the man of the crowd

In un locale di Londra un uomo trascorre il suo pomeriggio osservando gli indaffarati pedoni. D’un tratto un passante dall’aspetto sinistramente singolare cattura la sua piena attenzione. La decisione è rapida e dettata da un bisogno irrinunciabile: il desiderio di conoscere, di saperne di più su quell’uomo. Parte un inseguimento attraverso le strade della città che terminerà per esaurimento delle energie e senza aver portato a nessun risultato significativo, se non all’interiorizzazione di un concetto difficile da accettare: l’inconoscibilità dell’essere.

La consapevolezza dell’illeggibilità di alcuni aspetti della conoscenza (“er lässt sich nicht lesen”, “che non si lascia leggere”) appare fin dal prologo il punto focale di “The Man of the Crowd”.

Un senso di ineluttabilità si palesa già in questa parte introduttiva alla storia, dove Poe pone il lettore di fronte ad uno degli aspetti più forti della parabola umana: l’impossibilità di conoscere veramente.

L’ansia della conoscenza è quindi tesa verso un obiettivo irraggiungibile, verso un risultato inconseguibile. E Poe traccia, a suo modo, il percorso che l’uomo segue nella sua affannosa ricerca della verità dell’essere, ma è un percorso lungo, tortuoso, faticoso e… piatto: alla fine non ci sarà nessuna conoscenza svelata, nessun mistero decifrato!

La figura dell’uomo seduto al tavolino del “D – Coffee-House” è delineata secondo una delle caratteristiche che serviranno presto ad amplificare la dinamica del protagonista nelle fasi successive del racconto: è convalescente di alcuni mesi di malattia ma, tuttavia, pervaso da uno di quegli “stati d'animo di eccitata curiosità” e, soprattutto, percorso da una sorta di “inquisitive interest” in ogni cosa.

La gente che affolla le strade di Londra, al di là del “large bow-window” all’interno del quale è seduto il nostro, lo distrae dalle attività svolte fino allora (lettura del giornale, sigaro, osservazione degli altri clienti del locale), risvegliando in lui un interesse ancora maggiore. Il narratore/protagonista è ancora nella sfera d’azione del vedere/conoscere ma si percepisce bene l’imminente “call to adventure” (che però diverrà irrinunciabile solo dopo l’entrata in scena dell’antieroe del racconto, l’uomo della folla). Il “tumultuoso mare di teste” lo riempie di un’emozione inaspettata e mai provata prima, spostando definitivamente la sua attenzione verso l’esterno.

Il protagonista, nell’atto di distinguere le varie categorie di persone, all’interno delle due macrocorrenti che riesce a identificare ad una prima osservazione, riconosce anzitutto la schiera di quegl’uomini d’affari dall’aria così soddisfatta da non accorgersi quasi degli altri esseri umani con i quali stanno condividendo il pavement di quella strada principale di Londra[1].

L’impressione è che Poe stia, in qualche modo, dipingendo dei dannati erranti sulla Terra: quegli occhi un po’ strabuzzanti, quel gesticolare frenetico ma al contempo accidioso, non irritato, il sorriso finto, la fronte a tratti accigliata sembrano provenire direttamente da quell’idea di “dannato” diffusa nella civiltà cristiana sin dai tempi della Comedia di Dante.

Il narratore prosegue la sua analisi iniziale distinguendo un secondo insieme di persone, gl’impiegati (i clerks), nei quali scorge due ulteriori sottoinsiemi: quello degli yuppies, che tentano di colmare la distanza che li separa dalla categoria dei moderni eupatridi, e quello degli “steady old fellows” (“vecchi tipi solidi”), coloro cioè che la scalata sociale l’hanno già tentata, e fallita.

La discesa sociale non termina qui: Poe passa a raccontare, attraverso il linguaggio tipico del voyeur, dei borseggiatori d’alto bordo, dei giocatori d’azzardo, dei bellimbusti e dei militari. L’impressione è che l’autore ci stia conducendo gradualmente al centro di una spirale: quasi a stringere il cerchio attorno al “colpevole” che vuole scoprire.

Siamo ormai sul fondo, e da qui non si scorgono che i più abietti: gli accattoni professionisti, che l’inferno lo vivono già; le donne, dalle ragazze modeste fino a quelle di sicura bellezza estetica, ma repellenti dentro, che conducono una vita priva di gioia; infine, gli ubriaconi e un’umanità varia che si trascina senza speranza alcuna.

