Solomon's As we do now recall them You nominated three principal grounds Why you should not be pressed to pay the bill Drawn by Mr. Hemming First, that you received no value Therefore, having put your name to the bill Upon the insurance that it was a matter Of form and to oblige a friend To this we rejoin That by the law of estoppel You were precluded to deny the consideration After the bill hath passed into the holding Of a discounter unnotified of the facts Second That as our client paid But one pound for the bill He should not exact ten pounds thereon To the which we reply That so a valuable consideration Was passed for the bill The law looketh not to its exact amount It is also asserted by our client That beyond actual coin Given for the bill He did further release to John Hemming Certain tinsel crowns, swords And apparel, a pertinent To the representation of royalty Which had before then To wit two weeks before Been pledged to him for the sum of eight shillings Borrowed by the said Hemming Third That it was impossible for you to pay the bill You having no money And receiving no greater income than 22 shillings per week All of which was necessary to the maintenance Of yourself and family. We regret again to call to your notice The statute of 16 Elizabeth Entitled Concerning the imprisonment Of insolvent debtors Which we trust you will not oblige us to invoke In aid of our suffering client's rights To be lenient and merciful Is his inclination And we are happy to communicate to you This most favourable tender for an acquittance Of his claim. You shall render to us an order Of the Globe Theatre for 20 shillings per week Of your stipend therein This will leave to you yet two shillings per week Which with prudence Will yield to you the comforts If not the luxuries of subsistence In ten weeks the face of the bill Will thus be repaid For his forbearance in the matter of time Which hath most seriously inconvenienced him He requires that you shall pay him The further sum of two pounds As usury And likewise that you do liquidate And save him harmless from the charges of us His solicitors, which charges From the number of grave and complicated questions Which have become a part of this case And demanded solution We are unable to make less than four pounds We should say guineas But your evident distress hath moved us To gentleness and mercy These added sums Are to be likewise embraced in the steward's order And paid at the same rate as the substance Of the bill And should you embrace this compassionate tender In the brief period of sixteen weeks You will be at the end of this indebtedness The next letter is dated the following month And is from Henry Howard An apparent pawnbroker Queer Street, London 10th of March, 1593 To William Shakespeare Actor These presents are to warn you That the time has six days since passed In which you were to repay me eight shillings And thereby redeem the property in pledge to me Namely One Henry VIII's shirt of mail and visor And Porsche's law-book And the green bag, therefore Be warned that unless the eight shillings And the usents thereof be forthcoming The town-cryer shall notify the sale Of the sundry articles named The next letter And the last in this period of the poet's career 1593 Is from Mordecai Shylock Fleet Street Near the sign of the Hogan armour November 22nd 1593 To William Shakespeare I have been active in the way You sometimes since besought me Namely the procuring for you Of a loan of five pounds That you might retire a bill Upon which you were a guarantor As I then told you I have no money myself Being very poor But I have a friend who has money With which I can persuade him to relieve your wants Had I myself the money I should gladly meet your needs as a moderate usance Not more than twenty-five in the hundred But my friend is a hard man Who exacts large returns for his means And will be very urgent that repayment be made On the day named in the bill He hath empowered me to take your bill at two months For him, mind you For ten pounds The payment to be assured as you wished By the pledge of your two new plays in manuscript Midsummer Night's Dream And Romeo and Juliet For which bill he will At my strong insistence And because you are a friend to me Give five pounds My charge for services in this behalf Which hath consumed much time will be one pound Which I shall straightaway pay out In a purchase of a new gown Much needed by my little daughter Jessica Who loves you and recalls often The pleasant tales you do repeat For her diversion The letters in a second period Sixteen oh two and nine years later Than those just read The first is from the same Mordecai Shylock Who, with the poet, seems to have Prospered in wildly affairs As his letters are dated in a more reputable Part of the city Threadneedle Street, London April seventeenth, sixteen oh two To William Shakespeare In January last past You purchased of Richard Burbage Four shares of the stock of the Globe Theatre For one hundred pounds And in as much as you had not Available to anyone else And in as much as you had not Available the whole means to pay therefore Borrowed from me the sixty pounds wanting Paying yourself forty pounds Of such purchase price And giving me, in pledge for my sixty Pounds such four shares of stock Owing to special attractions At Blackfriars Theatre The stock of the Globe hath greatly Declined in value, and I fear These four shares may not longer Be saleable at the price of even sixty Pounds, and I therefore Must importune that you forthwith Do make payment of twenty pounds On your said bill, or the four shares Of stock will be sold at public Venue. The next letter is from The same writer, and is dated Nine days later. Threadneedle Street April twenty-sixth, sixteen oh two To William Shakespeare I acknowledge to have received From you, by the hand of Henry Condol, five pounds And two of your own shares in the stock Theatre, in further pledge of your bill Of sixty pounds, as was Engaged between us yesterday. It pains me to make known To you that, owing to the great Demands recently made upon the gold Smiths by his sacred majesty, Money hath become very dear, And as it was not my own lent you I have been obliged to pay above The usance expected, a further Premium of seventeen in the hundred, Which I pray you to presently repay Me. I am told that shares in A globe can now be bought at fifteen Pounds, and in as much as yours Were bought at twenty-five, should You acquire other shares at fifteen Pounds, it would serve to equate Your havings. The next letter From the same broker is written But a few days later. Threadneedle Street May twelve, sixteen oh two To William Shakespeare Acting as requested by you, I did one week go buy for you Three shares in a globe theatre For fifteen pounds each, Using in such purchase the fifteen Pounds given me by you, and thirty Pounds, not of mine own, But which was furnished me by a gold Smith of repute. Yesterday I learned that shares were Offered at ten pounds each, for chance From the efforts of four stallers, As also from the preaching of a dissenter Who fulminates that the end of the world Is but three weeks away, which hath Induced great seriousness among the people. Unless you can pay me therefore As much as forty pounds, on the Morrow I shall be constrained to offer Such shares to the highest bidder At the meeting of the Guild. The next letter is also from the same Mordecai Shylock, and is dated Four days later. Threadneedle Street May sixteenth, sixteen oh two To William Shakespeare My earnest epistle to thee Of four days since, having elicited No response, I did, on the following Day, offer at the meeting of the Guild, some of the shares of stock in The Globe pledged to me, and three Shares were