THE SWORD OF SONG 
64
149. Ra.26—The Sun-God. 
149. Nuit.27—The Star-Goddess. 
152. Campbell.28—“The waters w ild w ent 
o’er his child, And he was left lamenting.” 
152. The Ibis Head.29—Characteristic of 
Tahuti. 
157. Roland’s crest.30—See “Two poets of 
Croisic,” xci. 
159. A jest.31—See above : Ascension Day. 
162. A mysterious way.32— 
 
 “ God moves in a mysterious way 
His wonders to perform ; 
    He plants His foodsteps in the sea, 
And rides upon the storm.” 
Intentional species ? 
171. The old hymn.33—This hymn, quoted I 
fear with some failure of memory—I have not 
the documents at hand—is attributed to the 
 
late Bishop of Natal, though I doubt this, 
as  
the consistent and trustful piety of its sentiment 
is ill-suited to the author of those disastrous 
criticisms of the Pentateuch.  The hymn is still 
popular in Durban. 
Its extraordinary beauty, for a fragment, is 
only surpassed by Sappho’s matchless. 
— ! — ! — ! ! — ! 
— ! — ! — ! ! — ! 
— ! — ! 'ennea k' exe - 
 konta ! — — 
 
185. “How very hard.”34— 
 
   “ How very hard it is to be 
  A
 Christian !”—Easter Day, I. i. 2. 
195. Srotapatti.35—One who has 
“entered 
the stream” of Nirvana. 
For the advantages of doing so, see the ap-
pended Jataka story, which I have just trans-
lated from a C
ingalese Palm-leaf MS.   See 
Appendix I. 
228. You know for me, etc.36—See Huxley, 
Hume, 199, 200. 
239. Spirit and matter are the same.37—See 
Huxley’s reply to Lilly. 
273. “ I am not what I see.”38—In 
Memoriam.  But see H. Spencer, “Principles of 
Psychology,” General Analysis, ch. vi. 
281. “’Tis lotused Buddha.”39— 
“Hark ! that sad groan !  Proceed no further ! 
 ’Tis laurelled Martial roaring murther.” 
—BURNS, Epigram. 
But Buddha cannot really roar, since he has 
passed away by that kind of passing 
away 
which leaves nothing whatever behind. 
322. A mere law without a will.40—I must 
not be supposed to take any absurd view of the 
meaning of the word “law.”  This passage 
denies any knowledge of ultimate causes,  not 
asserts it.  But it tends to deny benevolent fore-
sight, and a fortiori benevolent omnipotence. 
Cf. Zoroaster, Oracles: “Look not upon the 
visible image of the Soul 
of Nature, for her 
name is Fatality.” 
Ambrosius is very clear on this 
point.  I 
append his famous MS. complete in its English 
Translation, as it is so rare.   How rare will be 
appreciated when I say that no copy either of 
original or translation occurs 
in the British 
Museum ; the only known copy, that in 
the 
Bodleian, is concealed by the pre-Adamite 
system of cataloguing in vogue at that hoary 
 
but unvenerable institution.   For convenience 
the English has been modernised.  See Ap-
pendix II. 
329. Maya fashioned it.41—Sir E. Arnold, 
Light of Asia. 
335. Why should the Paramatma cease.42— 
The Universe is represented by orthodox Hin-
dus as alternating between Evolution and In-
volution.  But apparently,  in either state,
 it  
is the other which appears desirable, since 
 
the change is operated by Will,
 not by 
Necessity. 
341. Blavatsky’s Himalayan Balm.43—See 
the corkscrew theories of A . P. Sinnet in that 
masterpiece of confusion of thought—and 
nomenclature !—“Esoteric Buddhism.”  
Also 
see the “Voice of the Silence, or, The Butler’s 
Revenge.”  Not Bp. Butler. 
366. Ekam Advaita.44—Of course I now re-
ject this utterly.   B ut it is,  I believe, a stage   
of thought necessary for many or 
most of us.  
The bulk of these poems w
as w ritten w hen I 
was an A dvaitist, incredible as the retrospect 
now appears.  My revision has borne Buddhist 
fruits, but some of the Advaita blossom is left.  
Look, for example, at the dreadfully Papistical 
tendency of my celebrated essay : 
 
AFTER AGNOSTICISM 
Allow me to introduce myself as the original 
Irishman whose first question on landing at 
New Yor k was, “I s t here a Gover nment in  
this country? ” and on being 
told “Yes,”  
instantly replied,  “Then I’m agin it.
”  For  
after some years of consistent Agnosticism, 
being at last asked to contribute to an Agnostic 
organ, for the life of me I can think of nothing 
better than to attack my 
hosts!  Insidious 
cuckoo!  Ungrateful Banyan!  My shame drives 
me to Semetic analogy, and I sadly reflect that 
if I had been Balaam, I should not have needed 
an ass other than myself to 
tell me to do the 
precise contrary of what is expected of me. 
For this is my position; w hile the postulate 
of Agnosticism are in one sense eternal, I 
believe that the conclusions of Agnosticism are 
daily to be pushed back.  
We know our 
ignorance; with that fact we are twitted 
by  
those who do not know enough to understand