La discesa sociale, una caduta verticale quasi fosse una discesa negl’Inferi, è ora completata. Tuttavia, resta latente una strana sensazione, come se mancasse qualcosa, come se si fosse ancora in attesa di qualcuno, di un uomo che possa racchiudere in sé gli umori, i sentimenti e l’animo della folla.

D’improvviso, un’epifania: tra la folla si staglia la figura di un uomo dall’apparente età di 65-70 anni, il cui profilo è segnato da un “absolute idiosyncrasy of its expression”. L’attenzione del lettore subisce una scossa. Il sospetto che l’oggetto in questione abbia qualcosa di luciferino è insistente: egli, vero demone sulla Terra, sembra racchiudere in sé tutta la malvagità dell’uomo (“idee di enorme forza intellettiva, prudenza, grettezza, avarizia, freddezza, malvagità, sete di sangue, trionfo, gaiezza, eccessivo terrore e intensa... suprema disperazione”), costituendo un’attrazione incomprensibile cui il protagonista non sa resistere.

La soglia del locale è varcata, la sua sete di sapere prevale e lo spinge ad andare all’inseguimento, per cercare di capire ciò che potrà essere letto di quello strano individuo. Pur entrando in un mondo straordinario, caratterizzato dall’inafferrabilità di un vecchio che mai arresta il suo incedere, il narratore non segue che il suo istinto. Il protagonista è spinto da una curiosità puerile, quasi una regressione all’infanzia, da quel “cosa c’è dentro?” ossessione dei bambini nei loro primi passi verso il mondo. Poe trasforma il suo narratore in un investigatore in piena regola e conduce il lettore per le strade umide di spessa nebbia della capitale inglese, sulle tracce di un’ombra che, pur emanando sprazzi di luce (“di un diamante e di un pugnale”), sembra proprio impenetrabile. Il sopraggiungere della notte e di una pioggia insistente non scoraggiano il segugio, nonostante la convalescenza dalla lunga malattia, ed egli prosegue con sempre più vivida curiosità.

Dalla strada del D – Coffee-House ad altre strade limitrofe, passando per un bazar ancora affollato, una piazza, un negozio, e ancora stradine, vicoli, e di nuovo la strada da cui si era partiti. Una corsa interminabile che prosegue senza poter intravedere il traguardo. Il punto di arrivo sembra irraggiungibile, come in alcuni dei limbi kafkiani.

La notte avanza e la gente per le strade diminuisce, l’uomo-demone sembra agitato dall’ansia della solitudine. Percorre quelle strade con un unico obiettivo: incontrare molteplicità di solitudini. Da un teatro, ad altre strade fino giù al centro della città, regno delle anime più sordide e desolate, l’inseguimento viene alimentato da una spinta sempre maggiore. Il nuovo giorno, il sole che cresce all’orizzonte non arrestano di un attimo l’incedere del vagabondo. Il protagonista però adesso è esausto, stanco morto: una notte e un giorno sono troppi anche per lui. Decide di arrendersi all’inconoscibile. Tutti i suoi sforzi, la sua grande volontà di sapere, la determinazione del suo incedere non hanno sortito alcun effetto sensibile.

Si giunge all’epilogo e quel demone vagabondo non ha svelato nulla di sé, se non la sua inconoscibilità:

He noticed me not, but resumed his solemn walk, while I, ceasing to follow, remained absorbed in contemplation. “The old man,” I said at length, “is the type and the genius of deep crime. He refuses to be alone. He is the man of the crowd. It will be in vain to follow, for I shall learn no more of him, nor of his deeds. The worst heart of the world is a grosser book than the ‘Hortulus Animae,’ and perhaps it is but one of the great mercies of God that ‘er lässt sich nicht lesen’.

[Non si accorse di me e riprese il suo solenne cammino, mentre io smettendo di seguirlo rimanevo tutto assorto in contemplazione. «Questo vecchio», dissi alla fine, «ha l’impronta e il genio del crimine. Rifiuta di essere solo. E’ l’uomo della folla.» Sarebbe inutile continuare a seguirlo perché non avrei più nulla da apprendere su di lui e sulle sue reazioni. Il peggiore cuore del mondo è un libro più grande di Hortulus Animae¹, e forse è una delle grandi misericordie di Dio che «er lässt sich nicht lesen²».