bidden at nine pounds each By my brother, Nehemiah Shylock. As I offered next all the rest, One Henry Reathley, Earl of South Hampton, did ask to whom the shares Belonged, and when he was Enlightened, did straight away take All the shares, and pay me the Whole balance owing, and called me Diverse approbrious names. I answered not his railing With railing, for sufferance is The badge of all our tribe, but such slander Is illly bestowed on one who has Been your friend for long, and who Was but striving to avert his own Destruction. The next letter in order is from One William Kemp, who would seem To be the business manager of the Globe Theatre, or the person having in Charge the unskilled labour connected With the Playhouse. Globe Playhouse, Employment Bureau May twenty-fifth, sixteen oh two William Shakespeare In much tribulation do I write Thee, as to the contention which hath Arisen among our stock actors And soups of the Globe. Nicholas Bottom, whom you bought From the parish workhouse in Stratford, is in ill humour with Thee And is special. He says, when he Played with you in Ben Johnson's Comedy, every man in his humour, He was by far the better actor, And did receive the plaudits of all Despite which he now receives But six shillings each week, while You have become a man of great wealth Having gotten, as he verily believes, As much as one hundred pounds. Vainly did I oppose to him That the reason you had money When he had none was in verity And you had laboured when he was drunken And that this was to his profit Since, had not you and the other Holders of shares in the Globe Saved somewhat of money, unthrifty Groundlings of his ilk would starve As there would be none to hire them At wages. But he averse that he is ground in the dust By the greed of capital, and hath So much prated of this, that he hath Much following, and accounteth himself A martyr. I said to him, that at your Special order he was paid six shillings A week, which was double his worth, And that he should go elsewhere if he was Not content, as I could daily get a Better man for half his wages. But he will not go hence, nor will He perform, and hath persuaded others To join with him, his very worthlessness Having made him their leader, and Threatened, and lest they may receive Additional four shillings per week, And a groat each night for sack, They will have no plays performed, Nor will they allow others to be hired In their stead. They do further demand That you shall write shorter plays, That you shall write no tragedies Requiring them to labour more than Three hours in the rendition, That you shall cut out as much as Twelve pages each, enriched the Third and Othello, and fifteen pages From Hamlet, that they may not labour And may have more hours to recreation And improvement at the alehouse. I know not what to do. If I yield them their demands Nothing will be left for the owners Of shares in the globe, and if I do not I fear mobs and riots. Fain would I receive thy counsel Which shall have good heed. The next letter is the last in the Period under review, and bears date Four days later than the one just Quoted from William Kemp. At the Elephant and Magpie Inn London, May 29th, 1602 To William Shakespeare This is written to thee by John Lele A clerk, in behalf of Nicholas Bottom Who useth not the pen, and who says to me To tell William Shakespeare Fire upon him that he did order The aforesaid bottom to be locked out Of the globe playhouse. Hath he forgotten the first play he, William Shakespeare, did ever write To Witt, Pyramus and Thisby, When a boy at Stratford, which was Played by himself and Nicholas Bottom And Peter Quintz and others in a barn For the delectation of the townsmen, And is not this same play a part Of his Midsummer Night's dream, Which beggarly play he did sell For ten pounds? And hath not Nicholas Bottom First and always been an ass therein? Doth he refuse to render to Nicholas Bottom ten shillings Per week, when he can get Ten pounds, or even eleven pounds For a beggarly play, which is Nought unless it be acted? Many a time hath he paid me From a sponging-house. Often hath he given me grotes For sack, and for purges When sack hath undone me, And did I ever insult him To offer to repay him a penny? Say to him, remember hath he not When the horses ridden by Duncan And Macbeth upon the stage Did break through the floor, Who affrighted did run howling away Whereby Burbage was aroused To pick him, William Shakespeare, From among the horse's feet and save his life. And now, sweet will, Fire upon thee that outdidst frown Upon thy townsmen, Delay not to send me Sundry shillings for the publican Who believes you will discharge As often before my reckoning. This, and much more Of like tenor, said Nicholas Bottom to William Shakespeare, By your worship's humble servant, John Lelley. The letters in the third period bear Date in 1609, Seven years later than those last quoted. The first is from Reverend Walter Blaise, Who appears to be the clergyman At Stratford on Avon. Stratford, Feb. 23, 1609, To William Shakespeare. John Lapps, of Greece, Who did recently return to his home there From London, safely has delivered To Anne, your wife, The package entrusted to him for carriage. As your wife hath not the gift of writing, She does desire that I convey to you her thanks For the sundry contents of the hamper. She hath also confided to me As her spiritual advisor, That she did diligently ply John Lapps with questions, As to his visit to you in London, And that said John Lapps, Under her interrogatories, Has revealed to her much That doth make her sick at heart And weary of life. Item. He doth report that you do pass Among men as a bachelor, And, with sundry players And men of that ilk, Do frequent a house of entertainment Kept by one dull tear-sheet, And do kiss the barmaid And call her your sweetheart. Item. He doth also report that you did give To the daughter of the publican, At whose house you do now abide A ring of fine gold, And did also write to her a sonnet In praise of her eyebrows and her lips And didly disport with the said damsel. Item. He doth further report of you That you did visit, with one Ben Johnson, On the Sabbath day, A place of disrepute, where were cockfights And the baiting of a bear, And that with you were two brazen women Falsely called by you The wife and sister of Ben Johnson. These things do over much grieve, Anne, Who has been to you a loyal wife And a true, And she desires that you do forthwith Renounce your evil ways, And return to the new house at Stratford, And in ashes and sackcloth Repent of your wanderings From the straight and narrow way. Thus far have I spoken to you As a mouthpiece and vice-edurant Of Anne, your wife, Who is in sore affliction and deep grief By reason of your transgressions. But, beloved lamb of my flock, I should be unworthy My high and sacred calling, Did I not lift up also my rebuking voice As a pelican in the wilderness And adure you to beware of concupiscence And fleshly lust, Which unceasingly do war upon the human soul? Thinkest thou to touch pitch And remain undefiled? The next letter is from the firm Of Coak and Dogbury, Lawyers in London. In a Temple, March 8th, 1609 To William Shakespeare We have been retained by Mistress Anne Page as her solicitors To bring against you an action For that you have not fulfilled And in sooth cannot fulfill with her A contract of marriage, And to seek against you under the laws of this realm Heavy damages, and an imprisonment Of the body, in that you have In unholy ways trifled with her affections Contrary to the statute In such cases provided. She especially avares That you did, two days before Mickelness Swear to her on a parcel-guilt goblet That you did love her alone And