jude" had placed him among the most popular of English theologians; it
was so exhaustive that no one who bought it need ever meditate upon
the subject again- indeed it exhausted all who had anything to do with
it. He had made L5000 by this work alone, and would very likely make
another L5000 before he died. A man who had done all this and wanted a
piece of bread and butter had a right to announce the fact with some
pomp and circumstance. Nor should his words be taken without searching
for what he used to call a "deeper and more hidden meaning." Those who
searched for this even in his lightest utterances would not be without
their reward. They would find that "bread and butter" was Skinnerese
for oyster-patties and apple tart, and "gin hot" the true
translation of water.
But independently of their money value, his works had made him a
lasting name in literature. So probably Gallio was under the
impression that his fame would rest upon the treatises on natural
history which we gather from Seneca that he compiled, and which for
aught we know may have contained a complete theory of evolution; but
the treatises are all gone and Gallio has become immortal for the very
last reason in the world that he expected, and for the very last
reason that would have flattered his vanity.
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