You will now understand what I
meant in suggesting that, had the purloined letter been hidden
anywhere within the limits of the Prefect's examination --in other
words, had the principle of its concealment been comprehended within
the principles of the Prefect --its discovery would have been a matter
altogether beyond question. This functionary, however, has been
thoroughly mystified; and the remote source of his defeat lies in
the supposition that the Minister is a fool, because he has acquired
renown as a poet. All fools are poets; this the Prefect feels; and
he is merely guilty of a non distributio medii in thence inferring
that all poets are fools."
"But is this really the poet?" I asked. "There are two brothers, I
know; and both have attained reputation in letters. The Minister I
believe has written learnedly on the Differential Calculus. He is a
mathematician, and no poet."
"You are mistaken; I know him well; he is both. As poet and
mathematician, he would reason well; as mere mathematician, he could
not have reasoned at all, and thus would have been at the mercy of the
Prefect."
"You surprise me," I said, "by these opinions, which have been
contradicted by the voice of the world. You do not mean to set at
naught the well-digested idea of centuries.
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