The  reader  desirous  of  being  merry  with  Aquinas's  angels  may  find  them  in
Martinus  Scriblerus,  whose  imaginary  history  is  related  in  the  satirical  **  Me-
moirs of  his  Extraordinary  Life,  Works,  and  Discoveries,"  usually  published
in  Pope's  works,  but  chieny,  if  not  wholly,  written  by  Arbuthnot.  In  chapter
vii.  he  inquires  if  angels  pass  from  one  extreme  to  another  without  going
through  the  middle  ?  And  if  angels  know  things  more  clearly  in  a  morning  ?
And  now  many  angels  can  dance  on  the  point  of  a  very  fine  needle  without
jostling  one  another  ?

Amusing  travesties  of  quodlibetic  questions,  reminding  one  of  those  pro-
pounded  in  Martinus  Scriblerus,  are  those  with  which  Charles  Lamb,  after
his  rupture  with  Coleridge  (in  1798,  on  the  departure  of  the  latter  for  Ger*


LITERARY  CURIOSITIES.  941

many),  spiced  his  biting  farewell  letter,  of  masked  good  will  but  full  of  subtle
and  penetrating  irony.  It  has  bearing  clearly  on  the  part  which  Coleridge
was  thought  to  have  played  in  casting  ridicule  on  the  "  ewe  laml>s"  of  his
friend  (in  the  "burlesque  sonnets"  printed  in  1797).  Among  Lamb's  mock-
theses  are  these :  "  Whether  pure  intelligence  can  love  ?"  "  Whether  the
higher  order  of  Seraphim  illuminati  ever  sneer  ?'*  The  sonnets  had  been
signed  "Nehemiah  Higginbotham."  Is  it  possible  that  Coleridge,  when
charged  with  their  authorship,  seemed  to  equivocate  ?  Kere  are  two  other
theses :  "  Whether  God  loves  a  lying  angel  better  than  a  true  man  ?"
**  Whether  the  archangel  Uriel  could  affirm  an  untruth,  and  if  he  could,
whether  he  would  ?"

In  puerile  amplifications  and  quibbling  interpretations  of  Holy  Writ  the
Talmudic  doctors  are  not  far  behind  their  Christian  brethren.  Here  is  one
example  which  for  absurdity  is  a  match  for  any  of  those  of  the  schoolmen.