did then give to her A bracelet of price. But yesterday, as she was bargaining with a Yeoman named Christopher Sly from Stratford For the purchase of a spotted pig Of his own fattening, the said slide It revealed to her that you were his friend And that you had wife and children In your native town where he dwelt. We beg you to straight away Name to us your solicitors That we may confer with them And attend to the issuance of rits. I have aimed to select from the letters Sent to me only those bearing on some Trouble tending to cause sleeplessness On the part of the poet, but make An exception in the case of a letter Of Sir Walter Raleigh, next in chronological Order, which refers to matters Of general interest. The Mermaid March 20th, 1609 To William Shakespeare Full well do I know, my dearest Will, that often hast thou Wondered of the fate of thy fifty Pounds, which, with a hundred Times as much of mine own Was adventured to found an empire In America. Great were our hopes, both of glory And of gold, in the kingdom of power Happen. But it grieves me much to say That all hath resulted in infelicity Misfortune and an unhappy end. Our ships were wrecked Or captured by the navish Spaniards. Our brave sailors Are perished. As I was blameworthy for thy risk I send by the messenger your fifty Pounds, which you shall not lose By my over-hopeful vision. For its usance I send a package Of a new herb from the Chesapeake Called by the native's tobacco. Make it not into tea, as did one Of my kinsmen, but kindle And smoke it in the little tube The messenger will bestow. Be not deterred if thy gorge at first Rises against it, for when Thou art wanted it is a balm For all sorrows and griefs, and As a dream of paradise. And now, my sweet will, Whom my soul loveth, why comest thou Not as a viewer to the mermaid, And I may have speech with thee? Thou knowest that from my youth up I have adventured all for the Welfare and glory of our Queen Elizabeth. On sea and on land, and in many Climes, have I fought the accursed Spaniards. And I am honoured To recognise thy supreme merit, For daily and hourly are sung To her the praises of this loveliness Until the story is as a tale That is told, and a wearingest To the understanding. But thy Commendations of her wisdom Will be as fresh and fragrant incense Nor will their truthfulness Be too closely scanned. Thou knowest that I have taken All knowledge to be my province, And therefore have I oft and longingly Gazed into the flowery fields Of that divine art, where today In our much-loved England Thou art desporting thyself supremely And alone. But when I consider Thy tragedies, throughout which Is diffused the inmost soul of poesy, My crude yet laboured meters Seem to me as the body of a maiden, Not indeed devoid of a certain Cumminess and grace, yet into Whose waiting bosom hath not yet Been breathed to the spirit of life. In Thy tragedies Thou hast the majestic grace Which in the Attic ages belonged To Sophocles alone. Thou hast the stately march And music of Ischilus. Without in Thy themes His ceaseless iteration of predestined woe Which ranks his heroes outside humanity. Yet the somber hand of fate Hath not more inflexibly driven The gentle Iphigena to her doom Than it hath followed Macbeth To his foreshadowed crime and end. But in Thy canticles It is not an overshadowing, Mysterious and tragic fate, But gracious and loving providence Which, as Thyself hath phrased it, Holds in his hands The shears of destiny, And has commandment on the pulse of life. In comedy Aristophanes is not Thy master. Yet must I greatly choose Thy tragedies As monuments of Thy abiding fame. Funeral dollars, Rather than bridal carols, Inspire even the harp of David, Beloved of the Lord, And the pencil of the Holy Ghost, Toucheth ever the shadowed Phases of our earthly lives. I am minded to now advert To another topic From the tale told to me by Southampton Thou art presently to publish A volume of Thy sugared sonnets. May I pray thee That this collection compass not The two sonnets written by thee For me and Lord of our Queen Elizabeth And the one of this morning. As Thou knowest, These first were presented to our gracious sovereign As mine own, and did so pleasure her As to chiefly prosper my advancement. With a true author now known It might sadly mar my fortunes. In the vastness of Thy riches The absence of these gems Shall not be noted. The loss of a star dims not the splendour Of the constellations. The glorious son seeks not to reclaim The lustre his rays have given To the tiny dewdrop. With all I have rendered to thee Somewhat of recompense, as I have spoken At sundry times, to her gracious Majesty, And to our present anointed sovereign Of Thy dramas, And fostered as best I might Thy interests, When they cross not mine own. So I trust this boon may be awarded Me, and that my borrowed splendours May not be stripped away. Thy immeasurable superiority, As again evidenced in the sonnet To the Lady Mary, has fixed anew My resolve as to my predestined Field of labour. Not for my brow shall be woven The poet's garland of bays. Yet abundant self-confidence Is mine, and I augur That in a great work for which I would Fain believe the ages awaiting Will be made clear my award To be the high priest of nature. Exact sciences not yet born Shall be my servitors, and the augmenters Of my fame. By the methods I have discerned Shall mankind discover and apply Those beneficent innovations Which are the chiefest births of time. Yet even this hope hath Its flavour of bitterness, as thus Guided my pupils may find. As thus guided my pupils may far Overpass me, and my memory be lost. But the love of beauty and melody In Poesie is of perennial life, And thy memory shall Survive the mutations of time, And shall be the nation's heritage While fancy and imagination dwell In the souls of men. And new do I now discern That the meditation of nature And her laws, mysterious yet Exact, consorteth not With the airy fancies of the poet's Vision, and that our paths are Diverse, yet each guiding to What is useful and divine. Farewell, and until The dollars of death are mine Shall I remember thy sweet-loving kindness And admire thy shining genius Where wit and wisdom guide The flight of a sovereign imagination. Ever thy friend, Francis Bacon. One special point is notable In his letter from Bacon. His ordinary correspondence is Wrinkled with quotations in the ancient tongues. As he was well acquainted With Shakespeare, this Submission of his customary Latin phrases Would indicate that he recognized Shakespeare's lack of a thorough classical education. The next, and the last letter In a collection which seems to have A bearing upon the sleeplessness of Shakespeare, is also from Reverend Walter Blaise. Stratford. April 3, 1609. To William Shakespeare. Sir Thomas Lucy, who is In Her Majesty's commission as a justice Of the peace in his bailiwick, yesterday Did inform me that he had been questioned From London if you were a married man, And if yes, when and to whom You were wedded. As the parish Records are in my keeping, I could But bestow the information sought, Though with great sinking of heart, As a well-wisher to you, who, Though given over much to worldly Fulfollities and revels, yet Are a worthy citizen, and a charitable And a just. Greatly did I fear this knowledge Was sought to thy injury. Hast thou led a blameless life, The gates of hell shall not prevail Against thee, but the wicked stand On slippery ways. Ann, thy wife, to whom I did Unbusum my fears, is in much Tribulation, lest thou art Unfaithful to thy marriage vows, And again beseeches me to urge thee To come forth from wicked Babylon And dwell in thy pleasant home Thou art become a man of substance, And hast money at usury. I