"I," he says, "whose disease
it was to meditate too much and to observe too little." And the
description was a true one, as far as it went. And the completion of the
description was one which he could never have himself arrived at. It
must, we think, be concluded of De Quincey that he was the most
remarkable instance in his time of a more than abnormal, of an
artificial, condition of body and mind--a characterization which he must
necessarily be the last man to conceive of. To understand this, it is
necessary to glance at the events of his life. The briefest notice will
suffice, as they are within the reach of all, as related in his own
books.
Thomas De Quincey was the son of a merchant engaged in foreign commerce,
and was born at Manchester in 1786. He was one of eight children, of
whom no more than six were ever living at once, and several of whom died
in infancy. The survivors were reared in a country home, the incidents
of which, when of a kind to excite emotion, impressed themselves on this
singular child's memory from a very early age. We have known only two
instances, in a rather wide experience of life, of persons distinctly
remembering so far back as a year and a half old. This was De Quincey's
age when three deaths happened in the family, which he remembered, not
by tradition, but by his own contemporary emotions. A sister of three
and a half died, and he was perplexed by her disappearance, and
terrified by the household whisper that she had been ill-used just
before her death by a servant.
Pages:
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311