Il testo si conclude quindi senza l’acquisizione di un nuovo status da parte del protagonista/narratore. Egli, semplicemente, comprende e interiorizza ciò che riesce a interpretare e dedurre di quell’uomo: la sua apparenza, ciò che sembra, finendo per arrendersi a ciò che non può essere conosciuto né spiegato. Vengono chiuse tutte le soluzioni, il muro attorno a quell’uomo resta impenetrabile.

Le paure dell’uomo restano dove sono, insolute, perché non gli è possibile saperne di più dalla propria condizione di “mortale”. L’ansia di conoscenza, la ricerca febbrile di una risposta conclusiva alle angosce dell’uomo si risolve in una ricerca escatologica che inevitabilmente, pur snodandosi attraverso teorie, credenze e speranze vecchie millenni, rimane senza sbocchi empirici. Una tragica e fatale necessità che non può essere esaudita se non, forse, attraverso la morte stessa.

[1] Cfr The Ignoble Procession, di D. H. Lawrence. L’immagine che Lawrence firma della massa di persone è similare: il protagonista della poesia sembra travolto dallo stesso fiume di persone, dalla folla irrequieta che invade le strade della città.

The Man of the Crowd

IT WAS well said of a certain German book that “er lasst sich nicht lesen” – it does not permit itself to be read. There are some secrets which do not permit themselves to be told. Men die nightly in their beds, wringing the hands of ghostly confessors, and looking them piteously in the eyes – die with despair of heart and convulsion of throat, on account of the hideousness of mysteries which will not suffer themselves to be revealed. Now and then, alas, the conscience of man takes up a burden so heavy in horror that it can be thrown down only into the grave. And thus the essence of all crime is undivulged.

Not long ago, about the closing in of an evening in autumn, I sat at the large bow – window of the D – Coffee-House in London. For some months I had been ill in health, but was now convalescent, and, with returning strength, found myself in one of those happy moods which are so precisely the converse of ennui-moods of the keenest appetency, when the film from the mental vision departs – achlus os prin epeen – and the intellect, electrified, surpasses as greatly its everyday condition, as does the vivid yet candid reason of Leibnitz, the mad and flimsy rhetoric of Gorgias. Merely to breathe was enjoyment; and I derived positive pleasure even from many of the legitimate sources of pain. I felt a calm but inquisitive interest in every thing. With a cigar in my mouth and a newspaper in my lap, I had been amusing myself for the greater part of the afternoon, now in poring over advertisements, now in observing the promiscuous company in the room, and now in peering through the smoky panes into the street.

This latter is one of the principal thoroughfares of the city, and had been very much crowded during the whole day. But, as the darkness came on, the throng momently increased; and, by the time the lamps were well lighted, two dense and continuous tides of population were rushing past the door. At this particular period of the evening I had never before been in a similar situation, and the tumultuous sea of human heads filled me, therefore, with a delicious novelty of emotion. I gave up, at length, all care of things within the hotel, and became absorbed in contemplation of the scene without.

At first my observations took an abstract and generalizing turn. I looked at the passengers in masses, and thought of them in their aggregate relations. Soon, however, I descended to details, and regarded with minute interest the innumerable varieties of figure, dress, air, gait, visage, and expression of countenance.

By far the greater number of those who went by had a satisfied, business-like demeanor, and seemed to be thinking only of making their way through the press. Their brows were knit, and their eyes rolled quickly; when pushed against by fellow-wayfarers they evinced no symptom of impatience, but adjusted their clothes and hurried on. Others, still a numerous class, were restless in their movements, had flushed faces, and talked and gesticulated to themselves, as if feeling in solitude on account of the very denseness of the company around. When impeded in their progress, these people suddenly ceased muttering; but redoubled their gesticulations, and awaited, with an absent and overdone smile upon their lips, the course of the persons impeding them. If jostled, they bowed profusely to the jostlers, and appeared overwhelmed with confusion. There was nothing very distinctive about these two large classes beyond what I have noted. Their habiliments belonged to that order which is pointedly termed the decent. They were undoubtedly noblemen, merchants, attorneys, tradesmen, stock-jobbers – the Eupatrids and the common-places of society – men of leisure and men actively engaged in affairs of their own – conducting business upon their own responsibility. They did not greatly excite my attention.