have read of thy verses and plays, Which, albeit somewhat Given to lewdness, and addressed To gain the favour of the baser sort, Yet reveal thee to be a man of Understanding. I cannot, As it is rumoured, do some of thy Town associates award thee The title of poet, which Title is reserved for the shining Ones, but thou hast parts. There are many parish clerks, And even some curates in this realm, Scarcely more liberally endowed In mind than thou. But greatly do I fear that thou Are little better than one of the wicked. How hast thou put to use This talent entrusted thee By the master of the vineyard? In the maintenance of the things Which profit not, in seeking The applause of the unworthy, In the writing of vain plays, Which, if of the follies of youth May be forgiven, and remembered Provided in ripe years You put behind you these frivolities And atone for the mischief thou hast wrought By rendering acceptable service To the master, by coming to the Help of the Lord against the mighty. Gladly would I take thy training In charge, and guide thy Tottering feet along the flowery Paths of homiletics. Who knoweth into what vessels The all-seeing one may elect to Pour his spirit? Perchance in mercy, I may be Behold thee, a faithful, though Humble preacher of the word. Anne, thy wife, often hath Likened me to a great light Upon a hilltop, shining in the Darkness far away. I would not magnify my powers, But not to all is it given To be mighty captains of a host. Yet, according to thy gifts Might thy work be, and a Little candle shining in a Darkened valley hath its place. In the light of these letters Some passages enriched the third And the comedy of errors, written In the same year, 1609, Have an added significance. Enriched the third, Gloucester says To Anne, your beauty was The cause of that effect, your beauty That did haunt me in my sleep To undertake the death of all the world, So I might live one hour In thy sweet bosom. In the comedy of errors The abbess says to Adriana, The venom-clammers of a jealous Woman poison more deadly than a Mud-dog's tooth, it seems His sleep was hindered by thy railing. In food, in sport, And life-preserving rest, To be disturbed, would mad Or man or beast. The consequence is then thy Jealous fits, have scared Thy husband from the use Of wits. Note, too, the kindred thought, Love hath chased sleep From my enthralled eyes. And again this passage Called forth possibly by the letters Of the Reverend Walter Blaise. Slander, whose edge Is sharper than the sword, Whose tongue outvenims all the worms Of Nile, whose breath rides On the posting winds, and doth Belie all corners of the world. As also this Do not, as some ungracious Pastors do, show me the steep And thorny way to heaven, Wiles, like a puffed Backless Libertine, himself The primrose path of deliance Treads, and wrecks not his own Read. From these several letters Sufficiently appear the causes For the insomnia of Shakespeare, Which are some of the same causes Resulting in its prevalence today. They illustrate anew That history repeats itself forever, That humanity is always the same, That like temptations and errors Come to men with like results That the sleeplessness of Shakespeare came Because, merely as a matter Of form, he had endorsed for a friend Because he had bought more stocks Than he could pay for, and when his margins Were absorbed came forth The shorn and shivering lamb Because of the turbulence of labour Because, alas, he too had been Dazzled and bewildered By the light that lies In women's eyes. Marvelous as were the endowments Of the master, yet was he Human, and as one of us. Chicago, 1886 End of Shakespeare's insomnia And the causes thereof. Reincarnation from The Danta philosophy This is a LibraBox recording All LibraBox recordings are in The public domain. For more information or to volunteer Please visit LibraBox.org Recording by Morgan Barnhart The Danta philosophy By Swamy Abba Hadanada Lecture 1 Reincarnation The visible phenomena Of the universe are bound By the universal law of cause and effect The effect is visible or perceptible While the cause is invisible Or imperceptible The falling of an apple From a tree is the effect Of a certain invisible force Called gravitation. When a force cannot be perceived By the senses, its expression Is visible. All perceptible phenomena Are but the various expressions Of different forces which act As invisible agents upon the subtle And imperceptible forms of matter. These invisible agents Or forces together With the imperceptible Participals of matter make up The subtle states of the phenomenal Universe. When a force is objectified It appears as a gross object. Therefore we can say that Every gross form is an expression Of some subtle force Acting upon the subtle particles Of matter. The minute particles of hydrogen And oxygen when combined by chemical Force appear in the gross form Of water, water can never be separated From hydrogen and oxygen Which are its subtle component parts. Its existence depends upon Or in other words upon its subtle form. If the subtle state changes The gross manifestation will also change. The peculiarity in the gross form Of a plant depends upon the peculiar nature Of its subtle form, the seed. The peculiar nature of the gross forms In the animal kingdom depends upon the subtle Forms which manifest variously In each of the intermediate stages Between the microscopic unit Of living matter and the highest man. The gross human body is closely related To its subtle body. Not only this, but every movement Or change in the physical form Is caused by the activity and change Of the subtle body. If the subtle body be affected or changed A little, the gross body will also Be affected similarly. The material body being the expression Of the subtle body. Its birth, growth, decay, and death Depend upon the changes of the subtle body. As long as the subtle body remains It will continue to express itself In a corresponding gross form. Now let us understand clearly What we mean by a subtle body. It is nothing but a minute germ Of a living substance. It contains the invisible particles Of matter which are held together By vital force. And it also possesses mind Or thought force in a potential state Just as the seed of a plant Contains in it the life force And the power of growth. According to vendanta The subtle body consists of Antica random That is the internal organ Or the mind substance with its Various modifications, mind Intellect, egoism, memory The five instruments of perception The powers of seeing, hearing Smelling, tasting, and touching The five instruments of acting Such as the powers of seizing Moving, speaking, Evacuating, and generating And the five pranas. Prana is a sanscript word Which means vital energy Or the lysoscating power in us Although prana is one It takes five different names on account Of the five different functions it performs The word prana includes The five manifestations Of the vital force. First, that power which moves the lungs And draws the atmospheric Air from outside into the system This is also called prana Second, that power which Throws out of the system such things As are not wanted. It is called in sanscript a prana Third, it takes the name Of semana as performing Digestive functions and carrying The extract of food to every part Of the body. It is called udana When it is the cause Of bringing down food from the mouth From the alimentary canal To the stomach and also when it is The cause of the power of speech The fifth power of prana is that Which works in every part Of the nervous system from head to foot Through every canal which keeps The shape of the body, preserves it From petrification and gives health And life to every cell in Oregon These are