The Buddhist Praying-Wheel: A Collection of Material Bearing Upon the Symbolism of the Wheel and Circular Movements in Custom and Religious Ritual

Excerpt from The Buddhist Praying-Wheel: A Collection of Material Bearing Upon the Symbolism of the Wheel and Circular Movements in Custom and Religious Ritual We intend this Collection of Letters to be a Supplement to the "Life of Charles Dickens," by John Forster. That work, perfect and exhaustive as a biography, is only incomplete as regards correspondence; the scheme of the book having made it impossible to include in its space any letters, or hardly any, besides those addressed to Mr. Forster. As no man ever expressed himself more in his letters than Charles Dickens, we believe that in publishing this careful selection from his general correspondence we shall be supplying a want which has been universally felt. Our request for the loan of letters was so promptly and fully responded to, that we have been provided with more than sufficient material for our work. By arranging the letters in chronological order, we find that they very frequently explain themselves and form a narrative of the events of each year. Our collection dates from 1833, the com 'The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it.' - Ps. xix. 'That day, as other solemn days, they spentIn song and dance about the sacred hill;Mystical dance, which yonder starry sphereOf planets, and of fixed in all her wheelsResembles nearest, mazes intricate, Eccentric, intervolved, yet regular, Then most, when most irregular they seem;And in their motions harmony divine.'Paradise Lost, Bk. v. 'He, who hath the power, Had with another sun bedecked the sky.Her eyes fast fixed on the eternal wheelsBeatrice stood unmoved.'Dante, Par. Canto i. 'Weave a circle round him thrice, And close your eyes with holy dread, For he on honey dew hath fed, And drank the milk of paradise.'Coleridge, Kubla Khan.