The tribe of clerks was an obvious one; and here I discerned two remarkable divisions. There were the junior clerks of flash houses – young gentlemen with tight coats, bright boots, well-oiled hair, and supercilious lips. Setting aside a certain dapperness of carriage, which may be termed deskism for want of a better word, the manner of these persons seemed to be an exact facsimile of what had been the perfection of bon ton about twelve or eighteen months before. They wore the castoff graces of the gentry; – and this, I believe, involves the best definition of the class.

The division of the upper clerks of staunch firms, or of the “steady old fellows,” it was not possible to mistake. These were known by their coats and pantaloons of black or brown, made to sit comfortably, with white cravats and waistcoats, broad solid-looking shoes, and thick hose or gaiters. They had all slightly bald heads, from which the right ears, long used to pen-holding, had an odd habit of standing off on end. I observed that they always removed or settled their hats with both bands, and wore watches, with short gold chains of a substantial and ancient pattern. Theirs was the affectation of respectability – if indeed there be an affectation so honorable.

There were many individuals of dashing appearance, whom I easily understood as belonging to the race of swell pick-pockets, with which all great cities are infested. I watched these gentry with much inquisitiveness, and found it difficult to imagine how they should ever be mistaken for gentlemen by gentlemen themselves. Their voluminousness of wristband, with an air of excessive frankness, should betray them at once.

The gamblers, of whom I descried not a few, were still more easily recognizable. They wore every variety of dress, from that of the desperate thimble-rig bully, with velvet waistcoat, fancy neckerchief, gilt chains, and filagreed buttons, to that of the scrupulously inornate clergyman, than which nothing could be less liable to suspicion. Still all were distinguished by a certain sodden swarthiness of complexion, a filmy dimness of eye, and pallor and compression of lip. There were two other traits, moreover, by which I could always detect them: a guarded lowness of tone in conversation, and a more than ordinary extension of the thumb in a direction at right angles with the fingers. Very often, in company with these sharpers, I observed an order of men somewhat different in habits, but still birds of a kindred feather. They may be defined as the gentlemen who live by their wits. They seem to prey upon the public in two battalions – that of the dandies and that of the military men. Of the first grade the leading features are long locks and smiles; of the second, frogged coats and frowns.

Descending in the scale of what is termed gentility, I found darker and deeper themes for speculation. I saw Jew pedlars, with hawk eyes flashing from countenances whose every other feature wore only an expression of abject humility; sturdy professional street beggars scowling upon mendicants of a better stamp, whom despair alone had driven forth into the night for charity; feeble and ghastly invalids, upon whom death had placed a sure hand, and who sidled and tottered through the mob, looking every one beseechingly in the face, as if in search of some chance consolation, some lost hope; modest young girls returning from long and late labor to a cheerless home, and shrinking more tearfully than indignantly from the glances of ruffians, whose direct contact, even, could not be avoided; women of the town of all kinds and of all ages – the unequivocal beauty in the prime of her womanhood, putting one in mind of the statue in Lucian, with the surface of Parian marble, and the interior filled with filth – the loathsome and utterly lost leper in rags – the wrinkled, bejewelled, and paint-begrimed beldame, making a last effort at youth – the mere child of immature form, yet, from long association, an adept in the dreadful coquetries of her trade, and burning with a rabid ambition to be ranked the equal of her elders in vice; drunkards innumerable and indescribable – some in shreds and patches, reeling, inarticulate, with bruised visage and lack-lustre eyes – some in whole although filthy garments, with a slightly unsteady swagger, thick sensual lips, and hearty-looking rubicund faces – others clothed in materials which had once been good, and which even now were scrupulously well brushed-men who walked with a more than naturally firm and springy step, but whose countenances were fearfully pale, and whose eyes were hideously wild and red; and who clutched with quivering fingers, as they strode through the crowd, at every object which came within their reach; beside these, pie-men, porters, coal-heavers, sweeps; organ-grinders, monkey-exhibitors, and ballad-mongers, those who vended with those who sang; ragged artizans and exhausted laborers of every description, and all full of a noisy and inordinate vivacity which jarred discordantly upon the ear, and gave an aching sensation to the eye.

As the night deepened, so deepened to me the interest of the scene; for not only did the general character of the crowd materially alter (its gentler features retiring in the gradual withdrawal of the more orderly portion of the people, and its harsher ones coming out into bolder relief, as the late hour brought forth every species of infamy from its den), but the rays of the gas-lamps, feeble at first in their struggle with the dying day, had now at length gained ascendancy, and threw over every thing a fitful and garish lustre. All was dark yet splendid – as that ebony to which has been likened the style of Tertullian.