the various manifestations Of the vital force of prana These subtle powers together With the non-composite elements Of the gross body or the Ethereal particles of subtle Matter and also the put in The realities of all the impressions, ideas And tendencies which each Individual gathers in one life Make up his subtle body As a resultant of all the different Actions of mind and body Which an individual performs In his present life will be the Tendencies and desires In his future life. Nothing will be Lost. Every action Of body or mind which we do Every thought which we think becomes Fine and is stored up In the form of samskara Or impression in our minds It remains Latin For some time and then it rises Up in the form of a mental wave And produces new desires These desires are called in Vendanta, the sanis The sanis or strong Desires are the manufacturers Of new bodies. If a sanis Or a longing for worldly Pleasures and objects remains In anybody even after hundreds of Years that person will be born again Nothing can prevent the course Of strong desires. Desires Must be fulfilled sooner or later Every voluntary or involuntary Action of the body, sense Or mind must correspond To the dormant impressions Stored up in the subtle body Although growth, the process Of nourishment and all that changes With the gross physical body take Place according to the Necessarily acting causes Of action and consequently Every individual act, the condition Of the body which accomplishes it Nay, the whole process in and Through which the body exists Are nothing but the outward expressions Of the latent impressions stored Up in the subtle body. Upon these Wrists the perfect, sustainable Suitableness of the animal or Human body to the animal or Human nature of one's impressions The organs of the senses must therefore Completely correspond to the principal Desires which are the strongest and most ready to Manifest. There are the Visible expressions of these desires If there be no hunger or desire to Eat, teeth, throat And bowels will be of no use If there be no desire for grasping And moving hands and legs will be useless Similarly it can be shown That the desire for seeing, hearing Etc. has produced the Eye, ear, etc. If I have no desire to use my hand And if I do not use it at all In a few months it will wither away and die In India there are some Religious fanatics who hold up Their arms and do not use them at all After a few months their arms wither And become stiff and dead A person who lies on his back for Six months loses the power of walking There are many such instances Which prove the injurious Effects of the disuse Of our limbs and organs As the human form Generally corresponds to the human Will generally So the individual body structure corresponds To the character, desires, will And thought of the individual Therefore the outer nature is nothing But the expression of the inner nature This inner nature of each individual Is what reincarnates Or expresses itself Successfully In various forms One after another When a man dies the individual ego Which means the germ Of life or the living soul Of man is not destroyed But it continues to exist in an Invisible form It remains like a permanent thread Stringing together the separate lives By the law of cause and effect The subtle body is like a water globule Which sprang in the beginning List past from the eternal Ocean of reality And it contains the reflection Of the unchangeable light of intelligence As a water globule It remains sometimes in an invisible Vapory state in a cloud Then in rain or snow or ice And again as steam or in mud But is never destroyed so the subtle Body sometimes remains unmanifested And sometimes expresses itself In gross forms of animal Or human beings According to the desires and tendencies That are ready to manifest It may go to heaven that is To some other planet or it may be born Again on this earth Or in strength of one's life long Tennessee and bent of mind This idea is clearly expressed In the data The thought, will, or desire Which is extremely strong during Lifetime will become predominant At the time of death and will mold The inner nature of the dying person The newly molded inner nature Will express in a new form The thought, will, or desire Which molds the inner nature Has the power of selecting Such conditions or environments As will help it in It's way of manifestation This process corresponds In some respects the law of natural Selection. We shall be better able to understand That process by studying how the seeds Of different trees select from the common Environments, different materials And absorb and assimilate Different quantities of elements Suppose two seeds, one of an oak And the other of a chestnut Planted in a pot. The power of growth in both the seeds Is of the same nature. The environments, earth, water, heat And light are the same. But still there is some peculiarity In each of the seeds which will absorb From the common environments Different quantities of elements And other properties which are fit to help The growth of peculiar nature And form of the fruit, flower, Leaves of each tree. Suppose the chestnut is a horse chestnut Different conditions of peculiar nature Of the horse chestnut changes into that Of a sweet chestnut. Then along with the changes in the seed The whole nature of the tree Leaves, fruits will also be changed. It will no more attract Absorb or assimilate those Substances and qualities Of the environments which it did When it was a horse chestnut. Similarly through the law of natural Selection the newly molded Thought body of the dying person Will choose and attract such parts From the common environments As are helpful to its proper expression Or manifestation. Parents are nothing but the principal parts Of the environment of the reincarnating Individual. The newly molded Inner nature of the body of the individual Will by the law of natural Selection involuntarily choose Or be unconsciously drawn to As it were its suitable parents And will be born of them. As for instance if I have a strong desire To become an artist and if after a life Long struggle I do not succeed In being the greatest after the death Of the body I will be born in such parents And with such environments As will help me to become The best artist. The whole process is expressed In eastern philosophy by the doctrine Of the reincarnation of the individual soul Although this doctrine is commonly rejected In the west it is unreservedly Accepted by the vast majority Of mankind of the present day As it was in the past centuries The scientific explanation Of this theory we find nowhere Except in the writings of the Hindus Still we know that from very ancient Times it was believed by the philosophers Sage and prophets of Different countries. The ancient Civilization of Egypt was built upon A crude form of the doctrine of reincarnation Herodotus says The Egyptians propounded The theory that the human soul Is imperishable and that where The body of anyone dies it enters Into some other creature That may be ready to receive it Pythagoras and his disciples Spread it through Greece and Italy. Pythagoras says All has soul All is soul wandering in the Organic world and obeying Eternal will or law. In Dryden's Ovid we read Death has no power the motor Souls to slay that When its present body turns to clay Seeks a fresh home and with Unlessened might inspires Another frame with life and Light. It was the keynote of Plato's philosophy. Plato says Soul is older than body. Souls Are continually born over again Into this life. The idea of reincarnation Was spread widely in Greece and Italy by Pythagoras, Impedus, So, Virgil And Ovid. It was known to the Neoplatinas and Proclus, Plotina says The soul leaving