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a tincture of force to flush old age with youth, or breed gold, or imprison moonbeams till they change to opal shafts!" At the same time with that capacity for self-deception which characterizes the true mystic he sought to cast Light on a darkling race; save for that doubt, I stood at first where all aspire at last To stand: the secret of the world was mine.
I knew, I felt (perception unexpressed, Uncomprehended by our narrow thought, But somehow felt and known in every shift And change in the spirit,--nay, in every pore Of the body, even)--what God is, what we are, What life is--.

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.( 6) (6) Robert Browning: Paracelsus, closing speech.
Much has been done of late to clear up his story and his character.
Professor Sudhoff, of Leipzig, has made an exhaustive bibliographical study of his writings,( 7) there have been recent monographs by Julius Hartmann, and Professors Franz and Karl Strunz,( 8) and a sympathetic summary of his life and writings has been published by the late Miss Stoddart.( 9) Indeed there is at present a cult of Paracelsus.

The hermetic and alchemical writings are available in English in the edition of A.E.Waite, London, 1894.