The wild effects of the light enchained me to an examination of individual faces; and although the rapidity with which the world of light flitted before the window prevented me from casting more than a glance upon each visage, still it seemed that, in my then peculiar mental state, I could frequently read, even in that brief interval of a glance, the history of long years.

With my brow to the glass, I was thus occupied in scrutinizing the mob, when suddenly there came into view a countenance (that of a decrepid old man, some sixty-five or seventy years of age) – a countenance which at once arrested and absorbed my whole attention, on account of the absolute idiosyncrasy of its expression. Any thing even remotely resembling that expression I had never seen before. I well remember that my first thought, upon beholding it, was that Retszch, had he viewed it, would have greatly preferred it to his own pictural incarnations of the fiend. As I endeavored, during the brief minute of my original survey, to form some analysis of the meaning conveyed, there arose confusedly and paradoxically within my mind, the ideas of vast mental power, of caution, of penuriousness, of avarice, of coolness, of malice, of blood-thirstiness, of triumph, of merriment, of excessive terror, of intense – of supreme despair. I felt singularly aroused, startled, fascinated. “How wild a history,” I said to myself, “is written within that bosom!” Then came a craving desire to keep the man in view – to know more of him. Hurriedly putting on all overcoat, and seizing my hat and cane, I made my way into the street, and pushed through the crowd in the direction which I had seen him take; for he had already disappeared. With some little difficulty I at length came within sight of him, approached, and followed him closely, yet cautiously, so as not to attract his attention.

I had now a good opportunity of examining his person. He was short in stature, very thin, and apparently very feeble. His clothes, generally, were filthy and ragged; but as he came, now and then, within the strong glare of a lamp, I perceived that his linen, although dirty, was of beautiful texture; and my vision deceived me, or, through a rent in a closely buttoned and evidently second-handed roquelaire which enveloped him, I caught a glimpse both of a diamond and of a dagger. These observations heightened my curiosity, and I resolved to follow the stranger whithersoever he should go.

It was now fully night-fall, and a thick humid fog hung over the city, soon ending in a settled and heavy rain. This change of weather had an odd effect upon the crowd, the whole of which was at once put into new commotion, and overshadowed by a world of umbrellas. The waver, the jostle, and the hum increased in a tenfold degree. For my own part I did not much regard the rain – the lurking of an old fever in my system rendering the moisture somewhat too dangerously pleasant. Tying a handkerchief about my mouth, I kept on. For half an hour the old man held his way with difficulty along the great thoroughfare; and I here walked close at his elbow through fear of losing sight of him. Never once turning his head to look back, he did not observe me. By and by he passed into a cross street, which, although densely filled with people, was not quite so much thronged as the main one he had quitted. Here a change in his demeanor became evident. He walked more slowly and with less object than before – more hesitatingly. He crossed and re-crossed the way repeatedly, without apparent aim; and the press was still so thick, that, at every such movement, I was obliged to follow him closely. The street was a narrow and long one, and his course lay within it for nearly an hour, during which the passengers had gradually diminished to about that number which is ordinarily seen at noon in Broadway near the park – so vast a difference is there between a London populace and that of the most frequented American city. A second turn brought us into a square, brilliantly lighted, and overflowing with life. The old manner of the stranger reappeared. His chin fell upon his breast, while his eyes rolled wildly from under his knit brows, in every direction, upon those who hemmed him in. He urged his way steadily and perseveringly. I was surprised, however, to find, upon his having made the circuit of the square, that he turned and retraced his steps. Still more was I astonished to see him repeat the same walk several times – once nearly detecting me as he came around with a sudden movement.

In this exercise he spent another hour, at the end of which we met with far less interruption from passengers than at first. The rain fell fast, the air grew cool; and the people were retiring to their homes. With a gesture of impatience, the wanderer passed into a by-street comparatively deserted. Down this, some quarter of a mile long, he rushed with an activity I could not have dreamed of seeing in one so aged, and which put me to much trouble in pursuit. A few minutes brought us to a large and busy bazaar, with the localities of which the stranger appeared well acquainted, and where his original demeanor again became apparent, as he forced his way to and fro, without aim, among the host of buyers and sellers.