the body becomes That power which it has most developed. Let us fly then from here Below and rise to the intellectual World that we may not fall Into a purely sensible life by Alluring ourselves to follow sensible Images. It was the fundamental Principle of the religion of the Persian Maggi. Alexander the great Accepted this idea after coming in Contact with the Hindu philosophers. Julius Caesar found that the Gauls Had some belief regarding the Pre-existence of the human soul. The Druids of Old Gaul Believed that the souls of men Transmigrate into those bodies Whose habits and characters They most resemble. Celts and Britons were impressed with this Idea. It was a favorite theme of The Arab philosophers and many Mohammed Sufis. The Jews adapted it after the Babylonian captivity. Philo of Alexandria Was a contemporary of Christ Preached amongst the Hebrews the Platonic idea of the pre-existence And rebirth of human souls. Philo says the company of disembodied Souls is distributed in various Orders. The law of some of them Is to enter mortal bodies and After certain prescribed periods Be again set free. John the Baptist was According to the Jews a second Elijah. Jesus was Believed by many to be the Appearance of some other prophet. Solomon says In his book of wisdom I was a child of good nature And a good soul came to me Or rather because I was good I came into an undefiled The Talmud and Kambala Teach the same thing. In the Talmud it is said that Abel's soul passed into the body of Seth and then into that of Moses Along with the spread of the Kambala This doctrine which was known as Transmigration and Metaphysicist Began to take root In Judaism and then In game believers even among Men who were little inclined Towards mysticism. Judah ben Asher for instance Discussing this doctrine in a Letter to his father endeavored to Place it upon a philosophical Basis. We also read The Kabbalahus eagerly adopted The doctrine on account of the vast Field it offered to mystic Nations. Moreover it was almost Necessary for all of the Of their psychological system. The absolute condition Of the soul is according to them Its return. After developing All those perfections The germs of which are eternally Implanted in it to the infinite Source from which it imanted. Another term of life must therefore Be vouchsafed to those Souls which have not fulfilled Their destiny here below and here And have not been sufficiently Purified for the state of union With the primordial cause. Hence Of the soul on its first assumption Of a human body and so Adorn on earth fails to acquire That experience for which it descended From heaven and becomes contaminated By that which is polluting It must re-inhabit a body Till it is able to ascend in a Purified state through repeated trials. This is the theory of the Zohar Which says all souls Are subject to transmigration And men do not know the ways Of the holy one. Blessed be he They do not know that they are Brought before the tribunal, both Before they enter into this world And after they leave it. They are ignorant Of the many transmigrations and secret Probations which they have to undergo And of the number of souls and spirits Which enter into this world And which do not return To the palace of the heavenly king. Men do not know how the souls Solve like a stone which is thrown from A sling. But the time is at hand When these mysteries will be disclosed. Like many of the church fathers The Kabbalists use as their Main argument in favor of The doctrine of metaphysicists. The justice of God. Before the brief in Metaphysicists they Maintain the question Why God often permits the wicked To lead a happy life while many righteous Are miserable would be unanswerable. Then too the infliction of pain upon Children would be an act of Cruelty unless it is imposed in Punishment of sin committed By the soul in a previous state. Isaac a Branville Sees in the commandment of the Livrate a proof of the doctrine Of metaphysicists for which He gives the following reasons. God in his mercy Willed that another trial should Be given to the soul which having Yielded to the sanguine Temperment of the body had committed A capital sin such as Murder, adultery, etc. Two it is only just that When a man dies young a chance To be given to a soul to Execute in another body the Good deeds which it had not Time to reform in the first body. Three the soul the wicked sometimes Passes into another body in order To receive its deserved punishment Here below instead of in the Other world where it would be More severe. Christianity is not exempt From this idea. Origen and other church Fathers believed in it. Origen says for God justly Disposing of his creatures according To their dessert united the Diversities of minds in One congruous world that he Might as it were adorn His mansion in which ought to be Not only vases of gold and silver But of wood also in clay Some to honor and some to dishonor. With these diverse vases minds Are souls to these causes the World owes its diversity While divine providence Disposes each according to His tendency mind and Disposition. He also says I think this is a question how it Happens that the human mind is Influenced now by the good Now by the evil. The causes of This I suspect to be more Ancient than his corpial Reincarnation spread so fast amongst The early Christians that Justian Was obliged to suppress it By passing a law on the council Of Constantinople In 538 AD The law was this, whoever shall Support the mythical presentation Of the pre-existence of the soul And the consequently wonderful Opinion of its return Let him be anathema. The Gnostics And Manachians propagated Tenants of reincarnation amongst The medieval sex such as The bugamiles and Polychins. Some of the Followers of this so called Erroneous belief were cruelly Persecuted in 385 AD In the 17th century some of They came bridge Plotonus As Dr. Henry Moore and others Except the idea of rebirth Most of the German philosophers Of the Middle Ages and of Have advocated and upheld this Doctrine. Many quotations Can be given from the writings of Great thinkers like Kant, Scottis Schelling, Fritz, Leibitz, Skopenhauer, Guillando, Bruno, Goff, Lessing, Herter, And a host of others. The great Skeptic, Hume, says In his posthumous Essay on the immortality Of the soul. The Metaphysicist is therefore The only system of this kind That philosophy can hear Him too. Scientists like Slamorian and Huxley have Supported this doctrine of reincarnation. Professor Huxley says None but hasty thinkers will reject it On the ground of inherent Absurdity, like the doctrine Of evolution itself. That Of transmigration has its roots In the world of reality. Some of the theological Leaders have preached it. The eminent German Theologian, Dr. Julius Muller, supports this theory in his Work on the Christian doctrine Of sin. Prominent theologians, such As Dr. Dorner, Ernestie Ruckert, Edward Beecher, Henry Ward Beecher, Philips Brooks, preached many a time Touching the question of the pre-existence And rebirth of the individual soul. Swedenborg and Emerson Maintained it. Emerson says In his Essay on the experience, we wake And find ourselves on a stair. There is below us which we seem to have ascended. There are stairs above us. Many a one which go upward And out of sight. Almost all the poets, ancient Or modern profess it. William Wordsworth says in Intimations of immortality The soul that rises with us Our life star Have had elsewhere Its setting, and cometh From afar. Tennyson writes in the two voices Or if through lower lives I came, though all Experience past became Consolidate in mind and frame I might forget my weaker lot For is not our first year Forgot, the haunts of memory Echo not. Walt Whitman