HEINRICH HEINE - Repositories

xxvi
3^ntrotiuction.
der of the idea, of reason, is, in his eyes,
a Philistine. This is why Heine so
often and so mercilessly attacks the liberals;
much as he hates conservatism
he hates Philistinism even more, and
whoever attacks conservatism itself ignobly,
not as a child of light, not in the
name of the idea, is a Philistine. Our
Cobbett is thus for him, much as he disliked
our clergy and aristocracy whom
Cobbett attacked, a Philistine with six
fingers on every hand and on every foot
six toes, four-and-twenty in number: a
Philistine, the staff of whose spear is
like a weaver's beam. Thus he speaks
of him: —
"While I translate Cobbett's words,
the man himself comes bodily before
my mind's eye, as I saw him at that uproarious
dinner at the Crown and Anchor
Tavern, with his scolding red face and
his radical laugh, in which venomous
hate mingles with a mocking exultation
at his enemies' surely approaching
downfall. He is a chained cur, who
falls with equal fury on every one whom
he does not know, often bites the best
friend of the house in his calves, barks
incessantly, and just because of this incessantness
of his barking cannot get
listened to, even when he barks at a real
thief. Therefore the distinguished
thieves who plunder England do not
think it necessary to throw the growling
Cobbett a bone to stop his mouth.
This makes the dog furiously savage,