During the hour and a half, or thereabouts, which we passed in this place, it required much caution on my part to keep him within reach without attracting his observation. Luckily I wore a pair of caoutchouc overshoes, and could move about in perfect silence. At no moment did he see that I watched him. He entered shop after shop, priced nothing, spoke no word, and looked at all objects with a wild and vacant stare. I was now utterly amazed at his behavior, and firmly resolved that we should not part until I had satisfied myself in some measure respecting him.

A loud-toned clock struck eleven, and the company were fast deserting the bazaar. A shop-keeper, in putting up a shutter, jostled the old man, and at the instant I saw a strong shudder come over his frame. He hurried into the street, looked anxiously around him for an instant, and then ran with incredible swiftness through many crooked and peopleless lanes, until we emerged once more upon the great thoroughfare whence we had started – the street of the D – – Hotel. It no longer wore, however, the same aspect. It was still brilliant with gas; but the rain fell fiercely, and there were few persons to be seen. The stranger grew pale. He walked moodily some paces up the once populous avenue, then, with a heavy sigh, turned in the direction of the river, and, plunging through a great variety of devious ways, came out, at length, in view of one of the principal theatres. It was about being closed, and the audience were thronging from the doors. I saw the old man gasp as if for breath while he threw himself amid the crowd; but I thought that the intense agony of his countenance had, in some measure, abated. His head again fell upon his breast; he appeared as I had seen him at first. I observed that he now took the course in which had gone the greater number of the audience but, upon the whole, I was at a loss to comprehend the waywardness of his actions.

As he proceeded, the company grew more scattered, and his old uneasiness and vacillation were resumed. For some time he followed closely a party of some ten or twelve roisterers; but from this number one by one dropped off, until three only remained together, in a narrow and gloomy lane, little frequented. The stranger paused, and, for a moment, seemed lost in thought; then, with every mark of agitation, pursued rapidly a route which brought us to the verge of the city, amid regions very different from those we had hitherto traversed. It was the most noisome quarter of London, where every thing wore the worst impress of the most deplorable poverty, and of the most desperate crime. By the dim light of an accidental lamp, tall, antique, worm-eaten, wooden tenements were seen tottering to their fall, in directions so many and capricious, that scarce the semblance of a passage was discernible between them. The paving-stones lay at random, displaced from their beds by the rankly-growing grass. Horrible filth festered in the dammed-up gutters. The whole atmosphere teemed with desolation. Yet, as we proceeded, the sounds of human life revived by sure degrees, and at length large bands of the most abandoned of a London populace were seen reeling to and fro. The spirits of the old man again flickered up, as a lamp which is near its death-hour. Once more he strode onward with elastic tread. Suddenly a corner was turned, a blaze of light burst upon our sight, and we stood before one of the huge suburban temples of Intemperance – one of the palaces of the fiend, Gin.

It was now nearly daybreak; but a number of wretched inebriates still pressed in and out of the flaunting entrance. With a half shriek of joy the old man forced a passage within, resumed at once his original bearing, and stalked backward and forward, without apparent object, among the throng. He had not been thus long occupied, however, before a rush to the doors gave token that the host was closing them for the night. It was something even more intense than despair that I then observed upon the countenance of the singular being whom I had watched so pertinaciously. Yet he did not hesitate in his career, but, with a mad energy, retraced his steps at once, to the heart of the mighty London. Long and swiftly he fled, while I followed him in the wildest amazement, resolute not to abandon a scrutiny in which I now felt an interest all-absorbing. The sun arose while we proceeded, and, when we had once again reached that most thronged mart of the populous town, the street of the D – Hotel, it presented an appearance of human bustle and activity scarcely inferior to what I had seen on the evening before. And here, long, amid the momently increasing confusion, did I persist in my pursuit of the stranger. But, as usual, he walked to and fro, and during the day did not pass from out the turmoil of that street. And, as the shades of the second evening came on, I grew wearied unto death, and, stopping fully in front of the wanderer, gazed at him steadfastly in the face. He noticed me not, but resumed his solemn walk, while I, ceasing to follow, remained absorbed in contemplation. “The old man,” I said at length, “is the type and the genius of deep crime. He refuses to be alone. He is the man of the crowd. It will be in vain to follow, for I shall learn no more of him, nor of his deeds. The worst heart of the world is a grosser book than the ‘Hortulus Animae,’* and perhaps it is but one of the great mercies of God that ‘er lässt sich nicht lesen’.”

*The “Hortulus Animae cum Oratiunculis Aliquibus Superadditis” of John Grunninger, printed in Germany around 1500