says in Leaves of Grass As to you, life, I reckon You are the leavings of many deaths. No doubt I have died myself Ten thousand times before. Similar passages can be quoted from Almost all of the poets of different countries. Even amongst the aboriginal Tribes of Africa, Asia, North And South America, traces of this belief And the rebirth of souls is to be found. Nearly three fourths of the population Of Asia believe in the doctrine Of reincarnation and through it they find A satisfactory explanation of The problem of life. There is no religion Which denies the continuity Of the individual soul after death. Those who do not believe in reincarnation Try to explain the world of Declities and diversities Either by the one birth theory Or by the theory of hereditary Transmission. Neither of these Theories however is sufficient to Explain the inequalities that we meet With in our everyday life. Those who believe in the one birth Theory that we have come here For the first and last time do not understand That the acquirement of wisdom and experience Is the purpose of human life. Nor can they explain why children Who die young should come into Distance and pass away without getting The opportunity to learn anything or what Purpose is served by their coming thus For a few days. Remaining In utter ignorance and then passing Away without gaining anything Whatsoever. The Christian dogma Based on the one birth theory Tells us that the child which dies soon After its birth is sure to be Saved and will enjoy eternal life And everlasting happiness in heaven. The Christians who really believe in This dogma ought to pray To their heavenly father for the death Of their children immediately after their Birth and ought to thank the merciful Father when the grave closes over Their little forms. Thus the one Birth theory of Christianity Theologically does not Remove any difficulty. Two great religions, Judaism With its two offspring Christianity and Muhammadism and Zoroastrianism still Uphold the one birth theory. The followers of these Show them their eyes to the absurdity And unreasonableness of such a theory Believe that human souls are created Out of nothing at the time of birth Of their bodies and that they continue To exist throughout eternity either To suffer or to enjoy because of the Death performed during the short Period of their earthly existence. Here the question arises why should A man be held responsible throughout Eternity for the works which he was Forced or predestined to perform The Lord of the Universe. The theory Of predestination and grace Instead of explaining the Difficulty makes God partial And unjust. If the omnipotent Personal God created Human souls out of nothing Could he not make all souls equally Good and happy? Why does he make One to enjoy all the blessings of life And another to suffer all miseries Throughout eternity? Why is one Born with good tendencies and another With evil ones? Why is one man Virtuous throughout his life and another Best style? Why is one born intelligent And another idiotic? If God Out of his own will made all these Inequalities, or in other words If God created one man to suffer And another to enjoy, then how partial And unjust must he be? He Must be worse than a tyrant. How Can we worship him? How call Him just and merciful? Some people try to save God from This charge of partiality And injustice by saying that all good Things of this universe are the work of God, and all things are The work of a demon or Satan. God created everything good, but it was Satan who brought evil into this world And made everything bad. Now let us see How far such a statement is logically Correct. Good and evil are two relative Terms. The existence of one depends Upon that of the other. Good Cannot exist without evil and evil Cannot exist without being related to Good. When God created What we call good, he must Have created evil at the same time. Otherwise He could not create good alone. If the Creator of evil, call him whatever name You like, had brought evil into This world, he must have created it Simultaneously with God. Otherwise It would have been impossible for God to Create good, which can exist Only as related to evil. As such They will have to admit that the Creators who good and evil sat together At the same time to create this world Which is a mixture of good and evil. Consequently Both of them are equally Powerful and limited by each other. Therefore, neither of them is infinite In powers that were omnipotent. So we Cannot say that the almighty God of the Universe created good alone and not The evil. Another argument Which the vendantists advance In support of the theory Of reincarnation is that nothing Is destroyed in the universe. Destruction In the sense of annihilation Of a thing is unknown to the Vandantic philosophers. Just as it Is unknown to the modern scientists They say non-existence can never Become existence, and existence Can never become non-existence. Or in other words, that which Did not exist can never exist, and Conversely, that which exists in Any form can never become Non-existent. This is the law of Nature, and such the impressions or Ideas which we now have together With the powers which we possess Will not destroy, but will remain With us in some form or other. Our bodies may change, but the powers Of karma, samskaras, or Impressions and the materials Which manufactured our bodies Must remain in us in an Unmanifested form. They will Never be destroyed. Again, science Tells us that which remains In an unmanifested or Potential state must at some time Or other be manifested in a Kinetic or actual form. Therefore, we shall get other Bodies sooner or later. It is For this reason, said in the Gita, birth must be followed By death, and death must be followed By birth. Such a continuously Recurring series of birth And death, each germ of Life must go through. Another Consideration is that the beginning, Ending, and continuing are Concepts of the human mind. Their significance depends entirely Upon our conception of time. We all know that time has no Absolute existence. It is Nearly a form of our knowledge Of our own existence in relation Of that of nature. The conception Of time vanishes at the Sleep of death. Just as It does every night when we are in Sound sleep, death resembles The state of our sound sleep. The soul Wakes up in the sleep of death just in The same manner as the insects Awake in spring after leaving The long and rigid winter sleep. As a chrysalis in the bed Of cocoons spun by itself in autumn, Nature teaches us the great Lesson of rebirth and similarity Between sleep and death by the Rejuvenation of the chrysalis In the spring. After death The soul wakes up and puts on Or manufactures the garment Of a new body. Just in The same manner as we put on new clothes After throwing away the old and worn out Ones. Thus the soul continues to Manifest itself over and over again Either on the human or any other plane Of existence, being bound by the law Of karma, or of cause and Requence. Death so called Is but older matter dressed In some new form and in a Varied vest. From tenement To tenement though tossed The soul is still the same. The Figure only lost. Here it may be Asked if we exist before our Birth, why do we not remember? This is one of the strongest of Objections often raised Against the belief in pre-existence. Some people deny the existence of the soul In the past simply because they cannot Remember the existence of their past. There's again who hold memory at the Standard of existence say, if our memory The present ceases to exist at the time Of death, with it we shall also cease To be. We cannot be immortal because They hold that memory in the standard Of life. And if we do not remember Then we are not the same beings. Vedanta answers these questions By saying that it is possible for us To remember our previous existence. Those who have read Yaja Yoga will recall that in The 18th aphorism of the third Chapter it is said, by Perceiving the samskaras One acquires the knowledge of past Lives. Here the samskaras Means the impressions of the past Experience which lie dormant in our Subliminal self and are never lost. Memory is nothing but the awakening A rising of latent impressions Among the threshold of Consciousness. A raja yogi Through powerful concentration upon These dormant impressions of the Conscious mind can remember all the Events of his past lives. There have been many instances in India of yogis who could Know not only their own past Lives but correctly tell those of others. It is said that Buddha remembered 500 of his previous births. Our subliminal self or the Conscious mind is this Storehouse of all the impressions That we gather through our experiences During our lifetime. There are Stored up pigeon holed there in The cheetah as it is called in the Data. Cheetah means The same subconscious mind Or subliminal self which is the Storehouse of all impressions and Experiences. And these impressions Remain latent until favorable Conditions rouse them and bring Them out on the plane of Consciousness. Here let us take The illustration. In a dark room Pictures are thrown on the screen By lantern slides. The room is Absolutely dark. We are looking at The rays of midday sun To fall upon the screen. Would we Be able to see those pictures? No. Why? Because the more powerful flood Of light will subdue the light of the lantern And the pictures. But although they Are invisible to our eyes we cannot deny Their existence on the screen. Similarly the pictures of the events Of our previous lives upon The screen of the subliminal self May be invisible to us at present But they exist there. Why are they Invisible to us now? Because the more Beautiful light of sense, consciousness Has to do them. If we close the windows And doors of our senses from Outside contact and darken the inner Chamber of our self then focusing The light of consciousness and Concentrating the mental rays we Shall be able to know and remember Our past lives and all the events And experiences thereof. Those Who wish therefore to develop Their memory and remember their Past to practice Raja Yoga And learn the method of acquiring The power of concentration by shutting The doors and windows of their senses And that power of concentration Must be helped by the power of Self-control. That is by controlling The doors and windows of our own senses These dormant impressions Whether we remember them or not Are the chief factors in molding Our individual characters with which We are born. And they are the Causes of inequalities and Diversities which we find around us When we study the characters of Geniuses and prodigies we cannot deny The pre-existence of the soul Whatever the soul has mastered in a previous Life manifests in the present The memory of particular events is Not so important. If we possess The wisdom and knowledge which we gathered In our previous lives then it matters Very little whether or not we remember The particular events or the struggles Which we went through in order to gain That knowledge. Those particular things May not come to us in our memory But we have not lost the wisdom Now, study your own present life And you will see that in this life You have gained some experience The particular events and the struggles Which you went through are passing out Of your memory. But they experience The knowledge which you have gained through That experience has molded your character Has shaped you in a different manner You will not have to go through Those different events again to Remember how you require That experience is not necessary The wisdom gained is quite enough Then again we find Among ourselves persons who are Born with some wonderful powers Take for instance the power of self control One is born with the power Of self control highly developed And that self control may not be acquired By another after years of hard Struggle. Why is there this difference But Gavin Sri Ramakrishna Was born with God consciousness And he went into the highest State of Samadai when he Was four years old. But this state Is very difficult for other yogis to acquire There was a yogi who came to See Ramakrishna Who was an old man and possessed Wonderful powers and he said I have struggled for 40 years to acquire That state which is natural with you There are many such incidents which show That pre-existence is a fact And that these latent or dormant Impressions of previous lives Are the chief factors in molding The individual character without Depending upon the memory of the past We cannot remember our past because Of the loss of memory of the particular events The soul's progress is not arrested The soul will continue to progress Further and further even though The memory may be weak Each individual soul possesses This storehouse of previous experiences In the background, in the subconscious mind Take the instance of two lovers What is love? It is the Attraction between two souls This love does not die with the death Of the body. True love survives death And continues to grow to become stronger And stronger. Eventually brings The two souls together and makes them one The theory of pre-existence alone Can explain why two souls At first sight know each other and become Attracted to each other by the tie of friendship This mutual love will continue to grow And will become stronger and in the End will bring these lovers together No matter where they go. Therefore Vedanta does not say That the death of the body will end The attraction or the attachment of two souls But as the souls are immortal So their relation will continue forever The yogis know How to develop memory and how to Read past lives. They say time and space Exists in relation to our present mental Condition. If we can rise above This plane, our higher mind sees The past and future just as we see things Before our eyes. Those who wish to Satisfy the idle curiosity of their minds May spend their energy by trying to Recollect their past lives. But I think it will be much more helpful to We devote our time and energy in molding Our future and in trying to be better Than we are now. Because the recollection Of our former condition Would only force us to make a bad Use of the present. How unhappy He must be who knows that The wicked deeds of his past life Will surely react on him and will Bring distress, misery, unhappiness Or suffering within a few days or a few Months. Such a man would be so Restless and unhappy that he would Not be able to do any work properly He would constantly think in what form Misery would appear to him. He would not be able to eat or even Sleep. He would be most miserable. Therefore we ought to regard it as a Blessing that we do not recollect Our past lives and past deeds. Vedanta says Do not waste your valuable time in Thinking of your past lives. Do not look Backward during the tiresome journey Through the different stages of evolution. Always look forward and try first to Attain the highest point of spiritual Development. Then if you want to know your Past lives, you will recollect them all. Nothing will remain unknown to you. The knower of the universe. When the all-knowing, divine self Will manifest through you, time and space Will vanish and past and future will Be changed into the eternal present. Then you will say as Sri Krishna Said to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita Both you and I have Passed through many lives. You do not recollect Any but I know them all. End of recording